Interview: John Floreani from Trophy Eyes

Two years on from their breakthrough debut album ‘Mend, Move On’, Newcastle punk outfit Trophy Eyes are just about to release their highly-anticipated sophomore record ‘Chemical Miracle’. Lead single Chlorine is already on high-rotation on triple j and they’re in the middle of a mammoth North American tour with The Amity Affliction. Just days out from album’s release, we spoke to frontman John Floreani about the journey towards ‘Chemical Miracle’, their Warped Tour experience, and some…unusual facts about the band.

Firstly, the three singles from ‘Chemical Miracle’ are amazing and all show fresh sides of Trophy Eyes. What prompted you guys to make such changes after ‘Mend, Move On’?

I don’t think they were intentional, we’ve always written whatever we wanted. We never called ourselves a pop-punk band or a hardcore band, we just called ourselves a punk band because punk’s a lot of different sounds. After the two years of ‘Mend, Move On’ we’d been playing it for two years and travelling, I saw a lot more of the world and felt like I’d done a lot of growing up in. With that growing up and maturing I feel like it showed in our music.

When we finally got back together to write the record after about two years, it just sounded like it does. I think our references have changed. We listened to a lot of pop between then and now, especially being on tour with pop-punk and hardcore bands, I thought “If I hear one more major riff or breakdown, I’m going to f*cking kill myself”.

So we play pop songs in the van to refresh our brains…a lot of Justin Bieber, The Killers, Nicki Minaj, and Coldplay. Pop songs are designed to resonate with people’s brains, they’re catchy, I guess a lot of that shone through on this record. That’s what we’ve been listening to and that’s what we wanted to write.

We didn’t intentionally change anything, I feel like we just kind of got together and started writing and that happened, and that’s how we’ve always written records. We’re very happy with the sound, and I feel like it’s still Trophy Eyes, but a bit old man Trophy Eyes! (laughs)

You spoke about the writing process, how did it differ from writing ‘Mend, Move On’?

‘Mend, Move On’ was difficult to write. We wrote our EP in our drummer Callum’s house, in a flat where we would write the music. Then all of a sudden his parents moved and we didn’t know where to practice, we were just practicing in all of these different studios. After whole days of work we were writing at night. It was Winter in Newcastle, it’s raining and we were in these suburbs that were full of junkies and assh*les asking us for cigarettes and it was f*cking depressing. It was a grind, writing that album was a definite grind.

Once we were done we were super proud of it, like “f*ck yeah man, ‘Mend, Move On’, this is our first full length”, and we were super happy! Then the second time came around and we got together and it just came flying out of us. It was easy, it was fun, there was no butting heads, it was just good. We were writing music instead of song by song, and connecting…it just came out super naturally.

We had this one place to play and practice. The difference was probably just our headspace and our attitude going into it, we were much more confident. Going into our first album we had no f*cking idea what we were doing, we’d been a band for less than a year I think. So the second time it came around we were like, “we know how to write an album. Let’s do it just better!”, and I think we did!

I swear everytime I hop in my car I hear Chlorine playing on triple j. How does it feel having reached that stage when you look back on where you were with ‘Everything Goes Away’ back in 2013?

‘Everything Goes Away’ was all very new, we got that EP together very quickly and we didn’t really expect anything at all. I remember the difference not having recorded that EP and playing in Brisbane, at the Crowbar, like three people were watching us and it was brutal. We recorded the EP and we got that tour with Neck Deep. Then all of a sudden we went to Brisbane the next time and we got on stage, the room was full and everybody was singing the songs, we were totally taken aback.

That was a shock for me that people knew the songs, and then to think two albums later that our music’s on high rotation on triple j, and everyone’s hearing the songs in Australia. On their way to work, or at work, or at home relaxing, or recreationally. It’s just weird to think not so long ago I was just hoping to play this tiny, sh*tty venue in Newcastle called The Lot…

We played that, and then we played Soundwave, then Warped Tour and Electric Ballroom, and we’re about to play Chain Reaction. These things don’t quite make sense in my brain, it’s the exact same with the triple j thing. Nobody had heard of us when we first started obviously, and then all of a sudden Chlorine is on high rotation! It’s like how did this happen, how did I get here? (laughs) It’s a shock, definitely unexpected.

I wanted to ask about Breathe You In, because I know it addresses the struggles of being on tour and away from loved ones, which is a big issue in the music scene. Can you give us some thoughts on the song and the subject?

The song was written about this point that I reached on tour with Anti Flag and Red City Radio in Europe. I was in Newcastle in the UK, and I’d been drinking quite heavily for however long I was there for and not sleeping and not eating well. It had been a few months since I had seen my girlfriend and it would be two more months until I saw her next, so I was down.

When you’re away and you get phone calls from your partner and they’re crying because they miss you, you think “f*ck, I’m just upsetting this person, I’m just hurting them, and I’m not doing any good for them anymore”. I almost felt selfish for keeping her because I thought somebody else could do this better than I could, maybe not love her more but maybe love her better. It’s this horrible feeling of “I’m ruining someone’s life”, all for this selfish reason of wanting to hold onto her, and needing her.

I had that spiralling around my head, it was brutal. For the foreseeable future as well, I’ll be leaving all the time to play shows…which I love doing, but it’s also very hard to leave my family and my girlfriend. It’s so hard to come home, fall back in love and be together for so long, and then all of a sudden I have to go again and not see her for half a year. It’s a heart-breaking process and it happens over and over and over, a few times a year, and it doesn’t get any easier. But I feel Breathe You In was written as a therapeutic release for me and that kind of emotional tension.

You guys tore up Australia with The Amity Affliction and continued with them over to North America, how has it been so far?

Oh man, Australia was fantastic! The opportunity to play in front of all of those people was something we could never have asked for, we were super stoked and grateful to play those shows! Also on the other side, it was super nice to meet all those people and just chat to people who came out and saw us, it was really humbling to hear such kind words about our performance and our music.

And it’s been the same over [in the US]. We’re doing two tours at the moment, one with The Amity Affliction and a small club tour on off dates with Hundredth, and the shows have been fantastic. Especially the reaction to our new songs has been unbelievable. After having our old songs out for so long, comparing those reactions together, our new songs seem to be resonating much more with new crowds. It’s a blessing to be here man, we couldn’t be happier!

Being on Warped Tour is a massive deal for punk bands, so how you reflect on your experiences one year on?

We were speaking about this today actually, what Warped Tour was, and asking ourselves “would we do it again?”, and we were like “f*ck yeah man, I’d love to do Warped Tour again!”. It’s like summer camp for adults without your parents around, you can do whatever you like and you hang out for two months, make great friends, play shows everyday, and see all of America. It’s a dream come true!

We were also thinking…there’s the f*cking portaloos, and the 40 degree days for 14 hours a day, being dirty with no showers and stinking, and lining up for an hour to get your food. There’s pros and cons (laughs), it’s brutal. But we’d go back in a second because it’s so fun, and all of the hard work is part of the fun and the aesthetic.

It was a shock to me, I wasn’t expecting to be working that much, I thought it was more of a show up and play type deal. Not that it was a bad thing. I was just in shock to wake up at 7am, move our merch out and set it up, go get breakfast with a line that’s a kilometre long, it’s a f*cking huge line! You play people your music, and you try and sell your songs, hand out your show times and you’ve gotta hustle all day. There’s press, there’s the heat, there’s dirt, and there’s the constant sound of breakdowns all day every day, it’s f*cking crazy!

I wanted to also touch on your side project Little Brother, which I’m a big fan of. What are your plans for Little Brother in the future?

I don’t really have any solid plans right now. Little Brother is a release for me, where I can right my own content and release it however I like, whenever I like without having to answer to five other people. I don’t have to run it by anybody, it’s just my song, I write it and it comes out. It’s my way of feeling fresh and getting my creative inspiration back, especially after writing heavy music, it’s nice to refresh your brain!

I did that single Cleveland, OH a little while ago with a friend of mine Blake Caruso, who plays in Sydney band Rumours, he’s probably my favourite Sydney drummer. We got that single together and we released it and we liked it a lot, since then I haven’t had time to write anything and release it. We both have songs written but none recorded. As soon as we get the time…like we’ve been busy with ‘Chemical Miracle’ and touring, so once that’s all slowed down, maybe mid-next year I’ll be back in the studio recording some of those songs. Hopefully we’ll release an album next, but I can’t be sure.

Lastly, can you tell us something that most people wouldn’t know about Trophy Eyes?

Ummm…most people wouldn’t know that before I met the guys in Trophy Eyes they were in a band called Second Opinion, they were an easycore band and played major breakdowns and stuff like that.

I played and wrote some sh*tty acoustic stuff, like five songs, I spent $6000 on them at Studio 301 because they were my first songs I’d ever written. I took $6000 into this studio and was like “can you record me playing five songs of just guitar and singing?” and they just said “yes, we’ll take all of your money”.

They totally raughted me, the production was great, but my songs sucked because I couldn’t write, they were weird as hell!  There were dodgy vocals and screaming and stuff in these acoustic songs, and it seems kind of appealing now but at the time, I dunno what was going on (laughs). But I took them down and they’ve disappeared, I hope they’re gone for good!

Our drummer lost his lost his thumb in a sand dune accident, he was being towed behind a car on a boogie board, and the rope pulled his thumb off, so he had to learn to drum without a thumb…

Pokket is an adrenaline junkie, he loves skiing, surfing, skating, and going really fast down any hill, or being really high. He does lots of crazy stuff! Oh! Jeremy our bassist can kick himself in the head! While standing up he can kick himself in the face. It’s so weird to see. I’ll try and get him to do it on stage one day…