Twin Temple Go to Hell: Duo Talk Satan Worship, Charley Crockett Drama

Before Charley Crockett nixed a husband-and-wife duo from his tour last week over their use of “Satanic imagery,” it’s likely that few had ever heard the name Twin Temple. A cult band (perhaps literally) out of L.A., the group have released throwback rock and doo-wop songs with titles like “Lucifer, My Love” and “Satan’s a Woman.” Apparently that was too much for Crockett and, well, all hell broke loose online: Twin Temple announced they’d been removed from the shows, Crockett defended his decision, and then Jack White got involved, offering Twin Temple an opening slot at one of his upcoming gigs.

Today, vocalist Alexandra James and guitarist Zachary James announced their new album, Doomed Lovers, a project that puts Twin Temple squarely in the throwback country music lane. Think less outlaw country and more Patsy Cline. Arriving Oct. 9, Doomed Lovers was produced by Shooter Jennings — who also produced Crockett’s latest albums.

With all this twisted black magic to parse, we Zoomed with Twin Temple, who’ll tour with Danzig later this summer, to talk about the Crockett dustup, whether they’ll accept White’s offer, and whether they really do worship Satan.

How did you learn that you were no longer going to be opening for Charley Crockett?
Alexandra James: Our former agent got a call from Charley’s agent, and he just said, “Charley made the decision to remove you due to satanic imagery.” We just recently started working with a new agent, and we asked them to call Charley’s agent again to confirm, and that’s what they said.

Did someone complain? A venue? Promoter? Or was it Charley’s call?
AJ: The only thing we know is that it was due to satanic imagery. We actually got a note from one of the venue promoters that was just like, “I’m so sorry about this. We were looking forward to working together.” At least for them, it wasn’t coming from the venue side. Our agent said it came down from Charley.

In your Instagram post telling fans you were off the tour, you mentioned artistic freedom. Do you think that your artistic freedom is under assault?
Zachary James: These are Charley’s shows. Ultimately, it’s his decision, which, you know, is artistic freedom in its own right.

AJ: Artistic freedom isn’t guaranteed, so that’s something that we don’t take for granted. But I felt like it would have been a really cool statement on Charley’s part about music being able to bring people from different backgrounds together. I feel like music is maybe the hands-down most beautiful and powerful art form to bring people together. The reason why we were so excited about these shows was to build some of these bridges. Charley is a really talented artist, and I think we share so much musical DNA: our love of everything from Roy Orbison to Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, Loretta Lynn, Burrito Brothers, the blues. So, we’re a little sad. It felt like maybe it’s reinforcing a divide between artists.

Satanic imagery has been used in music forever. Everyone from Black Sabbath to Mötley Crüe, to the Misfits and Glenn Danzig. Even Sammy Davis Jr. got involved in the Church of Satan. Alexandra and Zachary, are you guys really Satanists?
AJ: Hell yeah! To us, Satan is a metaphor for exploring all of these things in our art. It’s the images that have always resonated with us. For me, growing up a mixed-race woman [of Korean and British descent], first generation in America, I’ve always felt a little bit like an outsider. And Satan’s the original outlaw, right? He’s a rebel angel. He’s the one who questioned authority, fought for himself, refused to bow down or conform, and was like non serviam. That was a metaphor that resonated very strongly with me.

I grew up reading gothic romance. Frankenstein really resonated with me because I didn’t see anyone representing me on stages or in film. It was the monsters that, I felt, were like I was. There were times growing up where we had the mob with the pitchforks coming out for me as a mixed-race kid. I got my first death threat when I was six. And so very early on, I learned, “I am never going to be really accepted by mainstream America. There isn’t a Barbie that looks like me.”

And that’s what we mean by artistic freedom: the freedom to explore the things that inspire and excite you, and for us, that’s our visual language. Freedom is what this country was built on — and we have an amazing constitution that protects these rights.

ZJ: America is kind of satanic at its core.

Is there a particular sect of Satanism you ascribe to? Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan, for instance?
AJ: I think the thing that resonates with us with Satanism, or the broader tradition of the “left-hand path,” as you would call it, is that it is not dogmatic. So, there’s no proselytizing. There’s no, “This is the correct way to practice.” It’s very much about finding what works for you.

ZJ: It’s exploring subversive ideas, transcending cultural norms. Individualism.

AJ: But I do practice witchcraft. Zach does practice ceremonial magic. We are students of the occult and find the tradition very interesting, ideologically and philosophically. It’s all those things, and that’s really why we made Twin Temple in the first place. It’s really fun to go shopping for a human skull and a Ronettes record in the same day, and we get to do that with our band.

Shooter Jennings produced Doomed Lovers and the last few Charley records. Do you know how he’s balancing this drama with Charley?
AJ: He’s been supporting us and Charley through this, and I think that speaks a lot to his character of who he is as a human.

To be clear, you aren’t feuding with Charley Crockett?
ZJ: Not at all.

AJ: We still like his records, and we still respect what he’s doing for American music.

ZJ: We just had to make a comment because we had to notify fans. I mean, if it wasn’t that, we wouldn’t even have made a public statement.

Jack White has offered to have you open one of his L.A. shows in September. Where does that stand?
AJ: OK… We already have committed to this tour with Glenn [Danzig], and we do have a show in Anaheim with him on Sept. 26 with a radius clause. So, it’s really up to our Lord and Savior Glenn and his camp and the promoters how they want to do that. We obviously want to do it, but…

Even Satanists have to adhere to a radius clause.
AJ: I’ve been a White Stripes fan since I was a kid. “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” was the first song I learned on guitar. But we do have this date and we have to honor our commitment there. So, we’re trying to work it out.

Well, we’ll offer up a prayer to the dark angel that it all works out.
AJ: Be careful now! Are you going to put that in print?