Tracer: Music for Desperados

Another cool interview I've done to get material for a SLAM magazine story. Tracer is a great rock'n'roll combo from australia and they just released their new album El Pistolero. Michael "Mike" Brown, singer and guitarist of the band, answered my questions.

Otti:
Hey guys, your second album El Pistolero is out now and you sure are proud of it. How would you describe the development you've made since your debut LP Spaces In Between?

Mike:
Well, there's been a few years in between the writing of Spaces In Between and El Pistolero and in that time we've really developed as musicians and songwriters. We’re the kind of band that is always striving to get the ultimate guitar and bass tone, or trying to get the perfect melody over the fattest riff and we don't really like to sit on our hands. So with the 2 years of touring and writing we found that our music was growing up too. I think El Pistolero is us finding our own voice and pushing the limits of our genre. We have a lot of different stuff on this album and it was great to branch out into different sounds and see how far we could go down a certain path.

Otti:
In your words, how would you describe the story/main idea behind El Pistolero?

Mike:
We're all big fans of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino movies and around the time we were writing for this album I was fooling around with a nylon string guitar and the song Santa Cecilia popped out. That song was inspired by the movie Desperado and I thought maybe we could take that idea a bit further and write songs in our style but with a tex-mex kind of feel and have a storyline similar to the movie running through the whole album. I think there was a "south of the border" influence in our sound anyway but we just wanted to see if it could be done! The story on El Pistolero is quite close to Desperado. Basically it’s about a gunslinger hell-bent on revenge, cruising around Mexico and taking out bad guys! Plus he’s a guitarist! How fuckin cool is that! A guitarist who is a super hero, it’s like my ultimate fantasy haha!

Otti:
With Kevin Shirley you got a great producer with high reputation und masterful skills. How did you get that contact and how was the time working with him?

Mike:
Kevin was great! We were actually just reminiscing about all the retarded stuff we were joking around with in the studio. He swears like mother fucker haha!

Basically our label (Mascot) works with Kevin quite a bit with Joe Bonamassa and Black Country Communion so he was given Spaces In Between and dug the sound of the band. We actually got an email saying "Kevin is in, be in LA at the end of November to record a new album!" That's really how it all happened! We were a little bit apprehensive about Kevin as we hadn't ever worked with a producer before and we weren't too familiar with Kevin's work. But as soon as we got into the studio and listened to his ideas we knew we were going to make a really cool record. The main thing that spun us out about Kevin is the speed in which he works. We had most of the album done in just 6 days! The guy is a machine! He got the best out of us as musicians and the best out of the songs with his tweaks and we'll be forever grateful of that.

Otti:
A simple, but essential question: What does music in general mean to you?

Mike:
Music is life to me! It’s as essential as air. Honestly I feel uncomfortable when there is silence. Music enhances everything. I bet everyone has a song that transports them to a special place or a moment in time or a song that makes them feel a certain way. It’s magical! I listen very deeply to a lot of music now a days. I get really into the layers and the recording techniques. I love sound and the way it’s used to put across a whatever emotion the songwriter has. Then I can sit back and listen to it as a whole with a completely different perspective. Where would we be without music? Life just wouldn’t be as good!

Otti:
You already toured Europe in the past and you will be here again in June. How does that feel and what are you mostly looking forward to on this tour?

Mike:
I love touring. It’s great to wake up in a new town every day and all you have to do is play music to people who want to hear your songs. It’s the best job in the world. Plus getting to travel overseas is great. We can see a whole bunch of cool stuff everywhere we go and meet great, like-minded people. We have made a lot of great friends on previous tours so it’ll be great to see them all again. I think what we are looking forward to most is playing these new songs live! When we were writing and recording El Pistolero we knew that this would be great fun to play live and we’ve been rehearsing our arses off so the tunes are sounding really awesome!

Otti:
Rock'n'Roll is always associated with sex and alcohol. How does a typical Tracer aftershow party look like?

Mike:
I like to mix both sex and alcohol! We actually don’t party too hard on tour. My voice can’t really handle a big night out every night and I hate playing a bad show! But when we have an off day…lock up your daughters and family pets because when we party we party hard haha! Usually we’ll find some crew from the show and get them to take us around their town and show us some good drinking holes. It’s kind of our "tourist" opportunity, except there’s lots of beer!

Otti:
Another simple question: What is the biggest dream you wanna fulfill with your band?

Mike:
I’ve always wanted to headline a really big festival. Something like Coachella or Reading. I think it’s a long way off yet but I’ll keep dreaming. To be honest one of our dreams is just to be able to make enough money doing this so we don’t have to work "real" jobs ever again!

Otti:
And finally, please tell me whom you would like to thank so far for supporting you?

Mike:
Shit, that’s a massive list! We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the help and kindness of all the people along the way. It’s really too many people to list! Our parents have put up with a lot from us and have always stood by us. They have dug us out of debt, driven us to shows, let us rehearse till the early hours and have supported us more than anyone. I should also thank the guys and girls at Mascot. They are most responsible for elevating Tracer to where we are. They are great with us and we owe them a lot!

www.tracer-band.com

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