kurzweil-ICH: The Temper Trap

Am 10. Juni erscheint mit Thick As Thieves (Partnerlink) das dritte Studioalbum der Alternative-Rocker The Temper Trap aus Downunder. Die Platte ist meiner Meinung nach sehr gelungen, hat einige erfreuliche Parallelen zum 2009er Debüt Conditions und macht Laune. Mehr dazu nächsten Monat in den Reviews.

Schlagzeuger Toby Dundas hat mir einige Fragen zur neuen Platte, dem ursprünglich geplanten Bandnamen und der kuriosen Verteilung der Veröffentlichungstermine beantwortet.

Three records, three releases, all in June (19th June 2009,3 year wait, 5th June 2012, 4 year wait, then 10th June 2016) – there’s a pattern, isn’t there? We don’t have to wait 5 years until June 2021 for the next album, do we?

Woah, that’s a little freaky – I didn’t remember that „Conditions“ came out in June, too! Hopefully we can turn that trend around and get album 4 out a little quicker.

During the first recording of your new record „Thick as Thieves“ Lorenzo Sillitto left the band in 2013 – is this one of the reasons the album took so long?

No, it probably would’ve taken just as long with him – we wanted to get this album right and once we got our own studio in London we had the luxury of taking our time until everything sounded great to us.

Have there been any tracks that evolved/changed during the long mastering and recording process?

„Summer’s Almost Gone“ started off as a pretty straight up rock song. When we sent it to Malay, he created that whole bass drop, half time section at the end which is probably the best bit of the song in the end.

The sound of „Thick as Thieves“ kind of reminds me of your debut album „Conditions“ in 2009. Do you feel this is a return to the beginnings of the band after the experimental „The Temper Trap“?

Yeah, I think when we started working on „Thick as Thieves“ we wanted to recapture that energy that the first album has. There’s a rawness and spirit to it that wasn’t so present on the second album.

What does the title „Thick as Thieves“ mean for you?

It really sums up our relationship as bandmates, brothers in arms, us against the world and all that kind of stuff.

Do you happen to have a favourite song on the new recored?

I always find my favourite song once we start playing them live. We just did some shows back home in Australia and „Alive“ is definitely my fave right now.

One of my favourite songs of yours is „Fader“ which is kind of a unique indie song/rockyness which doesn’t appear in your other songs. Is this kind of sound simply over?

Haha, we’ll see. Actually there’s a song on „Thick as Thieves“ called „Riverina“ that reminds me a little of „Fader“.

Will there be another „Drum Song“ some day?

Every record we try to write someting like „Drum Song“ but we have never recaptured the energy that track has. We’ll keep working at it though.

At first the band should be called „Temper Temper“, how did you come up with the trap-variation and why?

We found out that there was an emo band in the US that were already using the name so we had to change it. I think they broke up now so maybe we can change it back.

Always my last question as of „LangweileDich.net“ meaning something like „BeBored.not“ – What do you do when you feel bored?

I eat!

Thanks for the interview.

Zu sehen sind die Jungs übrigens live beim Lollapalooza in Berlin im September. Hier mal eine (deutlich langsamere und leisere) Version des Songs Fall Together aus dem kommenden Album: