The Tricks… A treat
Interview: The Tricks
Published on September 28th, 2012 | Jonny Abrams
Hertfordshire-bred, London-based four-piece The Tricks are set to end 2012 in style with a single release, an EP and a UK tour, so Rocksucker had a natter with front man/bassist Joel Hodge to find out more about the whole operation…
What are your plans for the rest of this year?
Our next single “49 Mercury” is coming out on 7th October, then following that we’re releasing a four-track EP on 5th November, which will be our first proper release, as in something more substantial than a single. Following that with doing a seven-date UK tour with shows in Doncaster, Leeds, Southampton, Manchester, so it’s exciting because the thing we most enjoy is getting out and seeing other places.
Is there a full album in the works?
Yeah, that’s what we’re working on at the moment. The EP is a taster, really. We’re beginning to write songs for the album, and that’ll be coming out sometime before next summer.
How did you guys come together in the first place?
John [Bisset] the guitar player and I have known each other since we were four years old – we went to primary school together – and the drummer [Ashley Hodge] is my little brother. We met our other guitar player Elliott [Crabtree] in secondary school, and I used to play football with him for a good few years. When we got to around 18/19 everyone went their own way: Elliott moved to London, and the rest of us followed after a couple of years, and the band we were playing in at the time kind of fell apart so we just started up again, met up with Ell and started getting excited writing with him, and that’s how The Tricks started.
Which have been your best gigs and/or overall moments so far?
There are two that stick in my mind. We played at a place in Los Angeles called Whisky A Go Go, and it’s a crazy place to play because it’s got so much history: The Doors were the house band there, all this kind of stuff! I’ll never forget turning up and seeing our name on the billboard. It was quite early on in our gigging career because we went out to America to record the songs we’re releasing as the EP, so the memory of that will last a year. Also, we went out on tour in February and played some great gigs then, including one at Leicester Square Theatre in London on the final date of the tour. It was great to be back playing in London after completing our first tour, so that’s the other gig that stands out for me.
Are there any other up-and-coming acts that you’d like to recommend or give a shout-out to?
There’s our friends’ band Mens Adventures: they’re a great band but quite early on as they’ve just started getting out there and gigging. I can’t think of any more off the top of my head but I really like Jake Bugg’s music. I think he’s just announced a tour for next year, so hopefully I’ll be able to go and check him out. There’s lots of great stuff out there at the moment but it’s hard to rattle them off for some reason!
Finally, if you had to spend the rest of your days with the back catalogues of just five different musical artists, whose would you choose?
I have specific people that I listen to quite extensively. I think most people like to listen to one or two records by a larger number of people, but if I like someone then I tend to listen to everything that they’ve done. Bruce Springsteen is one, The Clash another. Blur, because I like everything they’ve recorded, including the new songs. Elvis Costello, I like lots of his records. And The Rolling Stones, because they’ve got so many great tracks over the space of such a long career, and every album has at least a few tracks I like.
Joel Hodge, thank you.
The Tricks’ debut EP 49 Mercury will be released on November 5th, while its title track will be released digitally on October 7th. The band play the following live dates over the next few months…
October:
Thurs 11th, London – Bop! Club night @ Hysteria, Dalston
November:
Thurs 8th, London – Bop! Club night @ Hysteria, Dalston
Wed 14th, Hull – Fruit
Thurs 15th, Manchester – Night & Day
Fri 16th, Leicester – Lock 42
Wed 21st, London – Sebright Arms
Thurs 22nd, Doncaster – The Leopard
Fri 23rd, Leeds – Cockpit 3
Sat 24th, Southampton – Unit
December:
Thurs 13th, London – Bop! Club night @ Hysteria, Dalston
For more information, please visit thetricks.co.uk
Click here to read Joel talking to Football Burp about his love of Manchester United!
About the Author
Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.
