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An interview with Tamas Rupaszov, of legendary band Trottel
01.11.2001
Trottel European tour dates for fall 2002!!!
Nov 16 at Cactus in Hesdin, France
Nov 17-18 at The 13th Note in Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Nov 19 at Jump Ship Rat in Liverpool, UK
Nov 20 at St Andrews Church in London, UK
Nov 21 at Wageni in Bochum, Germany
Trottel is more than a band and more than a label: it is a deeply entrenched part of the history of Hungarian independent music. The force behind the band(s) Trottel and the label is Tamas Rupaszov, an extraordinary bassist and music writer whose career has been spent networking the independent music scenes of Europe and Eastern Europe since the mid '80s.
The first time I saw Trottel was in 1993 in the now redundant U-Club, a music bar in Bratislava. They played with Scottish friends Archbishop Kebab, a riotous punk post-raggletaggle band of the just-post-punk and no-wave era. Amidst the thick smoke, three fascinating figures onstage could be vaguely seen: one draped heavily over a guitar with dreadlocks pouring over his face, one bopping around like a good combo of Flea and Mike Watt on bass, and one drummer barely discernable yet strongly keeping the offrhthmic beats strong. Polyrythmic noise filled the crammed club, psychedelic, heavy, punctuated by passionate bass thumps. Trottel was an intense experience then as they are now: performing now mainly as either the Trottel Monodream or the Trottel Stereodream project, the band has changed around its members but has kept its musical mission very much intact. Touring all of the time, their sound evolves and their popularity grows. The upcoming North European tour of Trottel Stereodream brings them to France, Scotland/England, and Germany. And here are some words from Tamas himself, about Trottel and music...
T:Where are you writing from, and where are you playing next? and how is the tour going this time?
B:I am sitting next to my Pc. in a cozy warm room in Budapest. We just got back from Bretagne / France and Belgium from a short tour, it really was great but i got to tell that it is rather rare that we don't enjoy a tour. We are sort of touring maniacs most of us and this autumn so far we've been to several different directions... but the furthest will be Brittain the middle of november,
we'll go as far as Glasgow in Scotland. It will be the most interesting tour as well because we will tour with our recent full line up - completed with Janos Adam our photographer friend from Miskolc (HU) who is making a diaprojection using his own self painted beautiful psychedelic pictures on film. He first toured with us in 99 and since then we always wanted him to join again. Plus we got now Nora on electric violin so the presence of the two violins - the acoustic one and the electric one - is more than exciting. I am also very excited about the fact that in London we gonna play in a church what only happened to us once before when we played in a squatted church in Holland..
T: How and when did Trottel (band, then label) start? And what are all of the projects that have developed out of Trottel?
B: The band started in 1985 but the first few years- just like for many east european blocks bands - weren't too busy. The concert possibilities were very limited, just couple of gigs in Budapest and some in other cities often ending with police trouble and stuff like that. Making a record wasn't an option neighter so we put out our home recorded music on self made tapes and sent them abroad by dozens. We could call this quite romantic exept that we had to listen to the same stuff all day because of the duplication. So that's how we started and also we began to release and distribute illegally other hungarian underground bands. Me i had no passport that time so travelling abroad was out of question. so this was my way of communicating with the outside world. Then in 88 we got an offer from a french label to go to record to France / Montpellier / and get our first LP out so when i got my passport back we began touring madly as well. it was '89. Most of the people who played in Trottel could not cope with the long travelling and stuff so changing the line up became a permanent concept after 90-91 when the original line up broke up. With the line up changing came the fact that the music changed too. it was frustrating at the beginning but with the passing time we realized that this always gave a new dimension to the expression too so the whole thing became a no style experiment. The weird side was that often people who wanted to joint didn't know what this whole story was about and imagined the life of a regurarly touring band more colorful - or god knows what - then what really the truth is.
With the passing time we opened to very different musical directions. Our Troxx project, the only quitar line up was the most experimental period. We wanted to became a kind of street band playing outside acousticly too but finally that line up broke too after we recorded our Troxxtracks album in 97. So gradually we become some sort of amoba-like band with several line ups. The problem with this is that the public can't really follow all these changes and they disconnect at a point when they don't like the actual stuff. That 's why we finally decided to marque difference of sound in the name of the band. After becoming Monodream, now with the arrival of Todd, the black violonist, singer and the visual thing and the electric violin we became The Trottel Stereodream Experience / i think this is the end, it can't be more complicated than this.. / The style and how it is called never really interested us after all people's taste is always different, there are now people for whom we are too folky, for otherones too electronic or the rhythms are too weird. i think our only musical concept is to make interesting music as we like and at the same time to keep our integrity.
The label.
So we started to make tapes in 86 and later on the home duplicating became a hell of a job. By making records outside of the country, we got to face the problem that our public in Hungary could not get our records so it was time to make a recordcompany to solve all these problems. Trottel Records was created in 92.with no capital at all and without a serious business aim. The first release was Trottel's "The Same Story Goes On" lp/cd/mc It had a very good echo so many people in the official press and media started supporting us too. That's how it could work and in fact that's how it works nowadays too. We released local and foreign bands too. I am extremely proud of the first releases of Anima, Masfel or Korai Orom from the beginning, hungarian bands which are still on stage, going on their way quite succesfuly and that we sill are in good therms with bands who left the label to try other possibilities. / Even if i personally don't believe in !other possibilities! / Trottel Records rarely released music without passion, human impact matters a lot and again, just like in our band, the only concept in to do interesting stuff. It isn't the best way in business terms but the label never wanted to be a huge one but a small good one. Many other hungarian ones / bands and labels /which started also at the beginning of the 90's stopped because of the lack of financial succes. Trottel / Records / is still going because the financial succes never was the prime issue.
T: What would you say about the current times in music? (in general? in Hungarian independent music?) Have you felt a difference in the type of audience who are your fans over the years?
B: It is sad to see that many bands sacrifice artistic concept just because they think if they do they'll have more succes. Tons of artist are sitting at home and getting depressed about how could they became popular. This deforms the music i think . Swinging on the edge between the mainstream and the underground produces sometimes very ugly solutions. At the same time you see bands which keep going on their way, they play tasteful music and they keep some morals too. I think the public mainly follows the trendy stuff which is maybe a logical period in the eastern countries but i really hope there will be a time when people will appreciate again many different currents, like before. We could say that the public isn't too open minded nowadays here at the same time i believe it has an economical reason too. The problem is that this mentality kills the music scene. Our audience changed too. Here, the people who are over 25 mostly become slaves of their
lifestyle, running after money, struggling for the goods they feel they need to get. The mainstream music business buys the time in the media, media's influences the young potencial public and the independents can't compete with this / i don't really think it should ... / I think it is important to be clear with yourself about what you want to be as a band or label or else because if you aren't it leads you to produce tasteless music and horrible things like this...
T: Do you plan new albums with Trottel projects soon? From Trottel Records?
B: We started the process of recording The Trottel Stereodream Experience, a new full lenght album. We hope it will be out around the end of february 02. This will be our 9th record. I am someone who is always more interested in the future so for me always the next thing is the most important. Each record is a new challenge and as we never wait long enough with a new line up, the new record always has an experimental side. Now that we included Todd's !black! voice and there will be 2 violins, i can't wait to hear it recorded. Also, on this record, there will be 3 Trottel people from 10 years ago with Akos, our drummer being back. too many exciting things
T: What do you think are the main problems facing independent artists from Hungary?
B: Lack of guts and spirit. lack of ability of self-managing, lack of interest from the public, luck of independent structure of interesting and interested clubs, interesting and interested radios etc...
T: If you could have the perfect plan for Trottel's future, what would it be?
B: Well, basically as far as i am concerned i 'd like to travel a bit more and to be able to go further as well. We got a west-Afrika project since few years, i 'd like that to come together, this is naturally a time and money question. It would be good to be able to increase the number of the people in the band but then we could only go to bigger events and that's not the aim since we want to play everywhere.. After all, all i'd like if we could keep doing what we do, solving some financial questions without giving up our integrity... stuff like that...
For more information, check Trottel's website: trottel.mentha.hu
Full Trottel discography:
TROTTEL Monodream - Fluid (TRO63CD)
TROTTEL Interfernce (TRO53CD)
TROTTEL - Your Sincere Innocence (TRO31CD, TRO31MC)
TROTTEL - Troxx-Tracks (TRO50CD, TRO50MC)
TROTTEL - It's up to You (TRO24EP)
TROTTEL - The Stolen Garden (TRO23CD, TRO23MC)
TROTTEL - The Same Story Goes On (TRO01CD, TRO01MC,TROOILP)
TROTTEL - The Final Salute (TRO00MC)
And other must-have compilations:
V.A. DOES TIME AFFECT MEMORY? Molecules, Voodoo Muzak, Scrooge, Trottel, Spaceheads, Badgewearer, Pest, Circle and another 19 bands (TRO49DCD)
V.A. INTERESTING MUSIC FOR CURIOUS PEOPLE sampler
Hungarian compilation giving you a view on the hungarian 90's underground. VHK, Trottel, M·sfél, Kampec Dolores, Üzgin uver,Monodream, Persona Non Grata, Sandwich, Color Star, K·rp·t Mobius, Kiss Erzsi Music. (TRO59CD)
V.A. COMPILAZOO - V·logat·s
An international compilation with the weirdest stuff of the World featuring The Ex, God is My Co-Pilot, Spaceheads, Rhythm-Activism, Kornice, Dragibus, Uz Jsme Doma, Kampec Dolores, Donkey, Badgewearer, Les Halmas, Scrooge, Roof. (TRO30CD, TRO30MC)
V.A. THE TROTTEL SAGA - Trottel rec. compilation (TRO38MC)
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