Twin Atlantic star told to "ditch Scottish accent" for fame

dailyrecord.co.uk:

TWIN Atlantic star Sam McTrusty has revealed he was told to ditch his Scottish accent if he wanted his band to become famous.The Glasgow rockers are set to release their seventh album and will play the highly-rated Belladrum music festival in the Highlands this weekend.But Sam, 36, says record labels and producers wanted him to sing with an American twang to increase the band’s potential for worldwide sales.Twin Atlantic, who formed in 2006, have since enjoyed a string of chart albums with their alt rock sound.Ahead of their seventh album Meltdown, which is released on August 9, Sam said: “When I first started going to live shows in my mid-teens and choosing records to listen to I definitely sang in an American accent.“Between the ages of 15 to 17, American hard rock was in the charts and I wanted to emulate my heroes.“That’s what got me started in music but as soon as I started writing my own songs I just couldn’t do it.“My skin would crawl and I just felt so uncomfortable.

I just felt I was being really fake.“I was singing about personal things that happened in my life and I just couldn’t sing in somebody else’s voice.“I literally couldn’t get the words out in that fake American accent.“I made the decision to sing in my own voice and how I talk and I never looked back.“People have said if we toned down the accent Twin Atlantic would be so much bigger but I just couldn’t do it.“People might find our music easier to digest if it was a more universal voice but I just couldn’t fake it.

I wish I could.“Life would have been a lot easier because we would have done a lot better, but we would never change anything about the journey we have been on.“The accent has been a calling card for the band and maybe that’s why we’ve been