THE TROUSERS – interview

Introduce your band, and describe your latest release:

Hello, we are The Trousers from Budapest, a four piece hard rock/ garage rock band: Zoltan Kovary on guitar and vocals (myself), Peter Locke on guitar, Andras Lazar on bass and Samu Gulyas on drums. We have released six studio albums and one EP of covers so far; our next album, “Necessary evil” will be out in November. “Second hand suicide” is the firs single released, he second one, “All through the night” is coming in August.

What’s the hardest part about being a band in this day and age?

Rock and guitar music has become underground again, but it still has the power, see for example the always sold out Wacken festival or Ozzy and Sabbath’s farewell concert. The bands who make a living from playing music might do alright, maybe they get their income from merch, but at least they can tour intensively. There are the other type of bands, who just play in their rehearsal room together, feel good but no more aspirations. For the “middle class”, just like us it’s heavy, since covid especially. Smaller clubs were closed, bands who were our friends, broke up, so it’s hard to break into new territory with your own music, no matter how good you are. It seems to be easier to sell yourself if you are a tribute band of a classic group.

When did you realise that your project had the potential to be much more than just a fun idea?

When I formed The Trousers, I thought we would last for some years and do some club concerts for a few dozen people, but we would feel good and that’s all. In 2010 when we released “Soul Machine” we got a letter from the music editor of “Hawaii Five-O”, the famous American film series that they would use our song “Too tough to tame”. Unfortunately their letters went to spam in the email-box of our publisher of that time, so it finally came to nothing, but it was a sign that we did something internationally significant. Then three years later Nicke Andersson of The Hellacopters played a solo on our song “Real deep grove”. It couldn’t be better than that!

Tell us about your latest release, why should we check it out?

“Second hand suicide” is the first single from our forthcoming 2025 album “Necessary evil”. It’s a very strong composition, heavy but full of emotions. A Canadian radio called it “an instant rock classic”. This speaks for itself. I am very proud of it, and every time we play it live I can feel people are affected. There is something very deep and melancholic in that song but also very powerful because of the riffs. It is a unique combination. I really admire bands who approach this way, like Alice in Chains, Trouble or Porcupine Tree.

How does a song typically come together for you?

It always starts with a riff. I am very riff-oriented: all the Sabbath, AC/DC or Trouble songs are starting with powerful riffs; it is the spine of the composition. After that comes the accord-progression, the elaboration of the structure, including verse, bridge, chorus, musical part with solos. We are classicist in that. Finally I write the lyrics, in which the most important is that it has to sound good while singing. It’s more important than the particular “message”: if you are too much into this, you’d better read poetry. This is music.

How would you describe your sound to an unfamiliar reader?

It’s very basic and organic: drums, guitars under the influence of 70’s rock, but it is also modern and fresh; we are not a fully retro band. If you, for example imagine the mixture of the song-oriented rock n roll music of 70’s Cheap Trick with the heavy riffing of Black Sabbath and Bon Scott-era AC/DC, well you might get close to the intentions of The Trousers.

What do you want listeners to take away from listening to your band?

I would like them to think about us as a band they can bang your head to, while all the albums sound like a collection of singles: all hits, no fillers, no dull ballads. And the sound is timeless: it could have been recorded in the 70’s, in the 90’s or in the 2010’s too.

Where would you really like to tour that you haven’t done so yet, and why?

Maybe in Scandinavia. I guess that the modern version of this music, The Hellacopters, Gluecifer, Turbonegro was started there, so people there would like what we are doing. But it’s not like bringing sand to the Sahara, we are not copying anyone, neither the classics nor Scandinavian rock. It contains a lot of elements but unified. But we would tour everywhere in the West, and can’t wait to return to Czehia that we really like.

How would you say that the sound of your band has progressed over the years?

The first album is half-baked, I was partly the part of Budapest indie-rock scene because of my other band that was very successful at that time. The second album, “Soul machine” was the first real The Trousers album, but it’s real retro, under the influence of my old time favourite The Rolling Stones and The Hellacopters, who showed us the way to integrate different influences from soul to metal. The third album, “Freakbeat” (2013) was a huge leap forward in sound and in song writing, and since then on every LP, “Mother of Illusion” (2015), “Invisible darkness” (2018) and “Animal gun” (2022) we kept on evolving in both dimension, song writing and sound. The new material is going to be more heavy in sound, diverse with new influences but unified.

How excited are you for 2025, and what can fans expect from you?

The major excitement is the making of the new record. As it develops during the recording I am more and more enthusiastic about the material. It is going to be released in November with an album release party in Budapest, but before that in August we are going to have another single. We hope to play in the central-European region including Slovenia, Austria, Czehia etc but would like to return to Germany too. And everywhere! 😊