Interview with The Trousers

What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?

My father showed me the classic rock artists of the 60’s and 70’s when I was a child. I discovered that music makes you free and feel good and helps you through hard times. Besides having a band I am a university professor of psychology, and one of my main research fields is creativity, so the two halves of my life overlaps.

What do you like to do when you are not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?

I like reading, especially philosophy, watching movies, listening to very different kinds of music, and I love nature, animals, plants, landscapes. Human condition, relationships, feelings, crises, efforts – these are the most influential experiences that make we writing music.

How long has your band been around?

Officially since 2005, but the “real” The Trousers was born when our second album, “Soul machine” came out in 2010.

Where are you based out of and how did that influence your music?

Budapest, Hungary. The musical environment is very different than what we do. There is a strong metal scene, which we like a lot. American and European metal bands come to play in Budapest very frequently. But in radios there are mostly current trash pop or nostalgic 80’s pop music, and concerning live music, hip hop and alternative pop/rock music both with Hungarian language and very “deep” messages are dominant. We do not care too much about it, doing our own things faithfully. Our friends are mostly coming from the classic rock tribute bands’ scene, which is also huge here.

How did you come up with the name of your band and what does it mean to you?

When we started, in the middle of the 00’s a lot of bands called themselves “The …s”, like The White Stripes, The Hellacopters, The Hives, etc. We liked them a lot. “The Trousers” started as a joke, because it looks like grammatically plural although it’s singular. But it looked great on the created logo, and we decided to keep it. It also has some symbolic meaning, like “who wears the trousers”, so it refers to the fact that this is a gang of badass guys, hahaha.

Tell me about your most memorable shows.

One of them was with MC50, which was led by Wayne Kramer, the founder of MC5. Kramer was a real gentleman, God rests his soul. It was also very impressive to meet Kim Thayil (Soundgarden) and Billy Gould (Faith No More) who were in his support band. Supporting Tygers of Pan Tang and Dirty Honey was also awesome, in Budapest, Analog Music Hall, 2024 march and may. Maybe the most memorable when we opened for Peter Hook and the Light. Peter Hook was the bassist of Joy Division, as you know. It was in 2013, the end of march, snowing, and the gig was at A38 Ship which is regarded as one of the best clubs in the world. When I went home at night after the show, I opened my email box and saw that Nicke Andersson of The Hellacopters said yes to us to play a guitar solo on our song “Real deep groove”. It was a magical moment!

What is your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you have not already?

The formerly mentioned Analog Music Hall and A38 are the best places to play in our home country for a band like us. We often play abroad, Germany, Austria, Czehia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and we have seen very cool places. Barrák Music Club in Ostrava, Czehia is great for example, we will go to play there again next year with Degradace, our friends from Ostrava. Once we played at Gutter City Garage Rock festival in Copenhagen, which was also fine. I wish we could make Scandinavia once.

If you could play any show with any lineup, who would be on the ticket?

The Hellacopters, Alice in Chains and Rival Sons would be mind blowing.  

What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into playing in a band and some advice that you would give to your younger self?

Similar that we have done throughout the years, follow your instincts, follow your feeling, be true to yourself, work hard, and take all the chances. Don’t go with the flow, but be open all the time.

Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?

Our latest release, “Second hand suicide” is a real deep cut, with heavy riffs and overflowing emotions. “My kind of business” was half written by my late brother, Peter, who was a great musician, composer and performer, he sadly passed in 2022. “Buckley funeral home” is fast, heavy and melodic, I play it with my Flying V, and during the solo I have a chance to Imagine that I am Michael Schenker, hahaha.

Which songs are your favorite to play and which gets requested the most?

“Hysterical route” is always the final before the encore, and it has a bit of 70’s funky groove like Grand Funk Railroad or Mark III Deep Purple. It makes people dance and party, and we all enjoy playing it. “Sister Sludge” was requested several times when we played abroad, one of our heaviest song with open G tuning, drop D and octaver.

What is the creative process like for the band, and what inspires you to write your music?

I am the songwriter in the band. I usually write the albums in one session like in the summer break, 10 songs in every two years, at home with my acoustic guitar. If a song sound good unplugged, sou can be sure that it will work by playing by a band. Between these periods I am not composing. Then I take the songs to the rehearsal room and work on them with Peter (guitar), Bandi (bass) and Samu (drums). I think that two things inspire me to write: musical influences and hard times in my private life. When I wrote “Sister Sludge” the two influences met; I was down and listened to a lot of Monster Magnet. You can hear it in the song. Similar was with “Second hand suicide”, but at that time I was very deep into Black Sabbath (again) and Alice in Chains.

 What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?

The power of music, the power of friendship, the power of human spirit and the unavoidable tragic aspects of life that shouldn’t keep you away from struggling and enjoyment sometimes. I am an existentialist, and one of my favorites quotes is by Charles Bukowski: “You can’t beat death, but you can beat death in life sometimes.”

Do you ever have disagreements in your band, and how do you get past them?

 Not too much, fortunately, there is a strong cohesion in the band. Sometimes I have to warn the guys not to drink too much before the concert. I gave up drinking, so I am the sober guy who try to keep the balance.

What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that is coming up?

 We have just released “Second hand suicide”, the from the forthcoming seventh album “Necessary evil”. It will be released in the autumn. In November we will have an album release show in Budapest, after that we will try to play wherever we can in Europe. It would be great to support a bigger band on a whole tour sometimes.