The Trews looking back while moving forward

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This article was published 24/10/2016 (3335 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canadian rock band The Trews will be making a stop in Brandon to kick off their six-week Time Capsule tour.

After 13 years being one of Canada’s most successful rock bands, with 16 Top 10 rock radio singles and two gold-certified albums, The Trews are ready to give fans an inside look into their world.

“In the digital age it’s hard to justify putting together a best hits album because everything is available at your fingertips … but we thought if we were going to do this and embrace the past we might as well really do it and do it right,” said lead guitarist John-Angus MacDonald.

“We are really giving people a window into the kind of things we were making all along.”

The Time Capsule tour coincides with the release of their “Time Capsule,” which is a collection of “best loved” songs as well as four new tracks. The Trews also partnered with PledgeMusic to create a presale campaign.

“As a bonus, (fans) can access this huge vault of old material and stuff that had previously been unreleased — like rare or alternate takes, b-sides and demos that were never brought to fruition,” MacDonald said. “There’s all kinds of old jams that fans have never heard or had their hands on before.”

The band also plans to use some old tracks to bring new life to the tour, MacDonald said.

“We are looking forward to shaking up the set list, bringing out more rare material … stuff that even if you’ve seen as 10 times before, you won’t have seen. It’s really exciting,” MacDonald said.

Fans might also notice another change this tour — a new drummer.

Sean Dalton left the band last year during a tour, sending out an email to fans stating that due to unforeseen circumstances, he had decided to leave the band, adding there were no hard feelings and that he wished The Trews the best.

Gavin Maguire took over as the band’s drummer with the challenge of not only learning five albums of material, but having to play it like he’d been playing it for 13 years, Macdonald said.

“Musically it was pretty seamless …Gavin is such a great natural musician and he sort of slipped into the role pretty effortlessly,” MacDonald said.

“There was a bit of a learning curve (when we started writing again) because we have a slightly different chemistry, but we’ve been writing a lot and have a ton of new songs.”

The four new songs on “Time Capsule” manage to stay true to The Trews’ feel and style while at the same time moving them forward, MacDonald said.

“We have some pretty poppy numbers on the new album as well as some heavy ones, so it sort of leaves it wide open for what we can do on our next album,” MacDonald said.

The world is full of inspiration for many albums to come, MacDonald said.

“We just keep our eyes and ears open to the world around us, what’s going on musically and in life,” MacDonald said.

“There’s plenty to be inspired by when you’re paying attention … We take it all in and at the end of the day we squeeze out our own little contribution.”

The Trews will be playing at Trails West Inn in Brandon on Friday, Nov. 4.

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