With a youthful innocence and a true passion for music, the green and aggressive power pop band Twinstar is breaking through Milwaukee's music scene with their raw talent and quality tunes. Inspired by a wide range of bands, from England's Radiohead to Canada's The Weakerthans, Twinstar is experimenting with new sounds and directions.
Comprising singer and rhythm guitarist Jim Hanke, bassist Dan Siercks, lead guitarist and keyboardist Jeremy Benishek and drummer Luis Santana, these four unassuming guys under the age of 23 are creeping up on the seasoned songwriters and giving them a run for their music.
Modest and moving, Twinstar has its heart in the right place. Taking the production process of their music step by step, their playful ponderings have resulted in some edgy harmonies carrying through some lyrics chockfull of wisdom. A young band with an old soul, Twinstar's lyrics offer up a poetic commentary on the postmodern perils of life and love.
Twinstar's vitality rests in the band's ability to summon up pure vim and vigor in dealing with their own material as well as with music in general.
"We can't say that we're just a rock band as we're all influenced by different types of music. We're constantly trying to test out different rhythms and sounds," says Hanke.
Twinstar's inquisitive philosophy has paid off with their five-song, self-titled EP, recorded by the Dynamic Duo and designed by Gregg Bernstein of Hydrafuse.com whose works include records for other regional indie bands such as Braid, Hey Mercedes, Paris Texas and Aloha. This EP is a well-arranged musical set with songs ranging from rhapsodically melodic to passionately salient and has carved out for Twinstar its own niche within Milwaukee's indie music scene.
Having only been together two years, Twinstar's bit-by-bit progression from garage band to venue headliner speaks not only for their talent and ability, but their love for music as well.
"I think Twinstar will be over when the music stops being interesting to us or when we do the same thing over and over. That would be boring and it wouldn't be us," says Hanke. "What we write is material we'd be interested in hearing another band do, it's something I'd want to listen to when I'm in my car."
Touring bits of the Midwest and playing regularly around Milwaukee, Twinstar has recently toured with Showoff, a band on Madonna's Maverick Records label. On Fri., May 25 they can be seen with Firebird Band, Wolfie and the Good Boy Suit at The Globe, 2028 E. North Ave.
For more information on Twinstar, check out their website, www.twinstarband.com.
