Twin Peaks

What’s in a name? According to Thom O’Keeffe, lead singer with Limerick band Supermodel Twins… not a lot.

“It’s ironic, if you like irony, but there’s no big story behind it!” he laughs. “When [former incarnation] The Riffs folded we were just concentrating on writing, rather than picking a new name. One of our mates came up with the ‘Supermodel Twins’ thing. Then we started telling different stories about how it came about – there were some ridiculous ones!”

It sounds like a reason boys join bands – to entice twins in fashion. Is that an achievable aim?
“Possibly! Some bands may start up for money, fame and girls but we’re just about the work ethic.”
O’Keeffe felt that first taste of fame almost eight years ago with The Riffs. It caused him to step back from the spotlight.
“We were very young,” he explains. “We were together maybe four or five months and found ourselves in London playing to all these big shots. While it was great at the time, we were very inexperienced. Even if things had gone further I think it would have imploded. It kinda imploded anyway! Where we’re at now, we’re totally independent. Not that we wouldn’t invite anyone to come on board, but we’re our own bosses. It’s great to have that control.”
That control has resulted in the independent release of debut Raincloud Free, produced by Noel Hogan of The Cranberries in his home studio. Long in gestation, the five-piece have been dying to get it out.
“We’ve been living with it for about two years now. We were recording with Noel, so when The Cranberries got back together we didn’t have an awful lot of time with him – a week here, a week there. Given our budget, it was surprising that it turned out so well. There are little flaws and things in there, which we like. It really should have sounded more pristine, because I’m a stickler for that, but the mistakes make it.”
It’s an album of the kind of power pop that has been in short supply of late. When O’Keeffe last spoke to Hot Press, he announced his intentions for the record “to sound like one long song, kind of like a pop-opera. It’s going to be a concept album without a concept.” Does that still hold true?
“I don’t know if it does. It’s about different kinds of relationships and a lot of it is, to coin a phrase, stalker rock. There’s a lot of ‘I love you, you love me’ shit around at the moment – I just like to look at things from a different perspective.”
The band also like to wrap these sentiments in an American sound that their Irish contemporaries have shied away from – crunchy guitars, heaps of melody and harmony.
“The sound a lot of Irish bands have had over the past couple of years came from that Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party thing. Whereas we were always influenced by power pop stuff like The Posies. The front of our record is an homage to the first Weezer record. That’s one of the records we always go back to. It’s been a big influence.”
O’Keeffe might just have his sights on Rivers Cuomo’s crown. Raincloud Free plays like the kind of record you wish Weezer still made.
“I’m no spring chicken myself,” he smiles, “but I think what Rivers is doing wrong at the moment is still writing songs about hanging out in cars, which I don’t think he does anymore. The man is 40-years-old. I don’t think he has much left to say. I’m obviously a huge fan, but sometimes things run their course.”
So down the line, the band won’t have an album cover with Hurley from Lost staring back out at you?
“Possibly not! I was never into Lost so maybe that whole thing is lost on me! Yeah – that won’t happen.”
Supermodel Twins have clear ambition but it is an ambition tempered by reality.
“People are always saying we’ve an American sound and that we should tour there. That’s all well and good, but there’s a million bands in America that have an American sound! So you may be going from being a big fish in a small pond to being a really small fish in a massive ocean.”
For the moment then, the main aim is building a base at home.
“Most of us are still working part-time and Christmas is a tough time, especially with the economy. We are trying to get an American tour together for Spring next year.”
Though it may be tough times for musicians and, well, everyone at the moment, O’Keeffe’s primary goal remains the same.
“We realise we’re not going to make a million bucks from selling records in Ireland. But our show in Galway recently was the first since the album has been out where I could stop singing the chorus and people would sing the song back to me. That was one of the main things I wanted when I was growing up – for people to know the songs. It’s an amazing feeling.”

Watch 'One Step Behind' and listen to 'Bruises' from Supermodel Twins' Raincloud Free album on hotpress.com.