This month sees the return of post-rock local legends The Rock of Travolta who release Fine Lines, their first album since 2003’s Uluru, on Big Red Sky Records on the 14th March. OMS recently caught up with guitarist Matt Spooner to talk about the new album, the band’s tumultuous history and the current state of the Oxford music scene.The Rock of Travolta formed in 2000, released their debut album My Bands Better Than Yours and was handpicked by Radiohead to open their South Park homecoming gig in 2001, instantly making them the darlings of the Oxford music scene. Uluru gained the band national recognition but after the promotional blitz that followed the album’s release, the band went through a transformation. “I joined the band on Valentines Day 2004” Spooner remembers. “At that point there was some new music but, by July, two of the original band members had quit and as a result we didn’t do anything for a while. As you can imagine we were a bit disheartened.”
However the band was soon bolstered by the addition of Jennie Bates on Cello, Keyboard and Bass guitar duties. “By the time Jennie joined in September 2005 we had found a new way of working, and written new music. Jennie’s input gave an extra dimension to the ideas, our confidence lifted and the band suddenly seemed real to us again.” So, how has the change in line-up affected TROT’s sound?
“The music on Fine Lines is more complex. It takes more skill to play. We’re realising this at the moment, having played a lot of the old material recently to promote the re-release of the last two records. We realise that some of these technicalities could be lost on people.”
The recording of Fine Lines began at the end of 2007 at Martin Newton’s Studio 101, and was co-produced by the band and Jimmy Hetherington. “We took a lot of time over the recording and mixing the album. It was pretty meticulous stuff. Jimmy and Martin have both played huge roles in making it a reality. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.”
“Jimmy is brilliant in the studio and a bloody good musician too. Martin and Big Red Sky really gave us the kick up the arse we needed to get the album out there. We’ve learnt a massive amount from both of them.”
So where do TROT fit into the local music scene, and are there drawbacks to being a purely instrumental band?
“Most bands have words and sing melodies. The traditional approach gives them an immediate familiarity. We have to work a bit harder. Somewhere in the writing process we need to decide whether we’re going to try and provide a focus, carry peoples attention with melody and if so, what instrument will carry it? Sometimes it’s the case that we’re going to emphasize the absence of a lead instrument.”
As for the challenges of being an instrumental band, Spooner notes “It’s pretty easy gaining an audiences attention, holding it is the real trick.”
“It must be challenging for an audience listening to us. One minute it seems like we’re building serious guitar atmospheres, and the next we’re blowing a big musical raspberry at it all with some tongue-in-cheek squelchy electronica.”
Having already mentioned a few local bands, Spooner was enthusiastic about the current state of the Oxford music scene.
“There’s some brilliant music coming out of Oxford at the moment. Bands like Ivy’s Itch, Dive Dive and Smilex are as disturbing, inventive and brutal as ever but Oxford also has an exciting younger crop of bands too. I’m really enjoying Von Braun, Gunning for Tamar, Phantom Theory, Spring Offensive and Undersmile. The continuous wealth of bands in Oxford shows that music is about life just as much as ambition.”
So what’s next for TROT? “We’re doing a lot of work to give the album the push it deserves but we also have an EP mixed and mastered that we would like to release at the end of the year. On top of that, there are four other tunes written.”
So Oxford’s instrumental darlings are back and in beautifully, anarchic form.
“We didn’t set out to make something difficult, we just play what we want.”
[Originally printed in Oxfordshire Music Scene magazine, issue 13, April 2011]
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