We had the pleasure of chatting to the amazing Zoltán Kőváry of The Trousers the other day about their latest album release, their sound and plans for the year. Check it out below!
How would you describe your sound?
It’s classic and vintage-based but not retro. We are starting from 70’s hard rock and garage rock like Sabbath, AC/DC, Motörhead or Iggy & The Stooges but also influenced by later bands like The Hellacopters, Alice in Chains, Queens of the Stone Age or Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
You’re seven albums deep now; how would you compare last years Necessary Evil with your early work?
The sound is more professional and heavier, all the instruments have weight on this album. The songwriting got more mature and the melodies are catchy. We always try to create a “ten single record”, no fillers, no self-serving experimental pieces… Each song contains a hook in a different way. The rule is that there always has to be a riff, as AC/DC and Black Sabbath taught us, and a catchy melody in the refrain as Thin Lizzy showed.
Is there a particular theme or story around Necessary Evil, or is it all individual tracks?
As the songs were composed in the same period, they somehow relate to each other. Let me tell you an example. The Stones’ top albums between 1968 and 72 were Beggars Banquet, Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street. Beggars and Exile were done within a session, that is why they are very coherent in style and sound. Let it Bleed and Sticky are just a collections of extraordinary songs, but these albums are not more then the sum of their parts. The spirit of “Necessary Evil” therefore is closer to “Beggars Banquet” than to “Sticky Fingers”, if you know what I mean.
What is the writing process like for the band?
In The Trousers I am the songwriter. The boys: Pete Locke on guitar, András Lázár on bass and Samu Gulyás on drums, put their parts in the songs when they are fully composed. Usually I write albums within a few months, most of the time during the summer break. Necessary evil was different. The influence is coming from different directions; music, movies, relationships, crises. For example the death of my late brother, Peter, who was also a musician, influenced several songs on Animal gun (2022) and Necessary evil.
Do you have a personal favourite track off the latest album, and why?
I would pick ‘On the river again’. It is very special, because it doesn’t contain three parts as usual – verse, bridge, refrain – but four, as it has two refrains. I would consider it as one of the best songs I have ever created. Heavy riff and melodic vocals – the way we like it. I really love an 80’s US metal band called Dokken because their songs are based on the same idea, although the style is different. But Thin Lizzy and Alice in Chains are also similar from that point of view.
Is there new writing going ahead, even though the album is still recent?
I usually do not write for a while after an album release. I am waiting for the new inspiration. Maybe in the summer!
Do you have a busy year planned in terms of touring?
In the spring we will have several concerts in three countries including ours, Czech Republic and Slovakia, and will play with bands like Konflikt, Degradace, Zakazan Yovoce and Asphalt Horsemen. Can’t wait for it!
Any plans to swing by the UK for a show or two soon?
We have friends in a UK band called New Generation Superstars, and we have been planning a tour together for a while; I hope it will happen sooner or later!
Do you have a dream tour lineup you’d want to be a part of? Anyone you want to support or friends you want to bring along?
There are some awesome bands we would happily support like The Hellacopters or Gluecifer… These are bands with similar aesthetics and attitude, they are our heroes so it will be awesome. But we would play with anyone who has the rock n roll attitude! Formerly we have played with MC5, Black Stone Cherry, Tygers of Pan Tang, Dirty Honey, Atomic Bitchwax, Peter Pan Speedrock… Great memories!
If you could have written a song from history, what would it have been and why?
Maybe WW I; it really changed the landscape of modern Europe in a very tragic way, and we still bear the cross of it… It’s never enough to talk about these dramatic events that shaped our word. Of course there are events in our current culture that are similarly dramatic, but it’s too easy to fall into politics and I don’t want to.