Trophy Eyes will release their debut full length, ‘Mend, Move On‘ this coming Friday 31st October through Hopeless Records / Unified. To find out a bit about the release, the band took the time to answer our On The Record questions this week. Expand this post to check out their answers and take a listen to the most recent track revealed from the album, ‘Penfold State Forest‘. Album pre-orders can be found on iTunes [Here]. Physical pre-orders can also be picked up [Here]. The band will tour the country in November to launch the album, all those dates are below as well. Tickets are on sale now.
Tell us about the release title.
‘Mend, Move On’ came about after we signed with Hopeless Records. We all agreed on an album as the next project and we just went for it. We’re super proud of it, and it was exciting to just go ahead and attack such a massive piece of work, especially being such a young band and not really knowing so much about songwriting. I think it shocked all of us just how much work goes in to an album compared to EP’s and smaller releases. It was fun though, and a massive learning opportunity.
Tell us about the artwork.
Brian Manley did the artwork. We were pretty stumped for ideas so we brainstormed for ages and found bits of art and stuff that we liked, sent it to him and he did the rest. I think the art kind of signifies time and change which is in one way or another the concept of the album. It really suits the feel of the album too.
What format/s will it be released on and how will it be packaged?
It’ll be out on Vinyl, CD and digital. We haven’t released hardcopies before, so that was pretty new and exciting. Playing with colors and booklet art and all that shit made it feel a little more personal. It’s all up for pre-order now.
Who will it be released through, and when?
Hopeless are releasing it on October 31st in Australia and everywhere else on November 4th.
Tell us about the studio and why you chose to record there?
Karma Studios was insane. We were treated like kings the whole time and holy shit there was so much beer. You could drink the fridge empty one night and in the morning they’d just have it stocked again. It was nearly a game to see if you could drink the studio out of beer, but we always lost. Actually, we won one night and found ourselves sitting around at like 1AM thinking “what the fuck are we gonna do now?” We decided to take our scooters down to the local 7/11 and buy a few bottles of whisky. I think I got robbed with a box cutter that night. We wanted to fly our good friend Shane Edwards back home to Sydney to do our record, but he was intent on having us over there. We pitched it to Hopeless and next thing I knew we were on a plane headed to Thailand.
Tell us about the producer / engineer and why you chose to record with them?
Shane Edwards did our first single Hourglass. We liked working with him and the end result so much we went again for our EP and we just couldn’t imagine going with anyone else. Shane’s just so easy to work with, and always gets the best result out of us. Also, after working with him the first time, he turned in to a dear friend.
Did you go into the writing process with a clear direction in mind?
Kind of. I had material ready to go and so did the other guys. A lot of it didn’t even get used though. We’d never prepared for a full length before. It was all very new to us. A lot of the time was spent sitting down and staring at the wall because we couldn’t agree with each other. But we got there in the end. Once all of the songs were together and we could prac them it started to get exciting. We knew we’d done something that we could be proud of. Something that complements our sound and especially our live performance.
Were you listening to anything in particular during the writing / recording process that influenced the songs at all?
Nothing in particular. I think we’re always listening to Blink, NOFX and the rest of the classics. There was a lot of time spent listening to things that had nothing to do with our genre. Queen, Cold Play and Kanye West are just a few that come to mind. I think it keeps the brain fresh to listen to different music as much as you can, especially while writing.
Were there any albums you were referencing to aim for a certain type of sound production wise?
Production wise there was a lot of talk between us about Hellions. We’ve had their album on repeat since it came out and we really wanted to have that super raw and emotional feeling but still nice and crisp. Shane hooked us up.
How long did you spend in the studio recording?
We spent three weeks in the studio, but most of it was spent exploring. Especially when we got our hands on scooters. that was like opening up the next island on GTA. We would always have someone working with Shane and someone there with them to keep an eye on things and help make decisions but if you could you were out having a holiday.
Tell us a little about the recording process the band used?
We did drums first and then a mixture of bass and guitars and vocals last. In studio A where we did vocals it was super open and empty. I got to just set up a stand for my notes and water in the middle of this giant empty room and go nuts. I got to just jump around like I was playing a show which I think delivered a good amount of raw emotion in to the vocal sound.
Any particular equipment outside your usual live gear used in the process?
The guys used different heads and guitars than they usually do, but other than that we are strictly no effects or extra instruments. We want the product to be exactly what you’ll hear live every time. I think our sound is a raw and natural sound, and we wouldn’t be able to achieve that with stuff we can’t do live.
Any memorable studio moments?
There was one special one for me. One of the songs in the album has a part that was particularly difficult to sing. It’s right at the end before these nice chuggy beat down part, and the lyrics were kind of a big deal to me. Anyway, after a day of trying and being frustrated I decided this was the take and I fucking nailed it. I spun around and saw Shane on his feet punching the air and saying keep going from in the studio. I got so worked up I lost my shit and started punching and kicking and shit. I’ve never felt that feeling before. It was intense. Other than that we were robbed, chased by wild dogs, saw a gang fight and spent most of that three weeks totally sauced. Best three weeks of my life.
Any additional tracks recorded that didn’t make the cut but may see the light of day sometime?
We had a couple left over, but I don’t think they’ll make it out. Maybe one day on a split or something.
What track/s are you most looking forward to playing live?
Come Clean, Best Man, In Return, White Curtains, My Name On Paper are my favorites because they will be so good live. I can’t wait to get up there and just lose my shit. This is going to be a pretty fun album live, I think.
How would you compare the final product to previous releases?
It’s the same thing, only bigger and better.
Anything else you want to say or about the release?
I’d like to say thanks to the ones reading this. If you’ve ever been to a show or picked up some merch or even just listened to us for 5 minutes. Thanks for giving us your time and support. We’re all eternally grateful.
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TROPHY EYES – ‘Mend, Move On‘
Available October 31st on Hopeless Records / Unified.
Pre-Order Physical [Here], Digital [Here].
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