Before their special live performance at TPR HQ, Twin Tribes, Brownsville's darkwave duo, sat with TPR Music to dive deep into San Antonio post-punk from the early 80s.
Twin Tribe's sound is reminiscent of the bands from the early 1980's. Inspired by bands like Joy Division, New Order, and The Cure, the duo's music connects various generations of listeners across the globe.
Introducing two tracks from iconic San Antonio groups of the same 80s era was a pleasure. The first track we shared was "A Desperate Situation" by Mannequin (Gary Davenport), a driving beat accompanied by symphonic sweeps from an Elka synthesizer. Mannequin first formed in 1975 and Gary Davenport, the group's founder and songwriter wrote this track in 1981.
As Davenport recalls, this track was written during his annual trip to Mexico, where he sought creative inspiration from new worlds and drew connections from the Carlos Castaneda books he read.
Davenport's music has recently found a new audience through a reissued body of work from Numero Group called, Scattered Thoughts.
The second track, "Internal Silence" by Lung Overcoat is a faster, darker song with a much more gothic vibe from an early album by The Cure. The song was originally performed by Platform of Youth - the precursor band of Lung Overcoat.
Chris Smart, founder of both bands remembers their time recording the track in 1983, "In the studio, we were all heavily influenced by Joy Division. It was a 16-track studio. The producer didn't know what the hell we were doing or anything about that kind of music."
Smart recalls the legendary group, The Butthole Surfers were also recording their first EP at the same studio. He also remembers the day they first used that name for a local performance. Chris Smart still has the original flyer. Lung Overcoat lasted together through the late 80s.
Gary Davenport and Mannequin are still performing in 2024. You can catch him at the local venue, The Lonesome Rose on December 19. Chris Smart has been touring the globe with another San Antonio artist, Chrystabell, who just released a new album with film director, David Lynch. Twin Tribes is currently on tour in Europe through the end of November 2024.
Check out the live performance from Twin Tribes here.
Producers: Roberto Adrian Martinez and Crisa Valadez
Director: Jacob Glombowski
Executive Producer: Rae D. Cabello
Videographers: Kristin Quintanilla and Jacob Glombowski
Editor: Roberto Adrian Martinez
Audio Engineer: Roberto Adrian Martinez
Vice President, Marketing and Communications: Robert V. Salluce
