It’s ‘About Time’ For The Trafalgars

The new album by The Trafalgars is called About Time. Ironic in that it has taken the band roughly twenty two years to release this, their debut album. To be fair, there were two EP’s released in 2004, so it is only twenty years since their last recorded release.

Given they have had twenty years to put this together, hopes are high for the music. The songs are a collection of retro sounds from the 60’s and 70’s, 90’s with blends of Sloan, Even and Brit Pop and above all else, the sounds of The Trafalgars themselves. I spoke with Rhys from the band about the tracks on the album.

Come On opens with what will be Side one, track one, when the vinyl is finally released. It is a fast-moving song that will open their live sets for years to come, one suspects. A song guaranteed to get an audience up on their feet. Come On sets the mood for the rest of the album nicely.

Rhys: To me, this works well as the opening song. Matt and Jason start proceedings and it builds to a Dandy Warhols-esq (to my mind at least!) chorus with lead guitars all over it. It’s always one we like to start the set with.

Company Time. The Trafalgars have never hidden their love for the band Even and this is pure Even sound and it is great. If you close your eyes and listen, you would think Ash Naylor is singing the song.

Rhys: As a band this is probably our favourite song to play on this album. It has a feel each of us in the band dig. Our go-to soundcheck song!

Girl is simply The Trafalgars. This song would fit nicely on either of their two EP’s from twenty years ago, although it does have a more modern sound.

Rhys: I wanted to write something with a little light and shade, with a big chorus that build with each repetition. Jason’s walking bass line toward the end really make it work to my ears.

Start Over. The band appear to be having a lot of fun on this one. Interestingly there is no “instrumental” break in the song. It’s all chorus and verse.

Rhys: My crack at a power pop tune in the You Am I Hourly Daily/Teenage Fanclub mould. Always fun to play live and no guitar solo!

Davey Parker. The epic song on the album, coming in at 6 minutes. Rhys recently commented at the album launch “Time to go get a beer”, but do so at your own loss. This is a classic song that just needs to be heard. No, it doesn’t venture into power ballad mode and remains loyal to the overall feel and sound of the album. Some nice guitar sound in the middle.

Rhys: The six-minute sonic adventure! It’s a song about a struggling musician walking the tightrope of music and alcoholism which inadvertently became semi-autobiographical the more I listened to it. It’s grown on me. Would probably work well on piano too. Music and alcohol seem intertwined and it can be a slippery slope. Sometimes you need to get to the edge to be able to step back from it.

She’s My Girl opens what will be Side Two of the vinyl. At the start I thought it was leading into “Are you ready Steve? Andy?” with Matthew Altus’s rolling drum intro but it soon develops into The Trafalgars sound.

Rhys: I didn’t know whether I wanted this on the album or not but it made it on in the end. It’s got a different beat to most of the others on the album and the guitars are a bit gruntier to mix things up a bit.

I’ve Gotta Know. Apparently, the oldest song on the album and another bounce back to the sound of Even, late 90’s Even. Nice guitar sound throughout the song.

Rhys: Probably the oldest song of the lot. We demoed it many years ago but, in the album, recording we added a guitar lead line before the verse which I think ties it all together. Another fun one to play live. Absolutely designed to be played with a Rickenbacker!

Get You Back Again. This song was co-written by drummer, Matthew. Possibly the most laid-back song on the album, it is catchy but extremely refined.

Rhys: I tend to come in with song ideas that are mostly complete and we work on them a bit as a band at rehearsals. For this song I was stuck for what to do for a chorus but our drummer Matt (who also plays guitar and writes great songs in his own right) came up with a great chorus part and it stuck.

Doing It Fine. If you needed to name a song that IS The Trafalgars sound, this may well be it. Crashing soaring guitars, pounding bass from Jason and that solid drumming from Matthew. While it strives for a big finish, it just rolls along, enjoyable to the end.

Rhys: This one started off with the guitar and bass riff, so it’s mainly written around that. There’s a hidden animal sound in there somewhere I’d be keen for people to try and spot!

Live in a Dream. The perfect album closer and possibly the best song on the album, although that is a big call, as for me the best song changes with each album listen. This one does go “off” live.

Rhys: We like to end our sets with this one. It chugs along, driven by Jason’s bass line, and has a breakdown towards the end that we can stretch out live with a few parts of the odd Stones, Dallas Crane or other cover which is fun. Then a big build up and boom, let’s drive that train home!

The album may have been twenty years in the making, but we are lucky that the band have stayed together to get the album out. These songs, individually, are just a handful of short stories but entwine them together and you have a complete, wonderful album.

You are reading about the new Trafalgars album. Why aren’t you listening to it? You won’t be disappointed.

Final words from Rhy: Next up for us is a show with the wonderful band Mode at the Golden Wattle on Friday May 10, then a live radio set on Live at Studio 3 on Three D radio Wednesday May 15. We might sneak in one more show in Adelaide when we have vinyl copies of About Time, and then it’s off to Melbourne for a weekend of shows in late August. After that, it’s into the studio to record album number two, which is all written and ready to go!

Interview By Geoff Jenke

Photo Credit: Robert McArthur

Listen to the album and order the vinyl here; https://thetrafalgars.bandcamp.com/album/about-time