All year long, we welcome nationally and globally touring artists to our stage for Studio Milwaukee Sessions, sponsored by Ellenbecker Investment Group. If you want to be in the live audience for these VIP experiences, become a member today.
Before every Studio Milwaukee Session goes live on 88Nine, we give the visiting artist ample time to walk the stage, bounce their sound off the walls, get those levels just right — typical sound-check stuff.
There are session days when the Radio Milwaukee team goes about its business and asks, “Is the band here yet?” Wednesday, which brought Twen to our HQ, was not one of those days.
With the duo of Jane Fitzsimmons and Ian Jones at its center, the five-piece announced its presence with authority as it ran through the performance, sending riffs and thumping bass throughout the building. But don’t mistake Twen for a “a loud band.” The music they make is so beautifully melodic while playfully avoiding any convenient genre tag.
Our astute 88Nine music director Erin Wolf described them as “jangly, jammy guitar rock” with “90s vibes” and “swoopy vocals.” Fitzsimmons and Jones seemed bemused by the description, as if they were adding it to the pile of attempts to slot them in a particular category.
Other highlights from the mid-set interview backed up Twen’s category-defying nature, with Fitzsimmons and Jones mentioning Jimmy Page and Blink-182 as influences in the same breath. They also both pointed to the subconscious as driving Twen’s musical bus — a metaphorical extension of the band’s actual road warrior: the van that has carted them around the country for years.
“There’s no sign of stopping for us. It’s been five-plus years, and we’re not sick of it yet. We haven’t gotten sick of each other, either,” Fitzsimmons noted, adding that “it’s hard to pick a [favorite] place when you’re on tour and you meet so many people and you have friends all over the place. I can’t imagine just settling in one place. Then I wouldn’t be able to see everybody that I know.”
“It also cuts your overhead considerably,” Jones added pragmatically. “No rent or mortgage.”
The nomadic DIY approach works for their creative output as effectively as it does their budget, something proven by the trio of songs they performed from 2025’s Fate Euphoric. It’s a sound that’s emphatic but not overbearing, energetic but not frantic. It’s singular to Twen.
Enjoy the broadcast portion of the session using the player at the top of the page, and if you’re reading this right away, catch Twen at X-Ray Arcade on Wednesday night with Monsoon opening.
Studio MKE: Twen set list
- “Tapdance in Limbo”
- “Tumbleweed”
- “Allnighter”
- “Ha Ha Home” (non-broadcast performance)
