Last year, I spoke with Trash Boat right after the release of their debut EP, Look Alive. Needless to say, I was thrilled when I saw the announcement that they were signed to Hopeless Records, and had a new release coming out. Pop punk never rests in the UK, and the guys in Trash Boat are here to make sure it stays that way. Below is the interview I recently did with Ryan Hyslop (guitar) and Oakley Moffatt (drums). We talk about the process of working on their newly anticipated EP, Brainwork, what happens when a promoter drops out of a show at the last minute, and more.
I heard that you guys played a show a little while ago where the promoter flaked at the last minute, but every band came together in the end. What happened exactly?
Ryan: Well I think Calum from Weatherstate got a call from the venue that said the promoter pulled out. The promoter had basically not spoken to the venue for about a month. The venue obviously hasn’t spoken to the band, since it’s not their job. There was just no promoter for the show. There was no PA at the venue, since they were supposed to support that, so the guys in Boston Manor came down and brought us one. We got some food, and the show went on as normal! Just without the promoter. It was pretty cool!
Some things have changed since the last time we spoke. Namely, you’re on a label now! Congratulations on the Hopeless Records signing. What was enticing to you about them over other labels?
Oakley: They just really dug our stuff, and that’s what we wanted. We just want someone who was really happy to put our music and is easy to work with. I think we really like that.
R: Yeah everything that they said is what we wanted from a label ourselves if we were to ever get into that. It’s turned out pretty well. I think we also liked the fact there are a lot of bands, but not too many bands on their roster. It allows them to give us a good amount of their time, and they’re really helpful with us whenever we need. And when we need space, they’ll give us our space and it’s great.
O: And they’re just like, ‘if you’re happy with what you’re doing, then put that out.’ It’s all what we want to put out. It’s exactly what we want!
So let’s talk about the Brainwork EP a little bit. It’s coming out May 18, debut on Hopeless. How was the process for this different in comparison to the Look Alive EP, which we talked about last time?
R: It was written a lot quicker this time.
O: After we wrote the first one, we had a little break just because we wrote that for fun. We then started talking to Hopeless and started writing this EP in a smaller amount of time. It happened a lot faster, but I think it’s a lot better for sure.
R: Once the first EP was out, we were just trying to play as many shows as possible. Then we realized we needed an EP to follow up!
The song that fans have had a chance to hear thus far is “Perspective”. What drew you guys towards choosing that as the first single over any of the other tracks on the EP?
R: That’s a good question.
O: I think that track was a bit more serious and heartfelt than the last EP, for sure. There is a lot more going on in the music and the lyrics.
R: The lyrics are very deep.
O: I think it’s just more mature compared to the last one. I felt like this was the perfect song for us to start with Hopeless.
R: Not to say that we wouldn’t have released any of the other songs as singles. There were a few others, but it just felt like the right one.
O: I think we were stoked on it, and Hopeless was stoked on it as well, and it just felt right to do that.
R: The next single is going to be a lot faster, more punk-y.
O: Yeah that single is different, but it’s very cool.
I saw the video for “Perspective” as well. It looked like it was a lot of fun to decorate that room with all of the lyrics. What concept were you guys going for with this video?
O: That room is a lot smaller than it looks! We could barely all fit in that.
R: But it was fun to do! But the hard part was, when you’re writing out all of those words, you want to make sure you spell them all properly (Oakley laughs). No matter how good you are at spelling, you’re looking at it going ‘shit, is that really how you spell that?’ We had a really good day though!
O: I think Toby started out with Richard, our videographer, at about 6 AM for a sunrise shot. They had a longer day than we did.
R: Big shoutout to his parents for painting the room white! (laughs)
O: Yeah! We were on tour in Europe, and that room already had writing all over it because we used to have band practice in there. Obviously, it had to be white in order to rewrite on it. His parents kindly offered to paint the whole room white again. When Toby got home, he had to tell his parents that we were going to write all over the walls again, and they weren’t too happy. (laughs)
On the album artwork for this EP, is the character looking into the mirror the same as the character on the cover of Look Alive? If not, what’s the story behind the art?
O: Yeah, it’s the same character as on the Look Alive artwork. It’s just about growth. The lyrics show that as well. It was just the best way to represent growth, looking at yourself in the past, and growing up and moving on. We also have the flower from the first EP that he was kind of imagining, and now it’s on the wall in a picture frame. We wanted keep some themes from the last EP.
The last question I’ve got for you this time is with the EP coming out in May, what are the plans around touring the EP?
R: We have a release show on the day of the EP at Garage in London.
O: Yeah it’s on the 19th, so it’s the day after the UK release, but the day of the US release. It’s kind of a local show. London’s pretty local to us, so that should be really fun.
R: We don’t actually have any tours lined up.
O: We’re planning one in August, but that’s not confirmed yet.
R: There’s not much on the touring front, is there?
O: Yeah we’ve just done a bunch! We did Europe, we hit the UK a few times with Real Friends, Nathan Detroit, and a few other great bands.
R: We’re heading out with Nathan Detroit on Wednesday for another five days.
O: The start of the year has been pretty busy! But then we’re taking a little break [from touring] and writing a bit more.
Brainwork EP by Trash Boat will be available everywhere on May 19 via Hopeless Records. For more on Trash Boat, visit www.facebook.com/trashboatUK
This has been another Shameless Promotion.