The Trousers - Interview - PETE'S ROCK NEWS AND VIEWS.COM

Interview with Zoltan “Dr Buffalo” Kovary (vocals, guitar) of The Trousers and Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)

PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?

ZK: The Trousers are a four piece rock n roll band from Central Europe, Budapest, Hungary. We have been existing for 18 years now, with six albums behind us. What we do is raw, high energy rock n roll, trying to mix the influences od some classic stuff like the Stones, Iggy & The Stooges or Motörhead with some 2000’s vibes like Hellacopters or QOTSA. I think The Trousers’ music is a unique mixture as we use much more interesting ingredients too, from Motown soul to stoner rock. Sometimes we say that we are a classic rock and roll band tied to the aesthetics of the 70’s, who play with the relentless energy of pure metal bands like 80’s Metallica.

PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.

ZK: As I mentioned we are from Central Europe, Budapest which is a very special place to live in the 21st century. All of us grew up listening to music of our fathers’ , like Hendrix, Zep or Sabbath, and of course the then contemporary music of the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s. I guess in our minds we were musicians just before we started to play instruments. The Trousers is my „child”, the other guys, Pete on guitar, Bandi on bass and Sam on drums joined in the 2010’s, but this is the strongest line up, solid for five years.

PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?

ZK: First of all music and our heroes, there are many of them. In our music there are blues, classic rock and hard rock roots, like old AC/DC or Aerosmith, garage rock and punk like MC5 or the Ramones, but we are also inspired by the bands since the 80-s-90’s and after the Millenium like for example like GnR or Monster Magnet. Somehow we use a classic or old school approach, but try to sound fresh and timeless at the same time. It’s very interesting, that our songs are always based on heavy riffing, sometimes almost old school metal-like, but the songs are containing some kind of „pop”-like elements, but strictly in the 70’s manner. I guess in the 70’s Thin Lizzy or Cheap Trick used the same formula, or see The Black Keys, The Hellacopters or Rival Sons nowadays. Our songs are about everyday experiences, but with some mystic or surreal aspects.

PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?

ZK: We feel that The Trousers are constantly developing in song-writing and performing, soo although we are an 18 years old band, we still have the energy to carry on for another 18 years and six albums. We are trying to reach wider audience through the net all the time, that’s why we started intensive promotion with our new album „Animal gun”, which is our best so far. And we keep on playing live; our usual territory is Central Europe like Germany, Austria, Czeh Republic and Slovakia, but we are trying to expand it towards Western Europe, UK or, who knows, anywhere. It would be great to support a bigger band on a tour in Europe.

PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?

ZK: When we recorded our third album, Freakbeat in 2013 we had a chance to have Nicke Andersson, the singer-guitarist of The Hellacopters to play a solo on our song „Real deep groove”. It was a miracle, we are very grateful to experience that. The Hellacopters have a philosophy of making music that is so inspiring for us. The Trousers also have had a chance to support great band through the years like Atomic Bitchwax or Peter Pan Speedrock. Maybe a highlight was playing with Black Stone Cherry in 2015 on A38 Ship in Budapest, which is said to be one of the finest clubs in the world.

PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?

ZK: We have a label in our home country called Music Fashion, and their press assistant Niki helps us a lot. With „Animal gun” we also started to work with promoters form the UK and USA like Powerplay Magazine or Metal Devastation and it is also a huge development. Also we have a guy in Austria, Michael, who helps us, and through the years we made friends with several people from different countries like Germany, Sweden, Italy who have contact, sources etc. We are very grateful to know them. The new album has been promoted with reviews all over Europe: Hungary, Czeh Republic, Spain, Germany, UK, and more to come. Most are the reviews rated the album 10/9.

PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?

ZK: It is also a mixed way of work. Sometimes I do it myself: for example if we want to do a gig in Budapest or in other cities in Hungary I reach out for my contacts directly. Michael in Austria is also a great help for us, sometimes he puts full mini-tours together for us. And of course there are the fellow bands who are in the same shoes, so we support each other. For example the folowing 2-3 months are typical for us. In February we are supporting one of Hungary’s greatest rock n roll band, Junkies, the show will be on Barba Negra Red Stage, there will be about 1500-2000 people. After that we are doing a mini-tour with our friends Degradace from Ostrava, Czeh Republic including four countries: Hungary, Austria, Czeh and Slovakia. And there will be festivals too, in the summer.

PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?

ZK: You can’t stop the evolution of technique, all you can do is adopt to it. Downloading was not too heealthy for the classic structures of rock industry. I guess streaming is a good thing – I use Spotify permenently, it helps me to discover new and new terriotories in music. Or for example if a band comes to play, before the concert I get prepared for their setlist by using Setlist FM and Spotify. This happens when I want to see a band but I don’t know their entire catalogue. Last year I saw Crowbar and Sepultura this way, which are not amongst my favorite bands, buti it helped me to enjoy the show more. I hope people find our band this way too. Its very helpful that I want to Introduce the band to someone I only have to send a link. But there are delighting counter effects: the growing popularity of vinyls. I owe more then a thousand. We have our previous albim „Invisible darkness” on vinyl, and we the new one will be relased on vinyl too.

PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?

ZK: There are some incredible songs on The Hellacopters’ „By the grace of God”, like „Down on freestreet”, „It’s good but it just ain’t right” which are not „hits” but album-tracks, and I cannot imagine how these kinds of songs were even written. There are beautiful melodies and raw, energetic performance with some classic sound – mind blowing! Or I could name „Gimme shelter” by The Rolling Stones for the same reasons. But If I started to think the list would be endless…

PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?

Two things. Popular music became so superficial – it is almost impossible to imagine, that 50 years ago the most succesful album was „The dark side of the moon” by Pink Floyd. How could it be? Can you imagine something similar in the 21st century? How did we change so drastically? You become what you are listening to psychologically. The consciousness of people depends on the cultural goods they are consuming. So the mentality and the morals that characterize us depends on cultural experiences and impacts, and that is a huge responsibility for the people who are delivering them. The other thing relates to time. See, the Beatles were great when they released their first album as a pop group in 1963. But „Revolver”, which really revolutionalize rock music was their seventh album. They needed time to actualize their real potentials, because development takes time. Nowadays it’s almost impossible for an artist to remain in the focus of interest for seven abums because we live in the age of fast consumption. So a lot of talent is wasted this way.

PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?

ZK: We have just released our sixth studio album „Animal gun”, so it’s time to start writing songs for the next one. Summer is a fine period for this. Another plan is that we will make a „live in studio” EP or LP in the near future containing the cover songs that we have played live in the recent years from the Pistols, T. Rex, AC/DC, Iggy, Kinks, etc. Also there are plans for making a fourth video for the new album this spring.

PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?

ZK: We have a website called www.thetrousersband.com where you can find links to Facebook, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram and so on. Merch online can be found on or labels website, www.musicfashion.hu and on www.popshop.hu .