The Temper Trap

Having recently returned to home shores once more, Australia’s own The Temper Trap have spent much time overseas vigorously touring and playing multiple festivals all over the world. So much so that their appearances at Groovin’ The Moo and their two East Coast headline performances have been labeled as ‘homecoming shows’.

According to lead vocalist Dougy Mandagi, the shows were pegged as something remarkable for the fans to enjoy. “They’re some of our last shows for the year, so they [are] special, or at least we try our best to make them special.”

Some of the biggest music news to break lately has been the announcement of The Rolling Stones anniversary show at Hyde Park, and with that the announcement of the lucky bands named as the support acts on the bill.

The Temper Trap being one such act scoring a coveted opening spot. “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!” Mandagi raves.

The announcement of their support role not only came as a surprise to many fans, but 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,” he explains. “This one was just like, ‘hey guess what? You’re opening for The Rolling Stones in July!’”

All making The Temper Trap’s return to Australia an overwhelmingly positive one – for both the five-piece and the fans. “It’ll be great to come home and see our friends, families, and what not. We’re really excited to road test a few new songs and see what happens as well,” says the frontman. “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!” – Dougy Mandagi

The group’s upcoming tour also serves as quite the first – with The Temper Trap having never played Groovin’ The Moo, or almost any other regional shows for that matter.

“I think the only regional show we’ve ever played was one in Wollongong,” Mandagi recalls. “But that was the only one we’ve ever done, so it’s good. We’re glad to be doing Groovin’ The Moo.”

As for other bands on the festival lineup that Dougy is keen to see? “I’m excited about Tame Impala. Midnight Juggernauts are old friends of ours so I’m excited to see them as well – we haven’t caught up with them in so long.”

The regional appearance follows one of the Temper Trap’s biggest performances at Lollapalooza Chile, which was not without its challenges.

“I was actually playing with a fever,” Mandagi reveals. “I was so sick but somehow for those 50 minutes of the day I think the adrenaline just kicked in and I was in my element.”

According to Dougy though, the set had its excitement as well as sickness. “I hopped on the camera. You know that thing that has the little track? The dolly! It was so fun and I loved it. I actually forgot that I was sick as a dog for that 50 minutes.” “As long as I can still sing – I might have had to call off the gig. But in the seven years of playing I don’t think we’ve ever done that.” – Dougy Mandagi

Despite feeling “pretty awful,” cancelling the group’s set due to illness was not an option. “As long as I can still sing. If it had a lot to do with my voice or my throat, then I might have had to call off the gig. But in the seven years of playing I don’t think we’ve ever done that. We’ve been pretty lucky and have had a good run.”

The Temper Trap made history last year, as the first ever band to play the newly created AFL Grand Final half time entertainment – in front of the MCG at capacity. “It was surreal because [everyone was] so far away.”

“To be honest with you, it didn’t feel as if we were playing to a lot of people,” Mandagi says of the experience. “There was just so much grass between us!” As strange as it was, the performance proved to do wonders for the band and their music. “It put us back on the charts, which was great! I guess the exposure of doing something like that is just so big.”

Exposure for the band has been understandably “big” since the release of their self-titled second album last year, eventually becoming one of the biggest selling Australian albums of 2012, and progress on the The Temper Trap’s third album has already begun.

News broke not too long ago that the group had begun work on album #3 with producer to Frank Ocean, Malay. Although according to Mandagi, the reports of them collaborating with the producer that surfaced weren’t entirely true. “The structure, music, vocals, and lyrics are there – so I think we’re progressing at a good pace (on the third album).” – Dougy Mandagi

“I think someone spoke prematurely on that. 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 confers however, that the group did in fact though have a successful session with Malay; “It went really well, I mean the chemistry is definitely there which is very important between a producer and the artist.”

But there is much still undecided for a new album. “We’ll see what happens in the future, but it’s very early stages and we’re still trying out a bunch of different options.”

Despite the uncertainty around it, Dougy reveals that things are still coming together quite nicely from a songwriting standpoint, revealing that the group have “about 5 songs already in demo form.”

Some of which have been created with a local touch – being recorded in Byron Bay. Much of the material is already together for so early in the record making process. “The structure, music, vocals, and lyrics are there – so I think we’re progressing at a good pace,” adds Mandagi.

So other than writing and recording album number three “wherever it’s convenient,” what’s next in store for The Temper Trap?

“After Australia we’ve got a little South East Asian tour, a few festivals in the UK, and we’ve got the Stones show – that’ll wrap up the year unless something major comes along after that.”

The Temper Trap play tonight at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney, and support the Rolling Stones for their Hyde Park show on July 6th. Full tour dates and details available at thetempertrap.com