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Twin Peaks was an American indie rock band from Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 2010 and consists of Cadien Lake James (vocals, guitar), Clay Frankel (vocals, guitar), Jack Dolan (vocals, bass guitar), Colin Croom (keyboards, vocals, guitar), and Connor Brodner (drums).
History
Early years
Cadien Lake James formed the band in 2010 with childhood friends Jack Dolan and Connor Brodner when they were still in high school. James and Dolan attended Jones College Prep, while Brodner attended Lane Tech High School with Frankel, who later joined the band. Before Frankel played with Twin Peaks, he was in a different group called Crash Hero;[1] James said in an interview, "We ended up stealing him from his other band."[2] James' older brother Hal was the drummer for fellow Chicago band Smith Westerns.
While in high school, James and Dolan were among a number of students who received ten-day suspensions for smoking marijuana, however it was later reported that Dolan was only returning the homework of James and never participated with the group. One of the other students was their friend Chance the Rapper, who later named his first mixtape 10 Day after the incident.[3]
Twin Peaks arose out of Chicago's DIY music scene, attending and eventually playing DIY shows in houses throughout the city. Frankel lived in one of the better-known spaces called Animal Kingdom. James, Brodner, and Dolan started attending these shows when they were 15, getting to know the members of bands like White Mystery, the Yolks, and Magic Milk.[4]
After graduating high school, all the band's members save for Frankel attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, but later dropped out to pursue music. Soon enough the band started to outgrow the Chicago DIY scene. The band's first recorded project led to it being labeled the "next big thing" by NME.[5]
In 2012, the band recorded their debut album, Sunken, in James' basement using "a crappy iMac from 2004, a broken digital mixer, and a digital recording studio from the '90s".[2] The 20-minute album, named after a park in Chicago where the band members used to drink as teenagers, was released on July 9, 2013, through Los Angeles-based independent record label Autumn Tone Records, an imprint of Aquarium Drunkard. People began to approach the band to sell the album on vinyl.
The band began work on their follow-up record, Wild Onion, in January 2014 in Chicago. The album was released by Grand Jury on August 5, 2014, in North America, and in the UK on September 1, 2014, by Communion Music. Rolling Stone gave the album a 3.5 out of 5 saying that they “pull off Exile-era Stones strut and Velvet Underground guitar poesy with a sophistication that’s beyond their years, and a sense of humor, too.”[6]
James explains that “the album deals with a lot of insecurities that arise when you’re growing up.”[7] The music video for "Making Breakfast", a song on the album written and sung by Frankel, was released in October 2014.
The band had a breakout performance at Pitchfork Music Festival in July 2014, just before Wild Onion was released. Prior to the festival, James broke his foot at a concert in New Orleans and had to play from a wheelchair.[8] The performance received a lot of press and some called it the best set of the weekend.[9] The following summer, Twin Peaks played Lollapalooza for the first time.
Twin Peaks' first European tour was in February 2015. In addition to club shows, they played several house parties in the UK. They later released a tour film documenting the trip.[10] They also returned to Europe that summer to play both Roskilde in Denmark and Reading & Leeds festivals in the UK. In September 2015, Twin Peaks went on tour supporting WAVVES in N. America.
The song 'Mirror Of Time' from the 'Wild Onion' album, was used by Finn Wolfhard in his debut short feature film 'Night Shifts' which was released on YouTube on February 14, 2021.[11]
Twin Peaks recorded the bulk of their third album Down In Heaven in August 2015 at a friend's house in the Berkshires. R. Andrew Humphrey returned to co-produce and John Agnello later mixed the album in NYC. The first single "Walk to the One You Love," was written by James and released on February 1, 2016, along with the album's announcement. The second single, "Butterfly," released on March 30, 2016, was written by Frankel during SXSW 2015 when he was in a "sickened state."[12] The third single "Holding Roses" was released on April 19, 2016. Down In Heaven was released on May 13, 2016, and the band went on tour to promote its release. The band made their late night TV debut on Conan, where they performed “Walk to The One You Love” in June.
This album expanded their reach and led to their first tour of Australia, as well as tours supporting Cage the Elephant and Portugal. The Man. They also played Bonnaroo for the first time in June 2016 and played Pitchfork Festival for the second time in July 2016. In 2016, following the Chicago Cubs World Series Championship, Twin Peaks played the team's trophy party. The Cubs, Theo Epstein, Bill Murray, and Eddie Vedder were all in attendance.[13]
Urbs in Horto
On May 5, 2017, Twin Peaks released a live double LP titled Urbs in Horto. The album features recordings from the band's shows at Metro and Thalia Hall in Chicago from December 2016, where they closed out a big year by selling almost 3000 tickets in their hometown. The album includes songs from across the band's three studio records, as well as a cover of The Rolling Stones' "Dead Flowers." Urbs in Horto was recorded to tape.
Clay Frankel with Twin Peaks at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul
Beginning in July 2017, Twin Peaks released two new songs every month through December 2017. They titled this project Sweet ’17 Singles.7" vinyl singles were sent to the 300 subscribers each month and the tracks were also made available digitally.
On September 13, 2019, Twin Peaks released their fourth studio album Lookout Low. The album was preceded by three singles "Dance Through It," "Ferry Song" and "Oh Mama". Lookout Low was recorded at Monnow Valley in Wales and produced by Ethan Johns. Johns helped the band get out of their comfort zone by having them record the vocals with the band to help capture the raw energy of their live shows. The band also expanded their sound citing influences from the Grateful Dead in the album.[15]
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