Trews tour takes band to its roots

Yes music fans it is true, The Trews are headed to Yorkton March 14.

The well-known Canadian band from Antigonish, NS, are making a tour across Canada, their first major swing across the country since the release of Hope & Ruin back in April.

Guitarist, and band spokesman John Angus MacDonald said a Canadian tour in support of the album always seemed put on the back burner as the band concentrated on international support for the recording with two tours through the United Kingdom, a pair to Australia and two swings south into the United States.

"So we've sort of held off doing the Canadian tour," he said.

That said MacDonald said getting back to the band's Canadian fans will be great.

"We've been sort of established here longer than with the rest of the world," he said.

MacDonald said it's not that Canadian fans are different, but they do know The Trews better.

"I don't know if we notice a big difference from any other rock fan in the world," he said, adding they have followed The Trews from day one.

"So we can go a little deeper into the band's catalogue."

In fact the familiarity is actually challenging for the band who MacDonald said takes requests every night. Because Canadian fans know the band so well the requests often include some more or less obscure songs from early albums.

MacDonald noted The Trews put out an acoustic CD which was not as widely promoted, "but they're some of the most requested songs on tour."

As for the most recent disk MacDonald said Hope & Ruin is an interesting one in terms of the band's progression.

"It's our most experimental," he said, adding, "I think it was a really necessary record."

MacDonald said he believes music has to be allowed to go wherever the music leads.

"Wherever a song is coming from, you can't ignore it, because they don't always come," he said, adding when a song does come to a writer "it's not something to mess with.

"There really is an element of magic to songwriting in my opinion that you can't ignore."

Asked if Hope & Ruin was The Trew's best effort, MacDonald said that is difficult to gauge.

"We're too involved in all of them to pick one," he said, adding there are cuts on every one he likes.

MacDonald said it comes down to wanting to grow with each new effort.

"It's always been about pushing borders, about stepping out of our comfort zone," he said.

To accomplish that The Trews always go with different producers and studios with each successive album.

"It's about changing the environment," he said, adding they want to create the feeling of the process being new so "we feel inspired to do it again."

MacDonald said they will be looking to create that freshness again this fall when work will begin in earnest on a new recording.

MacDonald said in general terms The Trews are very comfortable being on the road touring.

"It's sort of always been our bread and butter. It's always how we've done things," he said, adding it has been the band's way of connecting directly with fans.

"We don't really know any other way. It's always been about the road for us. We're not selling Celine Dion numbers and kicking back living off record royalties."