Temper Trapped or Lifting Off?

Jun 5th, 2010 in Music

We sauntered down to Soho Thursday night in Santa Barbara to check out Melbourne, Australia’s Temper Trap band brought to you by Club Mercy.  Only time will tell this five-piece band’s long-term artistic merit, but as witnessed Thursday they clearly have the ability and drive to take over a venue and rev up a crowd as well as any young band out there.  The jury’s out though on a key question:  can this band develop its own voice and continue to captivate more discerning crowds long-term?

We were pretty worked from the workweek as we walked in the doors at Soho, but the band came on immediately, and our desire to flee for home fled.  Temper Trap and its Indonesian-born singer, Dougy Mandagi, soon Motowned their way into the college-crowd’s heart with Mandagi’s Smokey Robinson-esque vocals on Rest (from its only record, “Conditions”), while the band drove the song with its TV on The Radio (TVOR) sound.   Fader followed with its energetic, spot-on Ben Folds simulation.  And the crowd danced on.  The band then lit up with the very Arcade-ian Fire song Down River. Later, the Tempered ones dove into Love Lost, with Mandagi invoking Prince to deliver his message of loss via a Coldplay backdrop.   And the crowd raved on.  The band then segued into Resurrection (with its incessant TV on the Radio and Yeasayer affectations) before ending its set with its catchy anthem, Sweet Disposition ( heard on the “500 Days of Summer” soundtrack).  Unfortunately, Sweet Disposition entails the band’s most blatant sound reproduction, this time replicating U2’s sound circa Joshua Tree (albeit with stellar group-vocal attack by TT).  Needless to say, the crowd again went wild.

The band encored with torrid, tribal Drum Song, with Mandagi ably adding stand-up-snare rhythms and top-hat to drummer Toby Dundas’s attack.  As good as it was, if we looked away all we heard was fellow Aussie band Midnight Oil circa 1988.  And when we looked back we expected to see MO’s Peter Garrett banging on his snare while railing away on vocals.  But instead of a tall, bald-pated dude, it was Mandagi and his mates, and the crowd worshiped on.  Temper Trap brought its set to an end with Science of Fear, once again employing major TVOR soundings.

And the whole time, the crowd went wild.  And we admit that there is reason for the crowd to be enthralled since Temper Trap delivers its songs with verve and a multitude of musical and vocal talent.  This is a band that has serious, arena-size aspirations, which translates well to large festival and small club stages alike.  Make no mistake:  they have the chops and drive to be huge, and Mandagi in particular has Buckley/Prince/(pick your favorite singer) caliber pipes.

But as hinted at above (subtlety admittedly not being our strength), this is a band that’s going to have to quickly develop its own distinctive sound and step-away from its blatant aping of its musical influences.  From what we can gather from its first record, “Conditions,” the band has good and interesting things to say lyrically (Science of Fear‘s lament of the science-community’s derision of faith is particularly well-done).  But the musical derivativeness undermines at every turn, and our focus remains on the sounds of the originating bands, with Temper Trap’s good message getting trapped off to the side.  We will hope that the next round of songs (Conditions was released early last year) will transcend.

Yep, we have bemoaned this issue repeatedly recently regarding several young bands.  We hope this won’t continue to be the case.  While there’s nothing new under the proverbial sun, and much of rock and roll has been influenced by predecessors and contemporaries, the better bands have been less blatant about their borrowings and managed to significantly separate themselves from their influences (could this be the latest and most tangible totem of the “Everything is Free” music-generation?).

Perhaps we’re just yearning for a new revelation instead of obvious retreads.   Thinking back, we may just be craving more moments like the exact moment when we first recognized the power in the ravings of  Johnny Rotten as he vehemently decried the Queen’s fascist regime in God Save the Queen (’twas 1977, while driving through flooded Pacific Beach and watching kids run/wade across the street from Tower Records screaming and flashing their prized “Never Mind the Bollocks” records while Rodney Bingenheimer revved up the song on KROQ). And we may just be longing for other oracular moments (1991, driving onto the Bay Bridge via the 2nd Street on-ramp in San Francisco) like when we first heard Kurt Cobain’s vocals squalling full-on in Nirvana’s game-changing Smells Like Teen Spirit.  These were moments and sounds that were unique and grabbed you by the soul.

Incredibly high standards?  Yes.  You may not be the next Sex Pistols or Nirvana (look where it got them for heavens’ sake!), but please don’t just cut and paste  your influences onto your sleeves.  Give good thought and full measure to transcending (or at least differentiating from) those you admire.

So dear Temper Trap:  we agree with the merit of those who have influenced you.  But next time?   Visit a distant, ingenious island, and when you come back, come out swinging and set yourselves apart.  Otherwise there will be a lot of playing weddings in Melbourne.  And not much else.

But check ’em out and let us know:

As a post-script, we definitely laud the band for supporting and pitching (mid-encore) the malaria-prevention efforts of Buzz Off.  By donating a small amount at www.buzzoff.org, you can download a new song by the band.  Check it out.

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