Fans of jangly Scottish guitar pop will find much to love at a Trashcan gig.
The Trashcan Sinatras have a criminally low profile in Australia given their longevity, their quality and the success in Australia of such fellow Scots as Belle and Sebastian and Eddi Reader, Trashcan singer Frank Reader's big sister.
That profile has probably not been helped by the likelihood that many of us had written them off, unheard, as some kind of Ned's Atomic Dustbin-style throwaway band.
What stands out on 2004's melodic guitar-pop album Weightlifting is that this is a band with respect for beauty in a pop song. The album is stuffed with the kind of tunes once delivered by the Smiths or Aztec Camera.
"We like things to sound beautiful," says guitarist Paul Livingston. "We've tried to make things that are a bit angrier before, but it's not in us. I'm a big heavy-metal fan, but look at the songs that come out of us."
His favourite metal?
"Well, I don't mean to sound like I'm sucking up to you, but AC/DC. I like it all but I much prefer Bon Scott's voice."
In common with Acca Dacca, the Trashcan Sinatras had to endure their own make-or-break moment - bankruptcy after a record-company takeover. The Trashcan Sinatras disappeared for about eight years before returning with Weightlifting.
"Even before that stuff happened we were never that fast," Livingston says. "It had been three years between every album. I don't know where the time goes. Bands like the Super Furry Animals do an album every year and it's brilliant. I don't know where they find the time."
|
|
During the long break, how close did the band come to breaking up?
"We were depressed and we never really saw each other, didn't really care to," he says. "Then I think we just thought to ourselves, 'What are we doing here? If we're going to do this then let's do it properly.' Also we felt at the time, 'Let's just do this one album and that will be it.'"
It's incredible how often making a decision to end something can mean rediscovering one's enjoyment.
"[Deciding to end] made it easy to go, 'It's just a record.' Then, doing the album was great. Doing the tour was brilliant. We didn't really expect it to be as good as that."
They have even found it beneficial to tour more cheaply and be in each other's pockets and faces more - the way it was when they started the band.
"Before we had the bankruptcy and that stuff we wouldn't have stood for it, the way we tour now," he says. "We would've been outraged that people have to tour like this. We used to tour America in a big bus; the last two tours have been in a van with a U-Haul trailer.
"But, maybe because we know each other so well, it's good fun. And, you know, it's not hard."
|
