It sure is a long time we’ve been locked down. No live bands is getting us all down, but on the bright side there are some great albums coming out of this enforced shutdown, and now blazing down the highway we have another contender for album of the year – Trucker Diablo’s ‘Tail End of a Hurricane.’ We dialed up Tom and Jim to find out more…
Tom: How are things?
Mark: Good, thanks Tom.
Tom: Good to see you.
Mark: You too mate. What an album!
Tom: Did you enjoy it?
Mark: I really did, I always enjoy a Trucker Diablo album but this is really special. I get the feeling you’ve been holding this one back on us. How long has it been in the making?
Tom: probably two years I would say. We recorded the first single ‘Rock Kids’ back in 2018 and we’d planned to go into the studio for the album in early 2020 but that didn’t happen (laughs).
Mark: Good to see you too Jim.
Jim: We managed about two days in February 2020 but that was about it – lockdown hit – end of story!
Mark: I saw that you played ‘Rock Kids’ live just before the craziness started?
Tom: Yeah at the Winter’s End Festival. We played it there and it went down well.
Mark: And then we were all stopped in our racks. So where did the album start, was it all with that track?
Tom: No probably not. A lot of the riffs had been hanging round for years and we did try and get some of those songs on the other albums but they just didn’t sound right. They were just left behind, and I lot of songs Simon and I had worked on we weren’t happy to put on previous albums. But this time we obviously had a lot of time on our hands so it just worked out that way so I could get into the home studio and work on them as and when we could get some of the other guys in.
Mark: What was the process like? Was it logistically hard where you guys are? I was talking to Cormac from The Answer and he said they were trying all kind of things last year and he played a gig in a car park of a venue.
Tom: Yeah that’s near where we are, they normally have the venue inside but they completely converted the car park, they had tables and things like that out there, and they built a stage with a roof and everything. But things just weren’t happening – I think March, April, May it was just total lock down here, no one was on the streets. So we just did a lot of stuff online and tried to keep things going. We released a few of the singles acoustically as well to let people know we weren’t just sitting on our arses.
Mark: (laughs) It’s hard everywhere – we’re meant to have Kiss here in a few months and a few other internationals but that’s still not guaranteed. The upside for us has been a lot of local music is being listened to now. We’ve got a big show tonight that’s at capacity that I just stepped out of to do this. But putting that aside let’s look at the album. I certainly have a few favourites but I thought I’d ask you and Jim because the record is probably a bit more diverse than we’ve heard from you in the past – and some great lyrics too. ‘Rock Kids of the 80’s’ was fun, but before I tell you what mine are what are your highlights from the album? What’s everyone going to be rocking to when things come out on the 7th of May?
Tom: It’s funny that you mention it’s diverse and it is, we’ve had people say that before, but to us if it’s good, it’s good it doesn’t matter. But my favourites I would say are ‘The Edge of Tonight’ is definitely a big favourite of mine and one of the last to be written, I love ‘The Trade’ and ‘Rock Kids’, I love them all! All of them! (laughs)
Mark: (laughs) That’s the right answer, what about you Jim?
Jim: Yeah I think it changes, it changes day to day because I’ve been listening to it pretty constantly, I’m trying to stop myself listening to it actually! (laughs) But it changes day to day, but there’s always certain ones right there at the top and for me it’s probably ‘Bury the Ocean’, and ‘The Trade’, ‘Edge of Tonight’ was a nice surprise for me as well because it was one that when we were recording I enjoyed but I didn’t quite enjoy it as much as the others if that makes sense, but when I heard it all finished and all put together it really, really went up for me. I really love that one now.
Mark: It’s funny that you picked out those two songs because they’re up there with my highlights of the album too, I’d love to hear ‘Bury the Ocean’ live, I think that one is going to be a real show-stopper! That’s the one I’m playing a lot at the moment. I am playing the album all the way through though and that’s always a good sign. I guess the next question is when are you actually going to be able to play it live? What’s it looking lie over there at the moment? What’s the outlook for live music?
Tom: Things are moving really quickly, I got my vaccination last week, so things are moving really quick. We’re probably looking June I would say, we have a few shows at the end of August in the UK so we’re going to deliver the album then live.
Mark: Fantastic. It will be great to see those big stages open up again. The entertainment industry has been really badly treated globally compared to thinks like sport.
Tom: It’s the same here with Football matches. I think you can do live poetry though! Fuck!
Mark: You should do that then! The lyrics are so good on the album you could probably do a spoken word night reading out the lyrics, or even trying and sneak in some instruments and do ‘spoken word with music!’
Tom: (laughs)
Jim: (laughs)
Mark: Tell us about the pandemic themed song because the way I read it you almost wrote that before things really kicked off?
Tom: It was written before because after the last two shows we played in the UK we went to a friend of Simon’s a guy called Chris Lachey who was actually the sound man for Dio – so we went round to his house and in his basement he had a studio. So we went down and demoed it, so it was written beforehand but I think the lyrics maybe weren’t finished and so the pandemic really helped finish them off. So it was serendipitous really.
Jim: The same with the album title we were coming out of the end of the pandemic and stuff but that album title was already set before all of this!
Mark: Nice premonition! Let’s hope it is the tail end though and things are going to get back to normal soon. There’s light at the end of that tunnel!
READ THE REVIEW OF TAIL END OF A HURRICANE
Mark: So are you releasing you album on vinyl, now that we’ve all been reconnecting with music and vinyl is on the resurgence will we see a Trucker Diablo vinyl?
Tom: I’ll let Jim answer that (laughs)
Jim: I’ve been pushing for that and I know the guys love the idea too, the age we are it wasn’t real until it was vinyl! So it would be lovely to have, but just the issues for us, you know – we’ve no backing – it’s only us and we’re the ones making it happen so the sheer cost is a deciding factor really. If we were able to guarantee you know a hundred pre-sales then we’d get it done. But the length of the album would also mean it would need to be a double album, so again the cost – we can’t afford to have albums laying around that we can’t shift sadly. It’s a big outlay for us. We’d love to and maybe we’ll try people’s interest but we can’t guarantee anything at the minute! But I’ll keep pushing for it! (laughs)
Mark: It’s a weird thing vinyl – you see all the limited runs when they sell out going for a fortune! Count me in though!
Jim: It would look awesome as well! (laughs)
Mark: So what’s next? Can you guys get together OK to rehearse?
Tom: I think rehearsals are back on the cards again especially with the gigs we have coming up in July and August. (laughs) and we’re also writing for the new album! It looks like there are three or four, maybe even five tracks on the go already!
Mark: That’s great news! No moss growing there!
Tom: Normally every two years seems to be our window, but you might just find another Trucker album this time next year!
Mark: As far as the lyrics to ‘Rock Kids of the 80’s’ go you name check a few bands there – Rick Springfield got in, now I love Rick, he’s great and a decent guitarist too – who is the fan?
Tom: I think it was more thinking back to the 80’s and what was big – and of course ‘Jessie’s Girl’ was so that got in there.
Mark: There’s a bit of Punk on the record too – I loved ‘Insects’ – that was a great track. It seemed to fit so well but it is a different sounding song. Great lyrics too. Who brought that?
Tom: That was initially Simon’s riff, he brought that to me and we worked on it in my home studio here and then, I think he had some ideas for the lyrics, which were a sort of social commentary about people using the internet for nefarious ways and just being all-round dickheads! So I sort of ran with that and added more context and more social commentary about what I felt about those kind of people. And that’s pretty much it, but it sort of moves between you know, people who have real issues with the press and it being Ok to ask if you’re OK, but on the other hand there’s people being real dickheads – so not to listen to them and to try and stay positive.
Mark: ‘Woodstock to Vietnam’ is a great song too, tell us about that story. I do love a great story in a lyric.
Tom: Yeah I think Simon came up with the name ‘Woodstock to Vietnam’ – Simon tends to hear these things and notes the down for a song title. So that was really just the story of two friends in the 70’s – one goes to Woodstock – the other goes to Vietnam. So I’s the contrast between the two lives – one dancing at Woodstock the other dodging bombs and bullets. It’s about how things can chance with people’s lives. I know Jim has another interpretation.
Jim: Yeah for me it’s about the choices people make – there’s no sense of judgement in the song but these two guys who have made such vastly different choices in their lives and find themselves in such different places and yet they still have that connection. They haven’t allowed these differences of opinion or politics or whatever to impact on that connection they have between them, be it family, friends, brothers, whatever. It’s something that I think in real life if only we had a bit more of it! And I think it ties in with ‘Insects’ as well where you see the worst of people online and you think, OK you’ve got a different opinion but who cares? Get on with it, why are you letting this drive a wedge?
Mark: A great point well made. And sadly now everyone seems to think that you can’t even ‘like’, to use a social media word, someone who possibly has a difference of opinion with you. It’s ridiculous the world can’t operate that way! Music binds us together and will see us through. I honestly do think this is your best record yet and it’s not often you can say that to a band entering the second decade of their career. How do you feel, bearing in mind I know that all bands always say their new album is their best album?
Tom: I think we’ve definitely evolved, you can hear it. I think it has been the turning point for me song writing wise because I worked pretty much full time song writing on the third album and you really spend some time honing the craft. And that sort of transferred into the fourth album, and now again on the fifth album we’ve had loads of time to really work on it. It’s really just down to the time and effort. I think this time around there’s been more collaboration in terms of the ideas. It seemed that before a lot of it was just me going away and getting the songs and then the guys would sort of put their parts to them. But this time Simon came up with a lot of ideas, we worked on the arrangements together and then when we got to rehearse then the songs really started to come alive from there. So there’s been an evolution. And Jim joined the band on the third album so how do you feel Jim?
Jim: Well for me I think it’s the best, or certainly my favourite of the albums. Funnily enough I as saying to the guys just the other day without wanting to sound… because on my part I am also a fan still not being on the first two albums… But for my mind and we did come up with a list, there’s not too many bands that have put out five consecutive albums as strong in my opinion. But I love each of them though the new one is my favourite I think and it is partly because of the collaborative side as well, but also Tom’s vocals I think are so much stronger as well. They lend so much more to the tracks, like ‘The Trade’ the vocals on that just make it. I know Tom with his solo stuff as well has been working more on his vocals and I think you can really hear that on this album. It’s the best yet, yes.
Mark: Without making you big-headed you do sound pretty wonderful on the record Tom!
Tom: Cheers! (laughs) I actually had pleurisy last year Mark would you believe!
Mark: (laughs) Here’s to pleurisy!
Tom: I had a sexy rasping voice! (laughs)
Mark: And I just thought it was cigarettes and whisky!
Tom: (laughs)
Mark: Thank you so much for your time tonight guys, I’ve got to get back to a gig now! Thank you so much for a great album.
Tom: All the best Mark!
Jim: Rock and Roll! (laughs)
