Editor’s Note: UK Alternative Rock band Trash Boat has recently wrapped up the Vans Warped Tour and have also released their album entitled “Crown Shyness” via Hopeless Records. Madness To Creation had literally a few minutes to prepare for this interview, so prepare for this off-the-cuff conversation with vocalist Tobi Duncan. Fans can find this sensational band at the following locations:
Madness To Creation: Your band, Trash Boat, has recently released “Crown Shyness” via Hopeless Records, how has the response been thus far?
Tobi: Well, our data signal doesn’t really work too well out here, so I haven’t really had a chance to dive into the depths of the Internet to see how well it’s doing, been just kind of been going through Twitter and stuff like that, I’ve seen an overwhelmingly positive response, we’ve seemed to have taken a pretty big step from our previous album, which is what I was hoping for, everybody has been sharing our positive energy and our sense for the record and I’m glad they do because I want to see this band grow for the foreseeable future.
Madness To Creation: In order for this band to continue, what steps do you think your band needs to take in order to get to the next steps?
Tobi: Well, for the next six months, we are going to be relentlessly touring in the U.K. and Europe with some pretty awesome bands, one of those bands being As It Is, which will be in November/December, and there is one in January and February, which I can’t say yet, but that will be coming very soon, so keep an eye out. The next spring and summer is wide open, and now that Warped Tour won’t be happening anymore, the American summer should be a bunch of tours I assume, I’d love to come back to the U.S. as soon as possible maybe an Asian tour like Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia, all the way to Australia maybe. I just want us to keep doing exactly what we’re doing, touring the world and playing tunes.
Madness To Creation: What is your favorite place that you’ve seen while touring or one destination that you want to see?
Tobi: Everyone says that they love Japan, I haven’t been to Japan yet, and I feel like that will be one of my favorites when I get there, as far as what I’ve seen personally, I loved Colorado, I think Colorado was such a beautiful state, the drives were long and beautiful and very scenic. Australia was nice, but it was weird, it kind of felt homely in Australia. I loved Prague and Czech Republic, it was a great little spot. Madrid as well. Spain has a really good pulse.
Madness To Creation: What is one thing that you’re going to miss about Warped Tour?
Tobi: The camaraderie, there are so many friends here, the unity and it’s a touring family, it’s just like nothing I’ve ever done before, it’s a lot of work but it’s worth it because there’s so much going on. The camaraderie, the community, it’s just great, it’s just a shame that it’s not going to be happening anymore.
Madness To Creation: Who have you made friends with?
Tobi: The guys in Don Broco, which is weird because we live pretty much next to them, like our bassist and their guitarist live less than a two minute drive from each other. The Grayscale guys, With Confidence guys, State Champs, Waterparks, As It Is of course, got to know the guys in Capstan pretty well, I can just list several bands.
Madness To Creation: Based on the press release, I was reading what “Crown Shyness” meant and that was persevering and overcoming obstacles and challenges. What is a time or two where you felt you had to overcome those obstacles in life?
Tobi: Every song on “Crown Shyness” is about a different thing or a unique situation. I used “Crown Shyness” as a visual metaphor to represent that lack of connection despite the vast surroundings. Take the canopy of a tree and it’s surrounded by an entire forest, but they come so close to touching, but they don’t know there is anything there, so I took that as a foundation and a metaphor for every song on the album, so each individual song is about its own individual thing, but it has that foundation or that metaphor for “Crown Shyness” under it. If I pick a song, I would pick the last song on the record which is “Love, Hate, React, Relate”, the title came from a modern book called “Surfacing”, I wrote that after my dog, who is 14 years old, his back legs just kind of stopped working, in our world, that means its close to the end. I actually wrote that song when I thought he was going to die that night, because he just wouldn’t get up all day, but he actually pulled through, and he’s actually still alive, which makes the song a bit weird, but I wrote it from the perspective of his impending death., but he’s still alive and kicking, but that song will be right there and ready for it when it happens.
Madness To Creation: What is your favorite memory of your dog?
Tobi: He was a labrador, he’s been my dog since I was 11 years old, so he’s like my dog! He’s been there for my entire life, it’s very tough to see someone that I had grown up with for such an important part of my life as so helpless and close to the end of it, but we used to have fields right behind my house where I would walk him, and they would have buttercups, he used to run and hop above them, just a very vivid memory of him.
Madness To Creation: Trash Boat released a single called “Shade”, take us into that song.
Tobi: “Shade” is… I have this one song per release where I keep it to myself, this record is “Shade”, the previous record is “11”, there’s one song on each record that I don’t really discuss the details of the content. But to be vague, it’s about betrayal and someone who thought was in your support network, but being the furthest from it that you could possibly imagine, and they go to actively try to destroy a part of your life seemingly while unprovoked, but that’s all I’m going to say on it.
Madness To Creation: Anything else you would like to add cause I know you gotta get ready to head on stage soon?
Tobi: I would just like to say that we just put “Crown Shyness” out, and for Americans reading or listening to this, we are trying our absolute best to get back to the U.S. as soon as possible whenever we get an offer. If we don’t get an offer, we just need to headline, we need to get out here as we love it, pick up a copy of the album and we’d love to see you!
And there you have it! Trash Boat has announced a few November tour dates with As It Is, Courage My Love, and Holding Absence. Check out the tour dates below!
Sun. 11/18- Trix in Antwerp, Belgium
Thu. 11/22- Luxor in Koln, Germany
Fri. 11/23- La Boule Noire in Paris, France
Sun. 11/25- Thekla in Bristol, United Kingdom
Wed. 11/28- O2 Ritz in Manchester, United Kingdom
For tickets and further information on any of the shows listed above, click here.
