With “Hope & Ruin,” the effervescent title track of their fourth studio album securely nestled at #5 on rock radio in Canada this week, grain-fed pop-rock dandies The Trews are well situated to hit the road this summer, spreading the gospel from coast to coast and selling a few T-shirts along the way.
It’s amazing to consider that only a year ago, the confident new songs comprising Hope & Ruin were little more than a concept. As the story goes, band members Colin MacDonald (lead vocals/rhythm guitar) and John-Angus MacDonald (lead guitar/background vocals), Sean Dalton (drums), and Jack Syperek (bass) entered the Tragically Hip-owned Bath House Recording Studio in Bath, ON in spring 2010 with the idea of wood-shedding, demoing and trying to awaken the proverbial muse.
There must have been something in the water: by the time the band exited the rural, live-in studio a few months later, it was with finished album in hand. Co-produced by John-Angus MacDonald and Hip bass slinger Gord Sinclair, Hope & Ruin situates The Trews on the cusp of righteous rock stardom.
And luckily for fans, the band had the presence of mind to film themselves in action at Bath for a ‘webisode,’ captured below. Lest anyone wonder how The Trews captured the magic, here’s a hint: it might have had something to do with snakes and swimming pools.
