Australian band, The Temper Trap have built a career littered with impressive achievements. Not only have they sold over a million albums (and more than 150 million streams on Spotify), they’ve also had arena support tours with Coldplay and the Rolling Stones, and graced the stages of Glastonbury, Lollapalooza and Coachella.
Now, they’re set to add several South African cities to this impressive catalog. “It's what the people wanted and being a band of the people we obliged,” the band’s lead vocalist, Dougy Mandagi said. “On an excitement scale of 1 to 10, I'd say we're riding a solid 12.”
The London-based band has been together for about 12 years now. Despite their long list of achievements, Mandagi considers the fact that they’ve been together for so long to be their greatest feat. I asked him what the key has been to the continued relevance in this ever evolving industry. “We drink lots of cold pressed juices and put chia seeds on everything we eat,” he said, jokingly. “On top of that, always having a healthy dose of EDM (Electronic dance music) elements in your music keeps you in touch with the kids and the streets.”
In 2013, the band was dealt a bad hand when guitarist and founding member Lorenzo Sillitto decided he’d be leaving the band. “I just don’t think he wanted to be on a bus for months on end,” Mandagi explained. “It was a shock, but once it sunk in it kind of made sense. It can be a pretty demanding lifestyle. But yes, it was hard. It’s like a break up.”
At this point, they decided to collaborate beyond the band on songwriting. This has seen them work with the likes of Justin Parker, Ben Allen, Pascal Gabriel and, most notably, Malay. “The collabs weren't even initially for Temper Trap songs,” Mandagi explained. “It was just something I wanted to do for myself. One day I did a session with Malay and he was a fan so we ended up listening to half written Temper Trap songs on my phone and it kind of snowballed from there. Malay is probably my favourite collaborator. He was both a great music partner and drinking partner.”
Last year’s Thick as Thieves was the band’s first album without Sillitto. I asked him how the band’s process in putting this, their third album, differed from the previous ones: “Our process this time was different because of the many producers and writers that were involved in forming the songs in its infancy. In the past all the songs we presented to producers were all completed ready to go.” A lot has been changing, and more is likely still to change as The Temper Trap continues to evolve.
“We're finishing up our album tour with Cape Town. We've been booked for some one-off's here and there later in the year, but this will be our last proper touring run for the album.”
Fri, 14 Apr – Lush Festival, Clarens, Free State – http://lushfestival.com/
Sat, 15 Apr – Splashy Fen Festival, KZN – http://splashyfen.co.za/
Mon, 17 Apr – Parklife Music & Gourmet Street Food Festival, Cape Town – http://parklifefestival.co.za/