The Temper Trap’s work has already begun in earnest on their third studio album and now a new video reveals a brief, but very intimate look at the band’s creative process while they took up an artist residency in Byron Bay to work on new material over two sessions.
La Casa is an artist residency program backed by brewers Corona where a beach-side getaway location, fully equipped with a recording studio, is designed as a “a haven for musicians, designers, artists and surfers.” As a new promo video reveals The Temper Trap took up Corona on their offer and in-between footage of the band enjoying the sun and surf reveals some interesting details about the band’s work on their third studio album.
“With this album, there is a bit of pressure, as we’ve discerned and had feedback from album two and reviewed our strengths from album one – there’s a pretty clear vision of what we want to do,” says bassist Jonathan Aherne in the video, noting that the five-piece have been writing in London while frontman Dougy Mandagi went on a creative trip to Los Angeles before the band reconvened for the La Casa sessions.
“As Dougy was in LA he met quite a few people, one of them being Malay,” adds the bassist, referring to the Grammy-winning producer – best known as the major creative partner to Frank Ocean on his major label debut channel Orange.
“I was just kind of a fan of Temper Trap and apparently they were a fan of some of the work that I’ve done before,” says the multi-instrumentalist engineer and producer. “It was super conducive for us to get our relationships established – me as a music producer them as a band.”
News that Malay and The Temper Trap were working together first broke last March, but in an interview with Tone Deaf during their run at the Groovin’ The Moo Festival in May, frontman Dougy Mandagi was more curt about the Frank Ocean producer’s involvement. “I think someone spoke prematurely on that.” “With this album, there is a bit of pressure, [we’ve] had feedback from album two and reviewed our strengths – there’s a pretty clear vision of what we want to do.” – Jonathan Aherne, Bassist
“What’s happening is that we are in the process of trying out a whole bunch of producers – we haven’t cemented a particular producer as of yet, it’s still very early stages,” he confirmed however that the La Casa sessions were none the less successful; “It went really well, I mean the chemistry is definitely there which is very important between a producer and the artist.”
“Having another person in to share ideas with and I guess challenge us to do things differently and think outside of the box is going to be really helpful in terms of the creative process for this next record,” says guitarist Lorenzo Sillitto of Malay’s involvement. “I kind of always felt that we wouldn’t really hit our stride until this next record.”
“I think we’re the kind of band where there isn’t really any rules on how we write, we’re pretty open to changing things up, which is kind of what we’re doing,” adds keyboardist/guitarist Joseph Greer; “that’s the good thing about us, we’re not afraid to mix it up.”
In May, Mandagi confirmed to Tone Deaf the band had “about 5 songs already in demo form,” for their new album. “The structure, music, vocals, and lyrics are there – so I think we’re progressing at a good pace.”
The new album follows on from last year’s The Temper Trap, their self-titled follow-up to 2009 debut Conditions and one of Australia’s best selling releases in 2012, as well as scooping the ARIA for Best Rock Album and Best Group in 2012.
On the live front, after completing two headline shows in April in Melbourne and Sydney, as well as regional visits with their Groovin’ The Moo run, The Temper Trap’s current touring schedule sees them once again heading overseas. The band are currently jetting their way to Iceland for the Keflavík Music Festival tomorrow, before hitting UK’s Parklife Weekender, and Scotland’s Rockness Festival before the week is out.
Then comes their much-coveted support slot, opening for The Rolling Stones for their highly anticipated headline show in London’s Hyde Park this July, news that came as a surprise to the band themselves.”It never really was presented to us. Usually what happens with these things is that there’s talk of something happening and you have some time to process it,” said Mandagi in his May interview. “This one was just like, ‘hey guess what? You’re opening for The Rolling Stones in July!’”
“It’s surreal, it’s just amazing. We’re massive fans (of The Stones) as well, so it’s something to tick off the bucket list!” adds the frontman.
The Rolling Stones 2013 World Tour
50 & Counting Tour
details at RollingStones.com
July 6, London, Hyde Park
w/ The Vaccines, Gary Clark Jr. and The Temper Trap
