The last time the award winning Canadian rock band The Trews were in Milwaukee it was January and there was a blizzard.
It didn’t stop them from playing in our studio then, but we were happy that on this visit the weather was nicer to them. They arrived on the first day of Summerfest to play at the big gig for the first time. They also arrived with a brand new album, the eponymously named The Trews.
The Trews are a big deal in Canada and Europe. Brothers Colin and John-Angus MacDonald (lead vocals and lead guitar, respectively), along with Jack Syperek (bass and vocals) and Sean Dalton (drums and vocals), have received all kinds of gold records and won any number of awards. But the US market has proved much tougher to crack despite a great many dedicated fans on this side of the border. So landing a Summerfest slot was a big deal.
The new album rocks hard, as one expects from The Trews, but is also has a number of slower, more reflective songs as well. It's a nice mix - and all part and parcel of the band's philosophy.
"The way we keep it within the wheelhouse is I sing all the lead vocals on all the songs, so it’s always going to sound like that," Colin MacDonald says. "He (pointing to John-Angus) plays all the lead guitars. We’re not switching instruments and there’s not 19 people in the band. It’s still the same four guys. So I think it’s really cool to be diverse on a record. I think it offers more to the listener, you know?"
We know.
The Trews performed three songs from their new album The Trews in Lake Effect's Studio C1:
