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The latest release ‘Traitors Club Year One’ features tracks previously only available to your fan club, The Traitors Club. Ryan – “They’re all from the club, but they are all new mixes and masters. Some of them sound pretty damned close to the originals, but others are different.” With you based in America Ryan, and Mickey and Rob in the UK, the internet plays a major role within the band, but the EP sounds like you were all together in the same room at the same time. Mickey – “We just click. We have a certain chemistry, and it just works every time. I’ve said it many times that this shouldn’t work but it does, and I don’t think any of us know why it works, but it does.” There are moments though when it does sound like you were all together, ‘Stranger Across The Street’ sounds like someone had just called “…2-3-4”, and you all launched into it. Ryan – “That’s Dave Draper for you! On these tunes, for sure, he gave it that vibe. A lot of it was via email or talking on the phone about trying different things. If he hadn’t been involved, then maybe you would have been able to tell.” Mickey – “He is a genius. When it comes to mixing etc that guy is a beast. My first meeting with Dave I was thinking how the hell is this guy going to do this. You work with other bands, other producers and studios, and there is all this equipment, Dave just turns up with a few suitcases and some boxes and gets on with it. He knows everything though, where to position the microphone etc. He spent one day in a room with me and he got three or four tracks completed.” The EP is really upbeat, even on a song like ‘Sick & Tired’ which has some powerful lyrics, it’s very catchy and instantly singable. Was that always the intention with the tracks picked for it? Ryan – “I don’t think so. I think that it’s just the direction that we’re headed. After ‘The Devils In The Details’, with the exception of ‘Heavy Heart’, the songs grew into what they are now, as far as playing them live and crowd response etc. It just feels like we are headed that way. I’m sure that there will still be a slow one or two in there, but it’s just been where my headspace has been when I sit down to write. I’ve got to give it to Mickey and Rob too, as we all seem to thrive in that type of song. I don’t know if it’s because they like bands like Van Halen… wait do Van Halen do any slow songs?” Mickey – “Yeah, it’s like when Van Halen play ‘Why Can’t This Be Love’, it’s very melodic.” Rob – “I think it’s that middle ground where different genres of music meet, the feel good factor!” I’m of the opinion that people right now are crying out for happy music! Who needs downbeat music when they can turn on the news and get depressed. ‘I’m So Glad’ is perfect because it starts all Beach Boys-like then Mickey and Rob come in and blow everyone away! Rob – “I think that shows in the live version. we were wondering how it would transfer live, but when we rehearsed as a full band, and Mickey started playing, then we realised, well that works!” Is ‘I’m So Glad’ indicitive of what the next album will sound like? Ryan – “I think so yeah. You never know what the songs are going to sound like, but if you were to ask me, then yeah it is. You never really know until you get into the studio, as I’m a big fan of taking a song apart and putting it back together. There might be one slow one in there, but there is almost fifty demos already, and I think that I’ve narrowed it down to twelve or fourteen, and they all sound like ‘I’m So Glad’, that kind of thing.” There must be a lot of work involved in The Traitors fan club, especially with the one new song per month, but the feedback you get must be incredible. Ryan – “It’s great. Initially, there was a lot of people that signed up straight away, and now it’s slowed down to a slow and steady pace. What I love about it is, yeah, there is a lot of work involved, we are playing catch up at the minute, but you get all these new people signing up and they already have a years worth of material just waiting on them.” With the whole advent of over-the-odds VIP experiences, this feels like someone is getting the chance to be a part of something, playing their part in helping the band. Rob – ”We were just talking about that. It was the Ozzy one on his final tour” Mickey – “Something like £1500 for a meet and greet?” Ryan – “Yeah, that’s a ridiculous amount. Thousands of dollars for a meet and greet” So with the work involved, will you be continuing with The Traitors Club? Ryan – “Yes, but I don’t think that we will be doing a full band song a month anymore. We did that for a year as an experiment, and I’ll say this.. it has been a labour of love… and it’s nearly impossible. If we had the time to go in and record twelve songs upfront, then we could release them one a month, then maybe. Dave Draper is now so busy, and in such demand, that he doesn’t have the time, and I can’t see how we would do it without him. I do want to keep doing it, but maybe more acoustic stuff or a conversation with all of us, fun things. We will keep it going, yeah.” Talking of people playing their part in supporting a band, what’s the best way for someone to support Ryan Hamilton and The Traitors? Ryan – “I think the best way is to not just go see a band, but bring a friend that’s never seen them before. Buy a couple of tickets because that..” Rob – “That just snowballs” Ryan – “Yes, and that might seem old fashioned. I’m a big fan of the internet and embrace everything it involves, but financially, that’s the best thing to do. And if you are lucky enough, or brave enough, to be on your own label, which we are now, then just buy a CD or a shirt. When you are an independant band, you are paying for all your own things, you are investing in a CD or a shirt. It’s paid for upfront, so any money that comes in is reimbursing my airfare from Texas. Every bit helps. That’s why I’m such a big fan of buy a ticket, bring a friend!” When Ryan is in Texas, what are you guys up to? Mickey you are out with Love/Hate soon, but what about you, Rob? Rob – “I’ve got a project called Straight To Video, which these guys have helped me out on in the past. I’m not a songwriter, so I basically do my own thing; movie soundtracks from the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, cover versions, that kind of thing.” Mickey – “We’ve all been doing this a long time, and you meet people that will help you out, do some guitar, some vocals. Being independent, I don’t really think people know what’s involved in that, how much it costs, physically to tour. One show down the road might cost you, say, £100 to put a show on, but to tour, the fuel, the logistics, the kit, everything that goes into it, it’s difficult.” And then you have to cancel gigs due to the weather, and lose the merch sales? Mickey – “Absolutely, yeah.” Do you think that you could do what you do if you had label interference? Ryan – “We had some label interest last year, and they are still sniffing around. It’s been tough, because everyone gets excited and you think about the money, but then you have conversations like, “Okay, we love you guys but we want your first two records, we want to re-master and re-release them, we want to own them”. And I’m like, “What! You can’t have them, let’s talk about the future”. Now that’s not to say if the right label came along and wanted to invest in the band, give us the creative freedom, that we wouldn’t be interested. This thing is growing on its own, so if a label wanted to add some fuel to the fire, then great, but it would have to be the right label. We were sad about it for a day, but then we were like, well we’re not doing bad on our own. We’ve only been doing this for a few years, and in the most humble way possible , I can’t think of a band that has grown this fast in a while. We’re not playing stadiums, sure, we’re playing small, medium sized rooms, but the trajectory is really cool.” Part two of our chat can be found here. Interview – Dave ]]>
