aaamusic | On 02, May 2011

THE TREWS
***Consummate Canadian Rockers’ Compelling fourth album ‘Hope And Ruin’ released May 30th***

Ripping rockers The Trews, One of Canada’s top live acts, who have already notched up 2 gold albums and 10 top 10 rock radio singles (two of them No.1 and one gold), have confirmed the UK release their totally smouldering fourth album, ‘Hope And Ruin’, on Bumstead Productions, distributed by Cargo Records, on May 30th.

The Trews, who have played over 800 live gigs worldwide, including support for the Rolling Stones, Robert Plant, Guns ‘N’ Roses, KISS, Ace Frehley, Nickelback and Status Quo, have evolved into a truly organic, intuitive, roots rock ensemble since their inception in 2002.

Comprised of lead vocalist Colin MacDonald; his brother, guitarist John- Angus MacDonald; cousin, drummer Sean Dalton, and long-time friend, bassist Jack Syperek, The Trews had relentlessly pushed themselves non-stop, both in the studio and onstage, ever since their debut single ‘Not Ready To Go’ hit number one on rock radio in 2003, and was declared the ‘most played song of the year’ in that format in Canada in 2004.

Then, for the first time in years, at the beginning of 2010, the band stepped back, took some time off to reflect, recharge their batteries, and refresh their creative juices. Enter Tragically Hip bassist Gord Sinclair, who invited The Trews to ‘cool their jets and make some demos’ at the Hip’s fabled Bathouse Recording Studios, a big converted old house in Bath, on the shore of a lake just outside Kingston, Ontario. “I’ll hang out for a couple days, drink some beer, and listen to what you guys have got going on,” he suggested.

“We were just looking to run away a little, and we wanted to do something fun, organic, be a band again, all that stuff” recalls John-Angus MacDonald. “It was like anything was up for grabs,” he continues; “And we just needed to get a hold of where we were at, which is why we retreated to Bath. We went there to try and figure out what kind of record was in us.” The four piece faded into the bucolic splendour of Bath, kicked back, threw random musical ideas around and began writing songs from scratch, on a day-to-day basis, in an off-the-cuff, inspired manner, under the relaxed gaze of Gord Sinclair.

Sinclair unexpectedly found himself co-producing songs with John- Angus; “It was one of those things where we didn’t think we were cutting a record; we were just working, making music that we wanted” John-Angus recalls. Taking ‘the Jimmy Iovine approach to tracking’, which amounts to “just playing it till it feels right”, by August 2010 The Trews had emerged with ‘Hope And Ruin’, the group’s most collaborative, exploratory and intuitive effort in years. Packed with compelling vocals, intelligent lyrics, killer hooks, crisp production and superb melodies, ‘Hope And Ruin’ is the sound of a band totally rejuvenated, having found hope in ruin.