Band : The Trews
Album title : No Time For Later
Label : Edel Entertainment
Distributor : V2 Records
Release date : 19/02/2008 (Can; EU= Nov. 2008)
Release : CD

Canadian Rock band The Trews originally went under the monicker One I’d Trouser (released a 1997 EP titled The Trouser on the Bumstead Recording imprint, to which they still belong today), were then known as just Trouser, and eventually changed their name to the current one (releasing an EP titled Trews in 2002)!

In early Summer 2002 they entered the annual high profile contest CHTZ-FM Rock Search, held by the South Ontario based radio station and won it…which led to their singing to Sony-BMG for the Canadian distribution of their stuff. Not surprisingly, the label was able to push no less than 5 singles culled from the band’s 2003 debut album House Of Ill Fame into the charts, even landing single “Not ready To Go” (which became the most played song in that format on Canadian radio during 2004), onto the #1 spot resulting also in a gold status for the album. It was followed by the live recorded House Of Ill Fame – The Live Cut, issued in late November 2004. Sophomore studio album Den Of Thieves followed in August 2005, and though only 4 singles were taken off it, the album went reasonably well, was given a distribution in the US starting April 2006, and eventually even came over to Europe as well (where it got some very enchanted reviews).

This third studio album was recorded in the Summer of last year (the band had written some 30 songs from which they picked 13 for the regular album…and recorded two extras – one for the first single, the other to be used as an exclusive bonus for the iTunes download of the album), and already released in North America on February 19. It was preceeded by a single (including non-album bonus track “Long Way From Freedom”) for album track “Hold Me In Your Arms”, issued on November 25 of last year. The single eventually went to #1 on MuchMusic for a week in April 2008. That same April also saw the release of second single “Paranoid Freak”, the video launched in late May…and the last single (for the moment) “Man Of Two Minds” (a ballad) was issued during the second week of September (the video following 11 days later). To date, the band has released a total of 11 singles, six of which went into the Canadian Top 10 in the Rock Radio Singles charts, including to absolute toppers.

What with the album out for so long on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean already, it’s already gotten plenty of media attention, even from a regular newspaper like Vancouver Sun, where journalist Amy O’Brien described the album as “…nothing particularly ground-breaking […] but it is a raucaus romp of guitars, drums and even a taste of bagpipes. It’’s a strong set of 13 songs over 50 minutes…” (then goes on to critisize the band’s choice of cover art, stating some people, like herself, will judge an album by its cover before listening to the music. The songs “Paranoid Freak” and “Dark Highway” have since been used in the hit Canadian drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation. The album itself debuted at #4 on the Canadian Albums charts, but fell from that position the week after (source for most of the above info: Wikipedia).

Musically, the band can be seen as a nice crossing of The Black Crowes and a classy Hard Rock act like Thunder (both moving in the Bluesey type of Hard Rock, as you might’ve noticed). Lead singer/ guitarist Colin MacDonald has a slightly hoarse/ nasal voice to die for, and he gets truly steady and varied backings by all of the other members (guitarist John-Angus MacDonald, bassist Jack Syperek, and drummer Sean Dalton)…and to make things even greater, the band hired Hammond B3 organ and piano player Liam O’Neil and bagpipe player Darius Kaufmann to enliven things even more (in the latter case, that only happens on “I Can’t Stop Laughing”; the first contributes to about every song on the album). Check it all out for yourself by surfing to myspace.com/thethrews (3 songs off the new album plus 3 off the previous onee), (www.) notimeforlater.com/mixer (a site specifically erected to promote the album), or (www.) thethrewsmusic.com (for videos check YouTube).

Here’s the kind of album you’d love to play on sultry warm summer eves, while sitting on the porch with a cold drink (alcoholic content at one’s own discretion)…the kind of stuff which grows on a person with each listening session, until it belongs to that category of “timeless music”! Ooh yes, I líke this!

98/100

Tony.