The Trews- Hope and Ruin (2011)
Produced by: Gord Sinclair and John-Angus MacDonald
Band: Colin MacDonald~ vocals, guitar, keys
John-Angus MacDonald~ guitars, backing vocals
Jack Syperek~ bass, backing vocals
Sean Dalton~ drums, percussion, backing vocals
From: Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada
Label: Bumstead, Universal Canada
The Trews are a great Canadian rock band. In my opinion The Trews are one of the top quality Canadian bands these days. I think The Trews are the next Tragically Hip, which I think would be a great place to be as a Canadian Band. The Trews like The Tragically Hip use a lot of Canadian themes in their songs. Ironically, Hope & Ruin was produced by Gord Sinclair (bassist for The Tragically Hip) and he plays harmonica on a song called “Love is the Real Thing”, bass on “The World, I Know”, and acoustic guitar on “Dreaming Man”. Hope & Ruin is the fourth album by The Trews. The song “Hope & Ruin” to me is The Trews best song to date. The song has a great riff and real inspiring lyric content. Before this album The Trews were a band a festival was the best atmosphere to see this band, which I got to experience a couple summers ago at the Y108 Rock and Roll Picnic in Hamilton, Ontario. With Hope & Ruin I want to see them in a theatre type venue with good acoustics for the real intimit songs. The past couple of years the Canadian music scene has given the spot light to pop stars who write songs with bad subject matters and it ruins the image of Canadian music. To me Canadian music was something was always proud of because it did not really have a Britney Spears act or stars, but now it does and it is very dissapointing. But, you can still find great Canadian music such as The Trews, Sam Roberts, and The Arkells just to name a very few. So with Hope & Ruin out there it would be good if people appreciated good Canadian music. The band is a great unit and Colin MacDonald has a voice that sounds filled with sadness on some songs, but can also put on a great rock shouting voice too. To me versatility is very important in a singer and Colin MacDonald can do it. John-Angus MacDonald in the past has created great anthem rock riffs and he can still do it, but he proves to be a diverse guitar player throughout Hope & Ruin. I recommend Hope & Ruin it is a great Canadian rock record.
Most Notable:
2. “One by One”
4. “Stay With Me”
5. “Hope & Ruin”
6. “If You Want to Start Again”
7. “The World, I Know”
12. “You Gotta Let Me In”
Check The Trews at:
