What was the beginning pint for your music career? How did it all start?
We started a high school band with my late brother and a friend called “The RagDoll”, it lasted for ten years. The band played different kinds of rock music through the years. After breaking up I joined an uprising indie-rock band in Budapest named “Amber Smith”, but I also formed “The Trousers” to play heavier music. After leaving Amber Smith, from 2010 The Trousers found its own identity as a garage/hard rock band.
Was there any bumps on the road? What kind of challenges did you have to deal with?
Yes, I was not a professional singer and songwriter, because formerly I was just a guitarist, so it took me five years to find myself within this context. The second one that what we have been doing and the way that we have done it was very much against every kind of expectations in Hungary. We were not a metal band and not an indie band, so we couldn’t really join any existing subcultures and our lyrics are in English. Alternative and mainstream rock and pop music is very lyrics-oriented in this country, and we all know that the rock n roll we play has to be in English. We stick to this, being aware of the limitations go together with this.
What was the most fulfilling and satisfying moment so far?
In 2013 we had a chance to have Nicke Andersson of The Hellacopters to feature with a guitarsolo on our song “Real Deep Groove”. Beside this we had beautiful experiences playing together with bands like Black Stone Cherry, MC5, Dirty Honey, Tygers of Pan Tang and others.
How would you describe the music that you typically create?
It’s rock n roll, with heavy guitars and catchy vocals, classic and modern at the same time, performed with the energy of old school metal and punk.
What is your creative process like?
I am the songwriter in the band. I compose songs alone with acoustic guitar (including the riffs!) at home mostly during the summertime. After that I make a demo with our studio man, give it to the boys in the band. They work out their parts, learn them, and we put it together in the rehearsal room. After that we go to the studio, Sam is recording drums first, then my guitar and vocal parts coming, and Bandi is recording the bass. Pete is adding his own part at home in his own studio. Finally we include some keyboards and female backing vocals, like the Stones, The Black Crowes or Lynyrd Skynyrd do.
If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?
I think music is mostly about experiencing our emotions, our freedom. Current pop music that can be found everywhere, on radios, shopping centers, festivals are not about real human feelings and self expression, but cheap, hedonistic, not musical, one dimensional and disposable trash. You become what you are listening to. Music that is pushed by the “industry” is making us one-dimensional, empty and unreflected. Can you imagine that in 1973 Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” was the biggest selling album on the planet??? We have changed, but not for better, and the industry’s responsibility is huge in that.
If you were asked to give a piece of advice to upcoming bands, what would that be?
Be your self: don’t try to imitate just ONE band. That’s why I don’t like bands like Greta van Fleet: it’s copy paste music. Hold on to yourself, and play every concert like it was your last, and keep on recording and delivering your own music. It’s not the technique that counts, to play like Yngwie Malmsteen at 4 years old, but to write songs that give people chills.
What has been the best performance of your career so far?
Supporting Tygers of Pan Tang in Budapest, 2024 may. The right place, the right atmosphere, the right stage, good sound, a lot of welcoming people and the main band was very kind.
If you didn’t become a musician, what would you be doing now?
Although music is the most important form of self-expression for us, everyone has a daytime job in the band. Guitarist Peter is a professional driver, bassist Bandi is a sales manager, Sam, the drummer is a graphic designer, and I am a psychology professor at a university.
What is new with the band at the moment? What are you currently working on and would like to share with the world?
Actually we are working on our seventh album, “Necessary evil”. The first single, “Second hand suicide” came out in May, it is available online on Spotify, Youtube, Deezer, iTunes, Apple Music, etc.
