Radiophonic American.  Acoustic, electronic, melodic, rock.  And not in that order.  But don’t take my word for it.  Here’s what SPIN Magazine had to say;

-SPIN:  The music seems very eclectic.  I’m sure you’ve heard all the comparisons, yes?
-TWE:  I’d like to think of it as The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, and Styx were all in a room together, got violently drunk, fought
 …. and I won.
-SPIN:  Are you serious?  You just said The Beatles and Styx in the same sentence. 
-TWE:  Oh, I’m dead serious.  No, of course not.  What’s important to remember here is that nothing is really important, especially comparisons.
-SPIN:  So I take it that you don’t take yourself very seriously?  Do you take the same approach to your music?
-TWE:  Not at all, actually.  I feel very strongly about this record.  I locked myself in my spare bedroom and denied myself a life for a long while, all for the sake of putting down every sound and song that has been inside my head for years. 
-SPIN:  All of the songs on Step One have a distinctive signature, but are all different.  You kind of run the gamut from melodic hard rock to alt/acoustic ballads, to electronic space rock.  Do you think you’ll find an audience for your brand of music?
-TWE:  Radiophonic American, baby!  That’s the sound.  To answer your question…probably not.  I am all over the place on this album.  Record Labels wouldn’t touch this one with a ten-foot pole.  Too many angles to market.  It’s cool though, cause I know I’m awesome.
-SPIN:  I did notice the recurring theme throughout the album.  What’s all this ‘Risk & Uncertainty’ bit?  Is this a concept album?
-TWE:  Ugh…  You mean like Tommy?  No.  With permission I borrowed the theme from a band that I’m a big fan of.  It fits in with life right now.  And it really stems from one riff that I couldn’t stop playing…for years.  I took it and made four very different songs based from it, all encompassing that one riff, or theme.  I think it really ties an album of very different songs together.  Kind of like a good rug does for a room.
-SPIN:  Sounds like you’ve put a lot of thought into the album.
-TWE:   Everything you hear or see, there’s something behind it.
-SPIN:  What’s the writing and recording process like for the band?
-TWE:  Well, it’s pretty simple.  I come up with a bad-ass idea.  I turn it into a song, and they do what I tell them.  No, I’m just kidding.  I wrote and recorded all of the songs.  I had some help from a session producer/drummer, but the whole album was something that I thought out, note by note.
-SPIN:  That sounds like a lot of time and effort for one person.  What drove you to undertake something like that?
-TWE:  Alcohol.  Vodka and Monster energy drink actually.  And the fact that it’s something I’ve always wanted to do since I started listening to music. 
-SPIN:  So what direction are you going to go next with your music?
-TWE:  You know, I can’t decide.  I really do love the electronic stuff on there like ‘Ten Things’ and ‘Selacid’.  I’m certainly gong to incorporate more of that, but I could never get away from the conventional rock and acoustic side.  I think what I’m going to do is just tighten up the songs.  On the next album I’ll attempt to make every track have an immediate, undeniable impact.  On Step One, I think that tracks like Fragile, Edinburgh’s Song and some others have a delayed hook.  They may take a few listens to grow on you.  Who knows.
-SPIN:  Well thanks for talking with us today.  Best of luck with the album.
-TWE: That’s it?!   …no photo shoot?
-SPIN:  No.


XXX OOO
The Wake Effect



ps
SPIN never interviewed me. 

pps
The parts about the music being awesome are all true though