EARLIER this week Dan Willis caught up with Traams lead singer Stuart Hopkins to discuss the bands origins, inspirations and plans for 2016. This is what he found out…
The Traams are a growing band whose post punk rock music is taking the underground scene by storm. The conversation started with Hopkins explaining how the band originally began.
“I originally ran a club night back in Bognor, it was all pretty DIY, so I was running an alternative night and the other members of Traams were in another band.
“We became mates, and after I dissolved the club night we eventually formed the band.”
Stuart highlighted how the band’s genre is a ‘mix-up’ and isn’t really just limited to one genre. Amongst progressive dance, techno, hip-hop, and house, this is something which just ‘smashes together’ to form an alternative and unique sound.
The sound of Traams is also altered by the difference in age of the group.
“The other two are a little bit younger than me, so what we’ve grown up on is very different – which helps, there’s music which they’re into which I’m not into at all, but it’s all based on what we’ve grown up listening to,” said Stuart.
Traams recently released their new album ‘Modern Dancing’ back in 2015, and according to the front man the music hasn’t really changed much since their first album back in 2013, ‘Absolute Zero’.
“We’re all real music nerds, so we’re always listening to the bands we love to see if we can do anything different – but I wouldn’t say our music has changed that much.”
He insists that as a band, repeating themselves is something they want to steer clear from, and focus on continuing to make their music bigger and better. For the near future, the Traams front man hopes he can be still making similar music, but has no idea how they will have evolved in three or four albums time.
Annie Mac recently played a song off Traams new album ‘Neckbrace’ on Radio 1 – and this added exposure can only help the band reach out to further audiences. According to Stuart, this has helped the band feel more relaxed.
“We feel we finally know what we’re doing, and where we’re going,” he said.
With all the exposure coming so quick, it has put into perspective what the band has achieved and where it can go in the near future. The Traams members have all been in bands before, however none of them had been signed to record labels – recording their own albums has come as a bit of a shock and it’s something new for the post punk rock triplet.
Traams will be touring the UK across March and will be performing in Manchester at the Gulliver’s Pub in the Northern Quarter on Sunday March 13 – however the band will not be just limiting themselves to UK performances, and intend to travel across Europe in the spring, before hitting up festivals across the summer. There’s currently been no word on which festivals they will be playing, so this will be something to keep a note of for Traams fans in the coming months.
For the upcoming future, Traams are just planning on continuing to develop their fan base and sound, and due to them being such good friends – it’s highly unlikely the band will be breaking up to go solo anytime soon.
Stuart labelled the band ‘collective’ where no member of the group completely calls the shots – they’re either all in, or not in at all.
Traams are definitely a growing project and have a lot going for them as they go in to 2016 – as for what’s to come; it’s worth giving them a listen to find out.
By Dan Willis
@DanJWillis_
Recent Comments