Hailing from Milton,VT, the acoustic duo Two Towns formed in 2019, but have been playing music for most of their lives. “Hunter started playing when he was thirteen“, says Zac Young, who along with band mat Hunter Myers, make up Two Towns. “I’ve been playing since I was six.” Capitalizing off of the attention they are receiving from ‘Should Have Been Me’, Two Towns are currently finishing up their debut album, Shell City, due later this year.

For Two Towns, fun music mixed with a healthy dose of melancholy is the blueprint. “We wanted to write a sad song that was still upbeat and happy,“explains Hunter Myers. The band has just dropped their debut single ‘Should Have Been Me’, an acoustic Bedroom Pop single aimed at creating a vibe. 

From the opening acoustic guitar riff through the melancholy chorus, the vibe is certainly there: “It should have been me that you wanted more/ It should have me now I’m ripped and torn/ It should have been me waiting at your door/ It should have been me now my heart feels sore.” Two Towns croon over a sparse alternative-indie acoustic  arrangement.

We had a chance to chat with Zach from Two Towns recently:

Refrain Music Blog: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. You have a new single out now. Tell us about it? What’s it called?

Zach Young: We are very glad to do the interview! Yes we have our single off of our upcoming album shell city. It’s called Should’ve Been Me, and we put a lot of time and work into this single. 

RMB: What’s the single about? 

ZY: It’s about a guy who was passed over by a girl but he thought he was the obvious choice, and yes it sounds 100% cliché. We just wanted to write a song that everyone could enjoy, a song that was about a kinda sad thing but sounded happy.

RMB: What’s the story on how it was recorded? The Who, When, Where etc. Was it a long process or quick? Any good stories about the recording process? 

ZY: It was fairly quick writing the song, me and hunter were both back from college and hunter had a riff and we just took some lyrics that I had written in the 8th grade and put them together. We actually wrote the song before we were a band and it turned out great.

RMB: Tell us a little about the band. Who are the members and what do you each play? 

ZY: Well I’m the lead singer and rhythm guitar player. I go to college full time (covid hadls put that on hold) and I’m getting a masters in business and a bachelors in audio engineering. Hunter is the lead guitar player and the backup vocalist. He is currently going to college to become an audio engineer. He is extremely good at what he does and does the mixing and mastering on our tracks.

RMB: How long have you been together? When and how did you form? 

ZY: We’ve actually only been together since about march of 2020. We were both in other bands before I was in Insider(currently still going) and Hunter was in Prohibition(broke up in 2020) and Prohibition was opening up for us at Higher Ground and Nectars so we were becoming very close with them. Me and hunter out of everyone else just kinda clicked and we started doing some side project stuff which eventually turned into Two Towns.

RMB: Have you considered adding people to the lineup and making it a full band?

ZY: We are in the middle of trying out some new things with some new people but nothing is definite yet. The band is currently very strong with Hunter and I.

RMB: What’s the one thing you are most proud of in your career so far?

ZY: That we’ve come so far in such a short time we have played over 25 gigs in just a few short months. We have played in different states and had a lot of fun doing it.

RMB: If you had to pitch your music to a potential fan in less than 10 seconds, what would you say?

ZY: If you like music that has a lot of emotion, great vocals, and amazing guitar to back it up. Then Two Towns is the band for you. We love interacting with our fans and we love performing and putting on a great show for our fans.

RMB: What’s one piece of advice you’ve gotten that you think everyone needs to hear or that has meant the most to you?

ZY: Never stop trying, never ever give up. Just because you didn’t get a gig or you only played in front of 2 people that night, that doesn’t mean you’re bad or you have failed. You just have to keep trying and trying till you make it happen.

RMB: If you could go back in time, what’s a piece of advice you would give to a younger you?

ZY: I wish we had started writing songs and started the band earlier so we could be even further than we already are.

RMB: What’s coming up next for you Two Towns?

ZY: Our debut album Shell City will be coming out in the Winter of 2020-2021. We don’t have an exact release date but it’s coming very very soon.

RMB: Anything we haven’t thought of that you want to talk about? Now is the time!

ZY: Just thank you for taking the time to talk to us about our single Should’ve Been Me and make sure you follow us on Instagram and Facebook.