“It’s nice to give back something that I enjoyed doing when I was younger” Trash Boat frontman, Tobi Duncan, remarks on his love of touring. The frontman spoke to Punktastic about the band’s upcoming UK tour and how the band is preparing to record their second album.
The band has just flown back from an Australian tour which saw them support Trophy Eyes as well as headlining a few of their own shows. “The Trophy Eyes shows were great. I haven’t seen anything like that in a while, every single person in the venue was just on a mad one,” he said. “Our headline shows were really good too, it was very smooth tour.”
The band return to the UK for a nationwide tour with fellow pop punkers Homebound and Broadside, commencing in Southampton on September 17 and finishing in Birmingham on September 27, playing Manchester and London’s Underworld along the way. “Every venue is bigger than our last UK tour and we seem to be growing quite well so I’m really looking forward to it,” Duncan eagerly remarked.
Their lengthily-titled debut album, ‘Nothing I Write You Can Change What You’ve Been Through’, was released in June 2016 to immensely positive reviews. The album’s refreshing pop punk sound with twangs of hardcore, complete with emotive, creative and brutally honest lyrics and massive choruses, stapled the album as one of 2016’s most celebrated releases.
Trash Boat are currently writing their sophomore album, but it is still early days. “We’re writing right now, we’ve only written a couple of songs but we’re writing a new one!” Duncan confirms.
The debut album saw the band showcase melodic pop punk with big choruses in ‘Tring Quarry’ and ‘Brave Face’ but still had their routes with heavier influenced songs for ‘How Selfish I Seem’ and ‘Pangaea.’ As the band settles into writing the follow-up, Duncan describes a more “integrated” sound to the new album. “I feel we bridge a gap towards a slightly heavier pop punk but the new album is a lot more cohesive. We’re not writing pop punk songs and then thrashy hardcore ones, they’re a lot more hybrid. We want it to be more of a solid and consistent album that incorporates both styles.”
The album has mainly been written in the UK in their native St. Albans after equipment was stolen from a bag during a US tour, hampering their ability to record on the road.
The debut album saw The Wonder Years’ Dan ‘Soupy’ Campbell produce the album in what was also his debut production role. Speaking to Punktastic in 2016, Duncan was amazed by the front-man’s ability to nail vocal lines on the first take and the advice he gave helped shape the album. Campbell also featured on the lead single, ‘Strangers.’
Duncan confirms that Campbell won’t be working on the follow-up, however he still is offering advice: “Soups is a good colleague and a friend now, we’ve been on tour and worked together a lot since. I’d send him a song and he’d still think it’s cool but there is no deep production credit to him on the next one.”
Eager ears have heard Duncan’s voice mature between their two 2015 EPs ‘Look Alive’ and ‘Brainwork’, and their debut, with the young vocalist extending his voice to grittier lines. This is a progression that Duncan is continuing on the next release: “I want to get a lot more emotion out of my voice and push it a lot further; kind of screaming/shouting but still keeping it tuneful. However, it’s never an arbitrary scream.”
Duncan further adds that he’s taking a lot of inspiration from Counterparts’ vocalist, Brendan Murphy. “Even live, I’ve been singing ‘Catharsis’ differently and I’m trying to add a lot more grit to my voice,” he said. “I’m pushing it harder and harder and I’m learning new things that I can do with my voice and I’m loving it. It’s all going to be on the new album.”
Trash Boat’s UK tour with Broadside and Homebound runs nationwide from September 17-27.