Staying Trew to themselves

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This article was published 26/11/2016 (3569 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It may have been a contractual obligation that lead the Trews to releasing a greatest hits record, Time Capsule, this year, but in a way, the timing was serendipitous.

The departure of dummer Sean Dalton in 2015 and the consequent addition of new drummer Gavin Maguire shortly thereafter meant it was the perfect moment for the band to take a retrospective look at the past 13 years of their career, while also keeping their gaze strongly pointed toward the future.

That’s why, vocalist and guitarist Colin MacDonald says, there are also three new tracks and a new studio recording on the album. “We felt like it was a good time to look back, but at the same time, we like to keep pushing forward, so we insisted that we had new tracks on the record,” he says.

The Trews have also been throwing in some new songs while on tour to support the record, rehearsing them at soundcheck and playing them for the crowd, even though they may only be half-finished.

“It’s quite fun and a bit of a challenge because you’re forced to just throw it out there incomplete and fly by the seat of our pants, which is a fun way to do it,” MacDonald says. “It forces your hand and it makes you… you have to confront the song in front of an audience and it’s a good way to measure the quality of it by seeing people’s reactions to it.

“It’s been good,” he says of the fans’ reactions to the new tracks. “Playing a brand new, unknown song, they’re not clearing the dance floor or going to the bar, so I think that’s a good sign.”

Earlier this year, the group was on the road doing an acoustic tour that offered a different perspective on the typically plugged-in, ear-ringing rockers, with the focus turning more toward their songwriting skills and prowess as musicians as opposed to their decibel level.

“It’s just a nice way to shake up what we do, it’s easier on the ears,” he laughs. “You can play for longer at the acoustic sets because you’re not getting, like, noise drunk.

“It definitely shines a different light on the band. We get to play a lot of different songs that aren’t just the radio hits and stuff…. When we launched the acoustic tour seven years ago, I think people were wondering how good it was going to be, like, ‘what’s the Trews gonna be like acoustic?’ And people were pleasantly surprised; we were pleasantly surprised,” MacDonald says. “I think it shows that we’ve got some talent, and we can sing and we can write and it’s still entertaining.”

After their current tour wraps up, the band has a few gigs lined up in the States (”If they’re still letting people into America,” MacDonald jokes) and they’re planning to get back into the studio to record a whole new record in 2017. As for the future of the band in a broader sense, MacDonald stresses the importance of growth in all aspects of their career.

“I’d like to keep doing what we’re doing but get better at it, explore new territory, challenge ourselves as songwriters and performers,” he says. “We’re not guys in our 20s anymore, we’re well into our 30s, we have families and a different perspective on life all together and we’d like to bring the music along with that, without getting boring and complacent.

“We still want to be striving for more, and I don’t just mean that in terms of success, just striving for more as musicians, as writers.”

erin.lebar@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @NireRabel