It’s easy to categorize the Swedish band Trench Dogs as glam rock, but if you listen close there’s more to the music than first meets the ear. An interesting thing I noticed after listening to the band’s sophomore album is the Southern Rock grooves found throughout the album. If you listen close enough and close your eyes it wouldn’t be hard to imagine sitting in a smoke-filled southern rock and blues bar.
I was intrigued by the different sounds so when I had the chance to catch up with the band to ask them a little about their music I jumped at it.
And yes, the most important question, ‘who has the best hair’ is answered! Trench Dogs new album drops in March 2023 and if you haven’t had the chance to check them out, I recommend it.
Let’s start with the easy question first, tell me about how Trench Dogs came to be, what’s the story?
Andy Hekkandi/Trench Dogs: Growing up playing in bands in Australia was a great time but there wasn’t really much of scene for long haired punk rockers with makeup. It was basically just me and those I forced to dress up like me. Word had it that in Scandinavia there was a whole vibrant scene going on and I knew that’s where I had to be.
I came over in late 2010 and officially moved here a few months later. The plan was to create an authentic rock n roll band that looked and sounded good. I first found Martini (drummer) at a train station and quickly we set about creating Trench Dogs.
Your last album came out in 2018 which isn’t nearly as long as Tool takes to release new music but clearly there’s been some time between the two releases. What has the process been like to create your second album? How long have you been working on it?
Trench Dogs moves in a slow and methodical way. After the release of the first record we just enjoyed the next few years touring it around. The pandemic came at a good time, I just turned to the boys and said “let’s start writing another one!”
COVID 19 obviously disrupted the entire world including the ability for bands to tour in many cases, what impacts did the pandemic have on Trench Dogs? Did it give you more time to focus on writing?
The pandemic really gave us the opportunity to put all of our energy into writing, there was nothing left to rehearse for. Sadly, still to this day it feels like everything we get booked on is getting cancelled. Every big festival or booking agency is going tits up at the moment, probably as a result of the last couple of years.
Let’s talk shows! What do you have planned for 2023 so far in terms of playing gigs? Anything you’re really excited about?
We are absolutely stoked to be returning to the UK to play HRH Sleaze festival in August. It’s such a great event and we seem to really thrive in England.
In the meantime we will be having our second album release party on the fourth of March here in Stockholm.
Describe your music as if you’re talking to someone who has never heard it — how do you best describe the style of Trench Dogs?
It’s just rock n roll to me. We get refered to as Glampunk/sleaze rock/hair metal/hard rock/glam/gypsy rock/dental sleaze but at the end of the day all of them and none of them really apply.
I just keep it broad, “rock n roll.”
What’s changed in your music and production of your second album, does the process get easier the more you do it?
We’ve all developed as musicians in the years between albums due to constant playing and rehearsing. I noticed so nuch growth in my voice, I mean I can barely carry a tune to this day but I think my performance on “Stockholmiana” is leaps and bounds ahead of that of the previous release. I mean it’s only taken 15 years of singing, but I think I’m starting to get the hang of it now.
Alright just looking at the band photos I have to ask, who has the best hair in the band?
Well, me of course. Nice, full, thick head of British/Australian hair. Each follicle strong enouph to garrotte an Aardvark.
I won’t ask who inspires you (but you can tell me if you want), I will ask though what bands are you jamming out to these days? What’s your Spotify Wrapped from 2022 look like? If you don’t use Spotify, what vinyl do you have in rotation at home?
I’ll answer this one on behalf of the group and where we overlap.
Hanoi Rocks, the Dammed and the Dogs D’amour will be on heavy rotation in our hearts and homes for a long while yet.
Wine Stained Eyes in particular stood out to me and I’ve noticed a bit of this in most of the songs, maybe I am way off here but I’m picking up some ‘Southern Rock’ grooves. Listening to the riffs I can close my eyes and imagine sitting in a smoky bar sipping a beer somewhere in Georgia (the state not the country … maybe they’re into Southern Rock too I haven’t been there), so are you fans of bands like the Allman Brothers, Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet and the like?
Haha! This country sound thing keeps coming up time and time again with this release. I mean the blues in itself was a kind of bastardised version of country music. I personally love Waylon Jennings, David Allen Coe and often pop my voice in and out of falcetto sometimes like Hank Williams. But our closest connection to the “good ol’ boys from Alabama” is perhaps mild colonial inbreeding and a love for the bottle. Yeeeehaw!
Australia, Sweden, Great Britain; Trench Dogs has a diverse lineup of band members, how did you all link up? I love hanging out with people from around the world, I have to imagine it’s quite fun to get to make music with people from such different countries.
Stockholm is the why and the where for how we all met, I guess shit really does roll down hill. Even our three lovely Swedish members were all born and raised in different parts of the country, Martini is in fact the only Stockholm native in the band.
“Stockholmiana” felt like a fitting album title for a band of people from elsewhere who live in this beautiful city. We are and always will be a Stockholm band.
Past or present bands — who would be your dream band to tour with?
When I left Australia I had two big ones that I dreamed of playing with, and both those dreams came true. Hanoi Rocks and the Dogs D’amour. We got to play support for Micheal Monroe on the swedish leg of his “One Man Gang” tour and played with Tyla’s Dogs D’amour in Sheffield, England.
We’d love to play with Faster Pussycat and The Throbs (our festival booking with the Throbs got cancelled.)
Anything else you want to add that I didn’t touch on that you want your fans to know?
The ball is really in their court, through interviews like this and the overwhelming sharing and word-of-mouth support we get is the only way which we’re going to get our music out there to a wider group of people.
And one day we can finally “come to Brazil jajajaja”
Thanks for listening to the album, it’s our latest contribution to a genre we love so much.
Interview by I’m Music Magazine Writer Michael Praats
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