Hall Of Fame Looking back on Two Door Cinema Club’s ‘Tourist History’

Earwormy choruses? Check. Glitchy guitars? Check? A debut album that reaches the highest of euphoric heights throughout its ten tracks? Well, that’s gotta be ‘Tourist History’.

Words: Sarah Jamieson
22nd May 2018

For the best part of the last decade, Two Door Cinema Club have found themselves masters of the dizzying indie pop hook. Beginning their journey as a trio of fresh-faced Northern Irish teenagers with just their ‘Four Words To Stand On’ EP, it was with their gorgeously giddy debut that saw the band really make their mark.

Released through label-du-jour Kitsuné and titled ‘Tourist History’, their first full-length saw the band inspired by both the past and present. Named for their hometown of Bangor’s popularity with visitors back in the 1970s, as well as their continued time on the road ahead of the release, the record gave the three-piece – Alex Trimble, Kevin Baird and Sam Halliday - a chance to chuck their collective musical inspirations into the melding pot and come out with something altogether brighter and bolder. And that they certainly did.

While opener ‘Cigarettes in the Theatre’ kicks proceedings off in a suitably sparkling fashion, all glitchy guitars and addictive rhythms, it’s the likes of ‘Uncover Martyn’ and ‘Something Good Can Work’ – which sound just as euphoric and humongous even eight years on – that are the beating heart here. Unafraid of earwormy choruses and excitable melodies, it’s with ‘Tourist History’ that they managed to embody that rush of pulling a friend up onto your shoulders in the middle of a festival crowd, or the carefree joy of teenage roadtrips and late summer evenings.

Unsurprisingly, then, their debut would go on to provide an entire generation with a soundtrack for just that. Awarded the Choice Music Prize in 2010 and certified platinum just three years later, it would also become the springboard for a mammoth touring run, huge festival slots the world over and a career which has seen Two Door Cinema Club become those very indie pop masters. Not too shabby for three boys from Bangor.

Taken from the May issue of DIY. Read online or subscribe below.

Tags: Two Door Cinema Club, Hall Of Fame, Features