On Nov. 6, the Trews will release ...Thank you and I'm Sorry, a seven-song EP that showcases the band's lighter side. Until then, you can stream the album here on CBC Music.
And while you listen, check out our Q&A with guitarist John-Angus MacDonald below. You'll find out whom MacDonald considers the Canadian Jack White, the advantages of playing acoustic and why the Trews poured their hearts into a song called "The Power of Positive Drinking."
The Trews - ...thank you and I'm sorry by Bumstead
Q: Tell me about the new EP
A: It’s called dot-dot-dot [...] Thank you and I’m Sorry, and it was recorded over four days in Toronto a month ago, so the whole thing has gone down really fast and furious. We’re really happy with what’s on there and we’re putting it out real soon.
Q: You emphasized the “dot-dot-dot.” What’s with that?
A: It’s kind of a funny phrase. It’s something I tossed off in a situation. We were in pre-production and we thought it had all kinds of hilarious connotations in a lot of different scenarios. We kind of thought of it as like, if you were to play a terrible show or something, you could say it to the audience. There’s a lot of practical applications for the phrase we’ve been finding, so we put the "dot-dot-dot" in there.
Q: Why an EP instead of an album?
A: Most of these songs that are on the EP have been kicking around for a few years, and a lot of them were written just before we did Hope & Ruin. Either that or just after we finished recording it. And they just sort of have this cohesiveness to them. We worked them up with our friend Gordie Johnson [of Big Sugar]. We sort of co-wrote them with him, so they all have this theme that runs through them. And there was only about seven or eight, so we thought rather than force it and try to write another five, we just would put out what we had and present it as such.
Q: You said there’s a theme that runs through them. What is the theme?
A: Lyrically, there’s a really almost like tongue-in-cheek, lighthearted vibe to everything on there, except for one song. It kind of felt like after the "Highway of Heroes" and Hope & Ruin album, there was a lot of heaviness, lyrically especially, going on for the last couple of years. So it was nice to sort of lighten things up, lighten the mood a little bit for a couple of tunes, and that’s sort of represented on the EP.
Q: You mentioned that the recording was fast and furious. Was that a conscious choice or did magic just happen in the studio?
A: No, it was conscious. Everything was sandwiched into a schedule that was already pretty busy. We wanted to bring Gordie back into the fold — Gordie Johnson, who produced our first record and we’ve been co-writing with him ever since. He only had a certain window and we only had a certain window to do it, and the studio that we wanted only had so many days, so we put ourselves to the challenge of getting it all done. I think it was five days, but we only tracked for three days, we did vocals for one day, then we mixed the next day, so it all went down really, really quickly.
Q: Gordie Johnson is amazing. He’s got irons in so many fires.
A: Yeah, he’s in like five bands. It’s really incredible. He’s like the Canadian Jack White.
Q: Yeah. Now tell me about the tour you’re about to go out on.
A: We’re gonna do about 10 shows over in Australia, and that’ll be the sort of official first dates promoting the EP. Then we come back to Canada, and we’ve got about 20 or so acoustic shows booked. It’s kinda strange. We had sort of envisioned doing more acoustic dates later in the year. We were holding shows for quite some time now. We didn’t even know that this EP would be out, concurrent with those shows. But I mean, it’s OK. It’s still the band. It’s still what we do. It’s just the EP’s not an acoustic album and we are out playing acoustic, but I think it’s still a fair representation of the tunes and what the band does.
Q: You’ve put out an acoustic release before. What is it about playing acoustic that you keep coming back to it?
A: I feel like it’s in our blood to play that way. As much as we love plugging in and getting loud, it’s always such a nice, welcome change when we do the other thing. And we do it a lot on the road if we’re playing at a radio station or doing a special event or a thing for fans, we always play acoustic. And it’s always this special thing, so we always go back to it and say, “Why not just make a full concert of this intimate, broken-down version of the band?”
It’s just a really different vibe, and I think people react to it in a whole different way. And it’s really fun and exciting for us, too, because it gives us a chance to break down and give our ears a break and play things a little differently.
Q: Is it a different crowd that comes out?
A: It is for sure. We tend to play rock festivals and bigger outdoor-type things, especially throughout the summer when we’re playing electric. And acoustic, it tends to be soft-seat theatres. Actually, some people that might be intimidated to go stand in a beer tent, and get knocked around, and beer spilled on them, are a little more open to go sit at a theatre and check it out at a different setting. So definitely the fringe of the audience grows in different directions.
Q: Do you have a preference?
A: I always welcome the break. I’m a huge fan of shaking things up. That was the idea behind recording the EP really quickly and the idea behind flip-flopping back and forth from acoustic to electric. It’s really inspiring and it keeps the band on their toes, especially since we’ve been together over a decade. So anything we can do to feel like we’re giving a fresh angle to what we do is welcome to us.
Q: So you’ve got this EP coming out and you’re heading out on tour, and then are you heading back to the studio after that?
A: That’s just a very loose plan. We have to eventually put out another record but there’s really no fixed date. We gotta write a whole bunch of songs first and figure out what the next stuff’s gonna be. But right now we’re just gonna focus on the EP and touring that for a little while. Then it’ll be Christmas, then it’ll be the New Year, and we’ll just kind of see where it goes after that. We always kinda have to write the songs first before we figure out what the studio situation, the producer situation is gonna be.
Q: On this EP, what would you say is the stand-out track? Even though it was all done in four days, what did you pour your heart into the most?
A: It’s gonna sound silly but there’s a song called “The Power of Positive Drinking.” It sounds weird to pour your heart into a song that’s called that. But again, there’s a lot of light-hearted themes going on in this thing.
This is a song that’s been around for a couple of years, and we’ve actually played it live a few times. And it became a huge fan favourite. People would request it even though it was never recorded. So I’m happy to have finally recorded it. It’s actually the lead-off single and the lead-off track. I’m glad that it’s finally out in the open because it’s been one of those that’s been haunting us for a few years now.
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