Chris from The Troggs chats to Jen about their Australian Tour and more!

Wild Thing 50^th Anniversary Australian Tour

All their Greatest Hits Live in Concert

“I’ve been to many ’60s bands’ concerts, but I found The Troggs to be the most entertaining and energetic band of all.” (Oldies Music Blog)

“Wild thing, you make my heart sing!”… 60’s British Rock Legends THE TROGGS finally return to Australia this November to celebrate the Wild Thing’s 50^th Anniversary by performing all their Greatest Hits – Wild Thing, With a Girl Like You, I Can’t Control Myself, Love is All Around plus More!

Teenage lust never sounded so good!”  (Ultimate Classic Rock)

THE TROGGS are widely known to have inspired the age of garage and punk rock including The Ramones, Iggy Pop and The Buzzcocks.

Jen :Hi Chris.

Chris : Hi Jen, what is new and where are you?

I am in Melbourne and it is freezing here.

Well we have a lovely summer morning here, is quite warm for England, so I got the best deal.

Yes I’m very jealous!

So congratulations on making the huge achievement of 50 years! I had a great time last night going through many of your songs. To be honest with 50 years to research and find ideas to talk about was a little daunting!

(Laughing) But you found some of it?

Yes I did.

There would be many, but can you think of a particular moment over that time that you thought that you were dreaming that your life turned out this way?

Yes from the 1966 onwards to be precise (laughing)

Good answer!

It has been a great time so far. There has been highs and lows in it, but a great time so far!

Is there any major cringe moments when you look at videos and see the way you dressed or had your hair?

Oh yes of course (laughing)   It is all very tongue in cheek. There is nothing more hilarious than looking back at past fashions that people thought they were taking seriously.

To still be a band, with a few changes is a huge feat. I have watched some videos of you lately playing live and you seem to still have the energy to give a great live show. What is your secret?

Well the audience is the secret. We don’t get the buzz out of actually playing, we get the buzz from the audience feedback,  if they love what we’re doing that gives us the adrenaline to keep going at it and we all have a really good time.

Recently you performed ‘Feels like a Woman’ live on the Vintage TV sessions, you clearly have not lost your admirable guitar skills! Something I noticed in this and other videos I watched, the crowd is still and just watching.

There was no reaction, we had gone through couple of songs and the audience was there. We were a bit panic stricken at the show, we had done a sound check and everything and I have my amp there that I was playing through and the first take that we tried to do my amp blew up! So we had to use another amp that we had not sound checked so we fought our way through it, so that might account for the audience looking a bit daunted! It was quite a catastrophic beginning. They enjoyed it in the end which was alright.

You have played around 10 shows this year, and have loads more booked in, how is it on the road now you are more mature?

More mature?

Yes I am trying to not use the word old.

(laughing)

We obviously feel the stress of travel a little bit more than we used tout we manage and we just plug away at it. Traveling is a bit we get paid for you see, the gigs are great.

On a personal note, thanks for your music as not only is it enjoyable to listen to but you influenced the start of punk rock that I love so much.

Thank you!

When you were writing and recording ‘Wild Thing’ did you mean to write that to shake up the music scene and add some spice to a time when bands were squeaky clean?

Well yes! A lot of kids would of been listening to that kind of music and I think that we contrasted a lot with what was going on when we first came out. There was a definite intention, we did not want to compile with everything and this was a definite and easy way of doing it.

Can you tell us about the Retelling of the World Cup win at Wembley stadium back in July?

That would have been amazing to be a part of.

It was an amazing concert actually. We had no idea how it was going to happen and how it was going to work.  But I am not that keen on football (soccer) as a sport, I prefer rugby myself. Obviously something as big as the world cup I knew that it was happening in the 60’s and also aware that it was the 50th anniversary of the game. When we got up there the what they presented it and put the whole thing across and how the game went and called on the various people they associated with it. There were loads of bands singing songs from the period, including Dusty Springfield. The whole  way came across was brilliant, I found the whole thing quite stirring actually. It was 50 years ago since we we won it, think we need more effort!

haha yes.

Rock the Boat 6 is coming up in November for you.  This is an awesome concept that came from an Aussie I noticed! I so wish that I could take that cruise! Have you done anything like this before?

That that is how the whole Australian tour came about. We have to fly to Brisbane to get on the boat and we thought it was rather daft to go all that way just to do a couple of gigs on a boat and then fly out again. We thought it would be a good idea do some shows around the area while we are there. They came up with a whole lot of shows scattered all over the East coast of Australia. Then they managed to ship us across to New Zealand for a weekend which it is just perfect. We will see a whole lot of your side of the Earth! Then we get back just in time to prepare for Christmas.

How many times have you been to Australia now?

We have been 3 or 4 times but that was a long time ago. At least 15 to 20 years ago since we have been there. Only ever been to New Zealand once before.

Were you amused by the use of this song in Love Actually? I love that movie, mainly due to the song.

Yes I thought that was good fun. It was used in Four Weddings and a Funeral and Love Actually. I thought it was quite funny the way they did it.

Yes I did too actually.

Your music video or film clip that we used to call them, for “Love is all around” starts off quite normal then gets a little stranger towards the end for want of a better word. Was that a lot of fun to do? 

Well  it was done by Peter Coldman, you have probably never heard of him, but he was a Swedish guy. He did quite a lot of videos for us. We filmed most of them in Sweden. I think all the rather strange ideas that came up actually came from him. That’s where the quirkiness comes in.

Do you have some time on your tour here that you can take a break and see some of our sights?

Well we have 3 or 4 days off at the end of the month that we can probably fit things in if we are not traveling. We will wait till we get there and get a touristy book and check out what we can do. We want to get out and about as I’m sure Australia has got a lot of cultural things that we would like to look at too. I have traveled the world but I haven’t seen a great deal of it. I am trying to make up for that.

Do you usually come out and chat to the fans after your show?

Oh yes always, we never hid away. We love to meet people.

Thanks heaps for your time, it was an honor to chat to such a music legend.

It was really nice to talk to you, I hope we meet in Melbourne.

Yes I will certainly be there!

Thank you Jen.

THE TROGGS first entered the Australian charts in 1966 with “Wild Thing” going all the way to #1 knocking Frank Sinatra off the top spot! Their follow-up single “With A Girl Like You” was also a top 10 smash going to #8. Their Aussie chart success continued with their third single “I Can’t Control Myself” (later covered by our own James Baker) reaching #13 and solidifying their place as one of the most successful British bands to come from the wave of 60’s bands. They hit the charts again with “Love is all Around” which was covered by Wet Wet Wet in 1994 and spent 6 weeks at #1 in Australia (15! Weeks at #1 in the UK)… Reg Presley famously spent some of his song-writing royalties on crop circle research. THE TROGGS toured the world to sell-out audiences and were everyone’s favourite Brit-rock band.

 “Beat merchants turning three chords into pure gold” (Ultimate Classic Rock)

 A live performance by THE TROGGS is “totally professional, they know exactly how to get the audience going.” (Essentially Pop)

 Fans around the world are treated to the sheer energy and determination the band still possesses in order to win over any crowd. Their songbook of hits is simply meant to be enjoyed in this environment. THE TROGGS legendary status will be confirmed when the room begins to shake and bodies start moving to all the hits you know and love from the last 50 years.

 This will be an evening packed full of your favourite hits by THE TROGGS. Expect to be taken back to your teenage years in what could be your last chance to see one of the world’s most legendary rock bands live. And we guarantee you, everything will most certainly be groovy…. Come and get wild with THE TROGGS!

 

THE TROGGS AUSTRALIA TOUR DATES

Thursday 3rd November HERVEY BAY Beach House Hotel

Friday 4th November BRISBANE Hamilton Hotel

Saturday 5th November SUNSHINE COAST Caloundra RSL

Monday 14th November CRONULLA Brass Monkey

Tuesday 15th November SYDNEY The Basement

Wednesday 16th November NEWCASTLE Lizotte’s

Thursday 17th November SPRINGWOOD Blue Mountains Theatre

Friday 18th November CENTRAL COAST Entrance Leagues Club

Saturday 19th November REVESBY Revesby Workers Club

Sunday 20th November ROZELLE The Bridge Hotel

Tuesday 22nd November ADELAIDE The Gov

Thursday 24th November SYDNEY Factory Theatre

Saturday 26th November MELBOURNE The Palms at Crown

 

Tickets available from: http://found.ee/TheTroggs

Pre-Sale Fri 15th July 9am to Monday 18th July 5pm (local time)
On-Sale Tues 19th July 9am (local time)