Caught in an Aussie ‘Trap’

   AUSTRALIAN indie rock group The Temper Trap touches down in Bangkok on March 8 for a long-awaited live show.
The renowned quintet, who has toured with Coldplay and the Rolling Stones, will be joined by local favourites Scrubb and Electric Neon Lamp at Muang Thai GMM Live House as they kick off the first in the 2017 Soundbox music events organised by Live Nation and BEC-Tero Entertainment.
    Featuring Dougy Mandagi on vocals, Jonathon Aherne on bass, drummer Toby Dundas and Joseph Greer on guitar and keyboards, the band has sold more than a million albums worldwide and has an amazing 150 million streams on Spotify. The lads have also enjoyed number 1 albums and have wowed crowds at international music festivals including Glastonbury, Lollapalooza and Coachella.
    They have won a number of prestigious ARIA Awards in Australia and been nominated for Best International Breakthrough Artist at the BRIT Awards.
    The rockers released their debut album “Conditions” in 2009 and scored big with the hit single “Sweet Disposition”, which was a top 10 smash around the world. The song went on to win the Most Popular Australian Single at the ARIA Music Awards. They followed up with a self-titled studio album in 2012 and put out their third release “Thick as Thieves” last year.
    We had a chat with drummer Dundas about their latest album and first concert in Bangkok.

HOW HAS 2017 TREATED YOU SO FAR?
    It’s been great. We’ve been on a European tour for the last few weeks and been to places we had never been before. The year has been good so far, and we’re looking forward to the Southeast Asian tour that is coming up next month.

IT TOOK A WHILE FOR YOU TO COME UP WITH “THICK AS THIEVES”. WAS THERE A PARTICULAR REASON FOR THAT?
    It was one of our slower times. Lorenzo Sillitto, our original guitarist, decided to leave the band as he was about to get married and start a family. We built a studio in London as well, which was a very slow process, and that probably added another six months to the writing time. We also wanted to make sure that we were really happy about what we were working on, and having your own studio gives you the luxury of being able to spend a little more time on the songs.

The Temper Trap is now a quintet after the departure of Lorenzo Sillitto.

FOR THIS ALBUM IT SEEMS YOU ARE |REVERTING BACK TO THE ELECTRONIC-CLAD SOUND. IS THIS THE DIRECTION YOU WILL BE FOLLOWING FROM NOW ON?
    This album took the rawness and energy of “Conditions”, and mixed them with a little of the produced elements that were apparent on the second album. I think it blended those two very well, and it sounded really good for us.

THIS IS ALSO THE FIRST TIME THE BAND WORKED WITH OTHER PEOPLE.
    That’s right. We worked with some outside writers this time, which was a new experience. It pushed our boundaries and opened us up to new ideas and new ways of writing. Dougy did a session with a guy named Malay who has worked with people like Frank Ocean on a song that we were writing and that collaboration really brought this new element to us. It woke us up to the possibilities of what other people can bring to the table. When you’ve been in a band for 13 years, you kind of get into a particular rhythm and you need to bring in other people sometimes to shake things up.

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A PERMANENT REPLACEMENT FOR SILLITTO?
    No. We decided pretty soon after he left that Joseph is a really good guitar player as well and he could step up and fill that hole. We did some shows in 2014 – it was a small tour – and we tested it out if we could play as a four piece live. It felt right, so we never looked for an extra member.

YOUR ALBUMS SOUND LIKE THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE LISTENED TO IN THEIR ENTIRETY. DOES IT BOTHER YOU THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE TODAY LISTEN TO TRACKS RATHER THAN A WHOLE ALBUM?
    That’s true. We put a lot of thought into the track listing. It’s pretty old-generation but for us the way to consume music is to listen to the whole album. We do put a lot of time and thought into taking the listeners on to a journey. But you have to move with the times as well. Kids these days tend to sample things in smaller bites, and that’s fine, too. Often you find that people like one song from Spotify and that draws them in, catches their interests. They might listen to the whole album because of that one song.

HOW HAS THE TEMPER TRAP EVOLVED AS A BAND?
    Musically, it’s been a bit of a circle. We started with “Conditions” and we went on with the second album, and we sort of came back around. The line-up changed over the years as well. But I think we are staying true to the course that we set when we first started out.

HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELVES IN THE MUSIC SCENE NOW, AMONG MILLIONS OF ARTISTS?
    Wow. That’s a tough one! We’ve always done our own thing and never really followed the trends. We’ve always made music that got us excited about being involved. We’ve been lucky along the way to have found fans that feel the same way.

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO FINALLY COME TO BANGKOK?
    We’re super excited to come to Bangkok. It’s somewhere we’ve wanted to play for a long time. The fans will hear a really good mix of songs from all three albums. It’s going to be a really energetic show. We’re very excited to see our Thai fans. We’ll see you there!

The Temper Trap performs at the Soundbox concert on Wednesday, March 8 at Muang Thai GMM Live House on the 8th floor of CentralWorld.
Standing tickets at Bt1,500 and Bt2,500 are available at Thai Ticket Major counters
Call (02) 262 3456 or visit www.ThaiTicketMajor.com.