Interview by Darielle Asch

The Boys are back! Melbourne band, TRIAL KENNEDY are on tour again promoting their second full length album ‘Living Undesigned’. The tour kicked off at the Ding Dong in Melbourne on Friday May 13^th a mere few hours after the album was released. Shaun Gionis, drummer for the band spoke to Space Ship News and said that the first couple of shows had been “brilliant”. Gionis went on to say that the response to the new stuff was definitely a good one. So good in fact that a patron at the second gig ended up breaking his rib whilst participating in some rowdy moshing.

The band’s Living Undesigned Tour will see the boys head over here to Perth in early June for the first time in a couple of years. The lads will be playing at Prince of Wales in Bunbury on the 3^rd of June and at the Amplifier bar in Perth on the 4^th. Gionis spoke of the band looking forward to coming back, since their release of’ ‘Present for a Day’ and ‘Picture’ Frame’ in 2004-05 – having already built quite a good fan-base over here, “We hit it with the young folk” Gionis brags.

Since the first couple of EP’s the band has been through a heck of a time, what with a member leaving the band – as well as a change in management which created a few stages of transition in their musical careers. That said, the Kennedy boys have definitely done a half decent job of triumphing against the odds and have produced a rather fine second full length album. Gionis‘s attitude toward the transitions speaks for itself. “Everything happens for a reason…We own all of our own music now. It’s working better than ever!” ‘Living Undesigned’ certainly displays some growth on behalf of the musicians and when asked how the new material differed from the bands first EP’s Gionis explains, “We were a lot younger back then, we’ve grown at it. We now play more for the song and add more depth” – in comparison to their older material which he explained as being more fun and ‘appropriate for the time’. Gionis spoke about listening back to their old material as somewhat strange. “It sounds so foreign and old” as he suggests that the band has definitely changed the way they play their instruments. This change is displayed in the new album with an almost ‘wiser’ approach to making fun, well-paced material and by showing a fair amount of versatility in comparison to previous releases.

Now, many people say the bands you listen to whilst growing up largely influence your music taste/style when you’re older. It was said that the boys listened to a range of music throughout the teens/twenties including: Korn, Alice in Chains, Pennywise, Lagwagon, Millencolin, Radiohead, Jeff Buckley and not surprisingly Nirvana. Gionis suggests that some of these bands certainly influenced both Tim Morrison (vocals) and Stacey Gray (lead guitar) in terms of their musicianship.

The title track of the new album has a somewhat abstract attraction about it. When asked about the meaning behind the song/title, Gionis claims that it is quite self-explanatory and describes a division between life in a band and a “normal social life”. Yet, Gionis explains that Morrison’s lyrics can certainly be quite complex and that there is apparently a second meaning to the song. The second meaning describes a chemical released in the brain whilst listening to music (dopamine). This neurochemical is also involved in the sensation of pleasure and the human beings reward pathways. This track was chosen as the title track due to its relevant meaning, as well as it just sounding best as a title.

For more info on Trial Kennedy’s ‘Living Undesigned’ Tour check out their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/trialkennedy