The Temper Trap

Regardless of its nebulous definition, authenticity has long been seen as an essential ingredient in the constitution of a great rock band. Accordingly, you’ll often hear self-styled purists pontificating about how, for rock music to be truly authentic, it must be autonomously created – straight from the heart, with no ulterior motives.

The Temper Trap are back with their third LP, Thick As Thieves, and a lengthy cast of co-writers and producers have assisted the Melbourne four-piece in its creation. There are some big names, too, such as Malay (co-writer and producer on Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange) and Justin Parker (best known for his work with Lana Del Rey, as well as Ellie Goulding and Darren Hayes).When it comes to songwriting, the ‘whatever works’ ideology seems rather apt – if a band sits down with a co-writer and a good song comes out, then it’s still a good song. However, within the realm of rock music, it’s safe to say that not everyone shares this view.

The Temper Trap knew they might face criticism for collaborating with a number of writers on Thick As Thieves. But that wasn’t enough to stop them grabbing what seemed like an invaluable opportunity.

“At the end of the day, [if] we have an awesome song, then everybody wins, really,” says frontman Dougy Mandagi. “Plus, we’ve done two records exactly the same way where it’s been very insular and it’s just us working together. Sometimes you’ve just got to change things up just to keep things interesting.”

“I think if you’re honest about it, [it doesn’t matter],” says guitarist Joseph Greer. “Bands that people think probably write their own stuff – it’s pretty interesting how many bands are [working with co-writers], but probably wouldn’t say. Definitely at first I was concerned about that. I was like, ‘How are we going to approach it?’ And we decided that you just be honest about it. It’s been a great step for us and it’s made us better as songwriters and opened up a new world to us.”

Strict notions about what constitutes artistic legitimacy can often be unnecessarily restrictive. Look at Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, for instance. Although he’s responsible for the concepts and designs, a lot of the time Weiwei isn’t present for the construction of his artworks. But does that limit their potency? The Chinese government certainly doesn’t think so.

Along with Malay and Parker, The Temper Trap teamed up with Ben Allen (Bombay Bicycle Club, Animal Collective, CeeLo Green), Pascal Gabriel (Ladyhawke, Kylie Minogue, Dido), Damian Taylor (Björk, The Prodigy, The Killers) and Rich Cooper (Tom Odell, Josef Salvat). The majority of Thick As Thieves was conceived in London, but recording sessions happened everywhere from Melbourne and Byron Bay to Montreal.

Throughout these expeditions, The Temper Trap were still calling the shots. “It’s not like we got these writers to write for us and then just send us music,” Mandagi says. “It’s been a collaboration. And to be completely honest, in most cases it’s really been just some guy on a laptop basically doing what I tell them to.”

After ten years as a band, and with two full-length releases behind them, the involvement of outsiders was effective in shining a light on the strengths and weaknesses of The Temper Trap’s songwriting habits and luring them into unknown territory.

“You go down avenues that you normally wouldn’t go down,” Mandagi says. “You reflect on things differently. It’s awesome to spark your imagination. If there’s any blockage or anything, [you realise], ‘Oh, actually I can go down that route.’”

“You know how with Radiohead, Nigel Godrich has been their collaborator and someone that works on the albums with them?” Greer says. “I can imagine when they’re working on an album, he would be quite influential on the way things are turning out and how they’re sounding. Just having someone else in the room sometimes, a different ear that you can play things to, that kind of collaboration is refreshing.”

For better or worse, much of The Temper Trap’s existence has been coloured by the success of their 2008 single ‘Sweet Disposition’. When it was reissued in 2009 it became an international hit, reaching the UK top ten and catalysing platinum sales figures for their debut album Conditions. In the aftermath, The Temper Trap became festival headliners, sold out arenas and picked up multiple ARIA Awards. It was infeasible to think their second album, 2012’s The Temper Trap, would match that level of success, but the fact that it didn’t still seemed like a failure for the band. However, with another four years’ distance from‘Sweet Disposition’, they were able to reclaim some freedom during the making of Thick As Thieves.

“This is almost like starting over again to a certain extent,” Mandagi says.

“There’s less expectation,” says Greer, “and less [people saying], ‘You have to follow up that album.’ Everything just feels really positive and it feels like a new start.”

However, even if the shadow of ‘Sweet Disposition’ has receded somewhat, The Temper Trap are still focused on making music that appeals to the masses.

“We make pop music anyways, but obviously there’s labels and people that have invested money into this,” Mandagi says. “At the end of the day, they need to have a say as well. It’s not that we weren’t thinking about songs in that way, but it becomes just as much about managing that. It really sucks if you go into writing with that in mind. It really kills your buzz creatively and you tend to just work within really tight parameters. But at the same time, we’re not going to make some avant-garde, crazy arthouse music. You just have to manage expectations while still fulfilling our own creative instincts and desires.

“Before the debut album, I had no idea what pop music looked like. After working with all these producers [on Conditions], then I learned about the structure of a pop song and stuff. So it’s hard to undo that, because I know that now. We instinctually do it. It’s not like we sit down and go, ‘OK guys, let’s write something [that’s going to be a hit].’”

The issue of authenticity seems less significant to The Temper Trap than producing something they can proudly stand behind. Aside from these insular concerns, seeing many of their peers, including Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Tame Impala, achieve crossover success in recent years has been a major creative stimulant.

“I definitely hear bands and feel excited, like, ‘I want to be [doing that],’” Greer says. “It makes me hungry to be doing that as well. Hearing Tame Impala’s last album, I feel like they’ve just smashed it. We’d love to be in that position, so it makes you hungry to try and do it – to try and get there. You want to be part of the world of music and get as many people to listen to you as possible, and keep doing what you love.”