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Trews Control | “We’re not raunchy rock ’n’ roll guys,” says Trews lead singer Colin MacDonald.

THE TREWS
w/ Daniel Wesley. Myer Horowitz Theatre (8900-114 St). Sat, Nov 21 (7pm). Tickets: $22.50, available through Ticketmaster (451-8000/ticketmaster.ca).

The Trews are often seen fairly narrowly by the press, the fans, and even their own record label. They’ve been booked with some skeezy bedfellows (think Buckcherry), they’re normally tossed hard-hitting questions like “How’s the tour going?” and crowds at their live shows are prone to moshing through even their most heart-wrenching ballads. If there is a spectrum of rock ’n’ roll styles, The Trews are regularly dumped on the loud-rockin,’ hard-partyin’ side of that rainbow. Unfair? Maybe yes, maybe no.

“Lyrically we don’t really go into that raunchy rock ’n’ roll territory because ultimately we’re not raunchy rock ’n’ roll guys,” admits guitarist and lead vocalist Colin MacDonald, with just a hint of a laugh and a sigh. “We love rock ’n’ roll. We have what would be interpreted as rock ’n’ roll arrangements. We like big choruses and big riffs, but at the same time we try to have a little bit more — I would hesitate to say ‘class,’ but I don’t tend to find any good inspiration writing about, you know, blowjobs and partying all the time.”

Accordingly, their 2008 studio effort, No Time for Later, had MacDonald attacking subjects like gun control and media-induced paranoia — all wrapped up in some monstrous sounds, of course. It hit in the chest and the hips. “Maybe rock fans relate more to the musical side of The Trews,” MacDonald says. “Maybe they don’t even think about the lyrics or care about them, and that’s fine. I don’t mind. I think it should be a good time.”

With the fall release of a live acoustic album dubbed Friends and Total Strangers and an associated tour, all those rock riffs have been stripped down. The strings on the lead guitar snap and ring with perfect definition. The harmonies are more prominent. Hell, you can even hear the shaker more clearly. There’s no hiding in this setting. People will have to listen to the “other side” of The Trews. And that other side is steered by MacDonald’s lyrics and bluesy vocals.

As it turns out, ripping through the top end of his range wasn’t a feat that came naturally. Gordie Johnson, of Big Sugar/Grady fame, had to provide a straight up push. “I would always try to sing in a lower register because I just didn’t think it was cool if guys sang in the higher register,” he explains. “When we were first making [our debut album] House of Ill Fame, all those songs, they were all in the lower register — attempting to be dark and brooding. And [Johnson] goes, ‘It’s really boring when you do that. You don’t do that well. You’re not Morrissey.’

“He brought his wife out to see us at The Rivoli in Toronto in 2002,” he continues. “Later that day, Gordie said, in all honesty, ‘My wife thought you guys were just okay, but she really liked it when you sang [Led Zeppelin’s] Whole Lotta Love.’ That’s where he got the ball rolling.”

Johnson got them to pump up the keys of their songs across the board. “I’ve since realized that a lot of my favourite, a lot of the best singers out there sound really good at the top of their range, where they’re pushing. It gets a little more passion across and it cuts through the music a lot better.”

And MacDonald’s voice is going to be in particularly sharp relief on this upcoming jaunt. No more moshing. Audiences will have to pay attention to what he’s been singing all this time. “Lyrics are a great way to interpret and make sense of your reality,” MacDonald notes of his craft, while explaining his love for rock. “You can quote a song and it can sum up a situation that you’re in. They can make you feel better and more connected to everyone — and more connected to yourself. Not being too lost in the void where you think everything is meaningless, ’cause I think great rock ’n’ roll proves that there is meaning and there is a fundamental truth.”

Okay. Maybe there is only one kind of rock ’n’ roll. No spectrum or sides, just the people who get it and the people who don’t. And even if they’re still waiting for a few stragglers to grab the entire concept, The Trews seem to have always understood what it means to
them to rock.