A Sit Down With The Trews + Overrated/Underrated

Bryan from Rock 95 got the chance to sit down and chat with John-Angus and Colin of The Trews. They discussed what it’s like to have live concerts again with crowds and played “Overrated / Underrated.” 

Here’s what they had to say…

Overrated/Underrated: Being The Opener? 

Colin says that being the opener is underrated. 

“I think being the opening band is kind of good because you don’t have the expectation.” He explains that as the opener, you just get up there and play. But as the headliner, you’ve got the pressure to be extraordinary. 

“Befall anything less than that then all of a sudden it’s, ‘well it’s just the headliner, the opening band was better.’ But they don’t realize that psychologically they weren’t expecting as much from the opening band as they are from the headliner,” Colin continues. 

“You get 50 minutes at best. You can play all of your best sh*t, you can look like your raging and you can leave there with everybody going, ‘Aww man I just want to see another half hour of that.’ They don’t actually but you leave them thinking that”

Overrated/Underrated: Traveling The Country By Bus

The band has been touring on buses off and on since 2004/2005, according to John Angus. 

“The first week is underrated. It’s amazing having a bus,” Colin shares. “Four weeks into it … talk about an incubator for disease. It’s a bus. If one person gets a flu the whole band is going to get a flu. It’s fine but I think it’s a little overrated.”

In a perfect world, Colin prefers when they do tours in separate vehicles. “I like it when the band’s in a vehicle and the crews in a vehicle and the crew can go do their thing.”

John Angus says the worst part about the bus is trying to sleep. “Nobody tells you how hard it is to sleep on a bus unless you're really drunk. Which is a solution but it’s not sustainable. I couldn’t sleep on a bus for the longest time.” 

Overrated/Underrated: Eating Out For Every Meal 

Colin and John Angus quickly agreed on the answer to this one. Eating out for every meal is “Overrated!”

John Angus explains that getting better at cooking over the pandemic was an unexpected perk. 

“It just gets old [eating out]. Especially the fast food. It really does get old. You’re eating nutrientless shit. So cooking at home and having the time to do it and taking the time and all of that kind of stuff … it’s nice.”

When asked about how her fairs in the kitchen, John Angus adds “Not as good as my wife is but I’m catching on.”

Overrate/Underrated: Playing Outdoors vs Indoor? 

John Angus thinks that outdoor concerts are “perfectly rated”. He continues, “They're as lovely as you think they are.”

Of course there are some issues like the weather that aren’t great. But John Angus explains that as long as the show isn’t postponed or canceled, weather can be a good addition to a show. 

“It becomes part of the show. We’ve had shows where a big ol’ gust of wind kicks up and everybody’s fancy hats go flying off. Or we’ve had shows where lightning is striking in the distance or rain starts and it becomes part of the drama.”

But at the end of the day, John Angus thinks that the best outdoor concerts are played on a perfect summer night. 

“It’s really great, especially on a nice warm summer night, such as tonight, when the sun is going down that’s the best time to play.”

Bryan also asked about the band's rider demands and whether there are any items that venues have problems getting for the band, no matter where they go. 

Colin explained that the funniest item they had issues with before COVID was Vitamin C packets. 

“We always have those vitamin C packets to ward off any potential flus because when you get sick on the road it’s a bummer and the show suffers. So we try to be pretty vigilant about staying healthy. And we always order those vitamin packs … but so many times you show up and they have one pack.”

John Angus adds, “There’s 10 of us.” Colin continues, “We need a pack … like a package of a bunch of them. A lot of people get it wrong. We get all this stuff and all this beer and all this water and all this food but then for some reason [they think] we ordered one little package.”