Music: The Temper Trap
The Aussie indie rockers return for The Great Escape
The 2009 debut album Conditions was a roaring success: the album sold nearly a million copies worldwide, and from a garage in Melbourne, Australia, suddenly The Temper Trap were big news around the globe. A combination of memorable and pleasing on-the-ear epic indie pop and a hard work ethic means that they can only be 100 per cent thankful that they took the plunge, leaving their birth place to live in the UK back in April 2009.
“It wasn’t a difficult decision to make,” says founder member Toby Dundas. “It was such a big opportunity we just couldn’t pass it up. It’s what every band dreams of, to tour around the world! Obviously you miss your family and friends, but everyone was so excited for us.”
While their debut album was recorded with Arctic Monkeys producer Jim Abbiss, they decided to work with Tony Hoffer in LA for the new one, another very high producer who’s worked with everyone from Beck to The Kooks.
“Tony has a studio there, with a lot of vintage synths… and he knows the room so well, so it was a good decision to put us in his home court. He’s taken a lot of the synth stuff to the next level; a world he is familiar with. Every time we were searching for a sound, he would disappear to the next room and come back with a keyboard in his arm and always had some good ideas. It didn’t hurt that it was 20 degrees and sunny every day!”
Back in the UK the band are about to embark on a short UK tour before hitting the festival circuit. “We did The Great Escape in 2009. We’ve played three shows in Brighton, but strangely it was raining every time! Hopefully, it’ll be better and we can all have a stereotypical Brighton experience!”
Their eponymous titled second album is out later in the month, and repeats the trick of their debut: outstanding, epic sing-a-long type affairs rubbing shoulders with more contemplative numbers, led off by current single ‘Need Your Love’.
“Things definitely aren’t always 100 per cent smooth! I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining, but it can be intense and stressful. But we are lucky that we are friends, and we were friends before the band started, so we can always fall back on that when things aren’t going so well. If we didn’t like the people you had to spend 22 hours of each day with it wouldn’t be much fun…”
The Temper Trap, Friday 11 May, Brighton Dome, 7.30pm, £14.50 (top ups & bundles available for Great Escape ticket holders)
