Evil Twin invigorates the tried-and-true alt-rock m.o. on the new Upside Down We’re Flying (Werewolf Country), a 10-song set built on fuzzed-out guitars, melodic hooks and the sort of easy interplay that comes from a band that’s grown together in real time. Under frontman Peter McGee’s direction, Evil Twin at once accentuates and refines the more offbeat qualities of ’90s indie with a certain mainstream pizzazz.
MAGNET’s Hobart Rowland reached out to McGee (the son of Stephen Colbert) for his thoughts on old-school band values, growing up with a famous dad and getting down to Neutral Milk Hotel as a baby.
How did Evil Twin come together?
I’d either known or met everyone in college at Northwestern University through different avenues. During the pandemic, we all expressed interest in forming a new band and moving to New York. Personally, I’d played in several college bands, but during the pandemic there was no real way to continue. I’d moved to Charleston (S.C.), so getting back in touch with people and deciding to form a band and move to New York was definitely a leap of faith, deciding to go headfirst back into music. We moved to Brooklyn as both a band and roommates. (Singer/guitarist) Claire (Stevens) was actually a few grades behind me and (bassist/vocalist) Riina (Dougherty), so she didn’t join until after our first year. But we’d already played together and wanted her in the band.
Living together was an adventure. And although it did present challenges, it gave us a lot of opportunities to collaborate casually and build our chemistry faster than if we only saw each other at rehearsals. We’d write music, rehearse and practice both at home and in a practice space, and a lot of great music came out of that. We’re still working through some of those jams and turning them into full songs. That time really forged cohesion.
You’ve said that Evil Twin is “out of time aesthetically.” How so?
Maybe that comes from the list of artists that spill out when people ask about our references, which always end up being a mix of jangle-rock bands spanning decades. Each of us pulls from different genres and artists as we put music together. I also feel like there’s an old-fashioned set of band values that we subscribe to. It’s not analog snobbery or anything like that. It’s more the idea of the band as a cohesive multi-person machine, a living entity rather than just a product to be consumed. That’s why we recorded the album with live tracking and did group harmonies instead of overdubbing the lead vocals. We want to be a band that exists onstage and in the studio—and that really only comes from the three of us together.
Tell us about the recording process for Upside Down We’re Flying. What were you trying to achieve?
Over four long days, we tracked the album live in the studio with producer Brayden Baird and assistant engineer Ezra Ouellette. That helped us capture everything in time and allowed us to build and play off each other’s energy as we went. We wanted to create a unique sonic palette—something people haven’t quite heard before, but that still uses familiar sounds from rock’s past.
What’s it like having Stephen Colbert as a father?
It’s more normal than you might expect. His first talk show began when I was seven, so I do remember what that transition was like—and fame wasn’t really a factor in my early childhood. We’ve always been an artistic family, and I definitely got an appreciation for music and all kinds of art from him. I learned a lot about classic rock, but we also listened to things like Neutral Milk Hotel when I was a baby. That probably speaks to why I gravitated toward songwriting. I also got to meet a lot of interesting people—his crew, writers and guests—and got secondhand experience seeing how he interacted with an audience, both in the room and through the broadcasts.
What’s next for Evil Twin?
We’ve already started working on an EP with more songs—some new, some old—that we’re putting together with Kieran “Saint” Leonard. It channels a bit of a different vibe but still has that same Evil Twin sound. It’ll be more pop-focused, with shorter song lengths. But the songs are still definitely an adventure.
See Evil Twin live.
