The Temper Trap are back with their third LP Thick As Thieves. A lengthy cast of co-writers and producers assisted the Melbourne four-piece in the creation of this record. There’s some big names too, such as Malay (co-writer and producer on Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange) and Justin Parker (best known for his work with Lana Del Rey, as well as Ellie Goulding and Darren Hayes).When it comes to songwriting, the whatever works ideology seems rather apt – if a band sits down with a co-writer and a good song comes out, then it’s still a good song. However, within the realm of rock music, it’s safe to say not everyone shares this view.
The Temper Trap knew they might face criticism for collaborating with a number of writers on Thick As Thieves. But that wasn’t enough to stop them grabbing what seemed like an invaluable opportunity.
“At the end of the day, [if] we have an awesome song then everybody wins, really,” says frontman Dougy Mandagi. “Plus, we’ve done two records exactly the same way where it’s been very insular and it’s just us working together. Sometimes you’ve just got to change things up just to keep things interesting.”
“I think if you’re honest about it, bands that people think probably write their own stuff – it’s pretty interesting how many bands are doing that, but probably wouldn’t say,” says guitarist Joseph Greer. “Definitely at first I was concerned about that. I was like, ‘How are we going to approach it?’ And we decided that you just be honest about it. It’s been a great step for us and it’s made us better as songwriters and opened up a new world to us.”
Strict notions about what constitutes artistic legitimacy can often be unnecessarily restrictive. Look at Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, for instance. Although he’s responsible for the concepts and designs, a lot of the time Weiwei isn’t present for the construction of his artworks. But does that limit their potency? The Chinese government certainly don’t think so.
Along with Malay and Parker, The Temper Trap teamed up with Ben Allen (Bombay Bicycle Club, Animal Collective, Cee Lo Green), Pascal Gabriel (Ladyhawke, Kylie Minogue, Dido), Damian Taylor (Bjork, the Prodigy, and the Killers) and Rich Cooper (Tom Odell, Josef Salvat). The majority of Thick As Thieves was conceived in London, but recording sessions happened everywhere from Melbourne and Byron Bay to Montreal.
Throughout the various expeditions, The Temper Trap were still calling the shots. “It’s not like we got these writers to write for us and then just send us music,” Mandagi says. “It’s been a collaboration. And to be completely honest, in most cases it’s really been just some guy on a laptop basically doing what I tell them to.”
After ten years as a band, and with two full-length releases behind them, the involvement of outside personnel was effective in shining a light on the strengths and weaknesses of the band’s songwriting habits and luring them into unknown territory.
“You go down avenues that you normally wouldn’t go down,” Mandagi says. “You reflect on things differently. It’s awesome to spark your imagination. If there’s any blockage or anything, [you see] ‘Oh actually I can go down that route.’”
“You know how with Radiohead, Nigel Godrich’s been their collaborator and someone that works on the albums with them?” Greer says. “I can imagine when they’re working on an album he would be quite influential on the way things are turning out and how they’re sounding. Just having someone else in the room sometimes, a different ear that you can play things to, that kind of collaboration is refreshing.”
Radiohead have worked with closely with Godrich for the past two decades. A similar relationship exists between The Flaming Lips and producer Dave Fridmann, while the most famous example of this kind of artist/producer unity is The Beatles’ career-long relationship with George Martin. At this stage, The Temper Trap see more advantages in moving around.
“The opportunities arose and we capitalised on them,” Mandagi says. “Malay was a collaborator that I definitely did entertain the thought of, ‘Oh maybe he could be like a Nigel Godrich type of person where we’d do multiple albums with him.’ The thought has crossed my mind, but no one has really jumped out at us enough to go, ‘That guy’s the unofficial fifth member.’”
For better or worse, much of The Temper Trap’s existence has been tinctured by the success of their 2008 single Sweet Disposition. When it was reissued in 2009 it became an international hit, reaching the UK top ten and catalysing the platinum sales success of their debut album Conditions. In the aftermath, The Temper Trap became festival headliners, sold out arenas and picked up multiple ARIA awards. It was infeasible to think their second album, 2012’s The Temper Trap, would match this level of success, but the fact that it didn’t still seemed like a failure for the band. However, with another four years’ distance from Sweet Disposition, they were able to reclaim some freedom during the making of Thick As Thieves.
“This is almost like starting over again to a certain extent,” Mandagi says. “There’s less expectation,” says Greer, “and less [people saying], ‘You have to follow up that album.’ Everything just feels really positive and it feels like a new start.”
Though, even if the shadow of Sweet Disposition has receded somewhat, the band were still focused on making music that’d appeal to the masses. “I think if we were left to our own devices – just four guys making music with no outside pressure or no external voices – then we probably wouldn’t have thought about it as much,” Mandagi says. “We make pop music anyways, but obviously there’s labels and people that have invested money into this. At the end of the day they need to have a say as well. It’s not that we weren’t thinking about songs in that way, but it becomes just as much about managing that. It really sucks if you go into writing with that in mind. It really kills your buzz creatively and you tend to just work within really tight parameters. But at the same time, we’re not going to make some avant-garde, crazy arthouse music. You just have to manage expectations while still fulfilling our own creative instincts and desires.
“Before the debut album I had no idea what pop music looked like. After working with all these producers [on Conditions] then I learned about the structure of a pop song and stuff. So it’s hard to undo that, because I know that now. So intuitively when I’m writing I tend to do verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge. There are no rules, you don’t have to write like that, but pop music traditionally is written like that. We instinctually do it. It’s not like we sit down and go, ‘OK guys let’s write something [that’s going to be a hit].’ ”
The issue of authenticity seems less significant than producing something you can proudly stand behind. Aside from these insular concerns, seeing many of their peers, including Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Tame Impala, achieve crossover success in recent years has been a major creative stimulant for The Temper Trap.
“I definitely hear bands and feel excited, like ‘I want to be [doing that],’” Greer says. “It makes me hungry to be doing that as well. Hearing Tame Impala’s last album, I feel like they’ve just smashed it. We’d love to be in that position, so it makes you hungry to try and do it – to try and get there. You want to be part of the world of music and get as many people to listen to you as possible and keep doing what you love.”
By Augustus Welby
