Interview: Trailer Trash Tracys

Suzanne and Jimmy from London’s white noise up-and-comers Trailer Trash Tracys are sat at a bar table nursing two half-full glasses. This is their first ever interview – “an exclusive,” Suzanne says, who’s using her lunch break from her job in a nearby Carnaby Street store to make the band’s media debut. Jimmy’s not currently employed. Or he is, sort of.

“I’m not really working at the moment,” he says. “I kind of do freelance graphic design, but mainly I’m concentrating on the band.”

It’s a familiar story. Stars are rarely born. Most of us have to break a sweat, unless our parents happen to be celebrities. But what sets the Tracys apart?

“I’d like to think that even Britney Spears could cover one of our songs and you’d still be able to see its melody shining through,” Jimmy says.

“Yeah, that’s right,” agrees Suzanne. “You could reproduce our songs in a number of different ways, and they’d still sound great.”

They look like an old couple. When I ask one of them a question, the other watches their response, poised to qualify or amend their partner’s statement. According to Jimmy, the songwriting process revolves around him writing a couple of chords and Suzanne creating a melody. Suzanne isn’t having any of it. She can’t play guitar very well and doesn’t have the bedroom recording know-how that’s provided them with the means of getting their music to the masses. Confused, I mistakenly suggest that Jimmy’s wearing the trousers in this partnership. Massive fail.

“Uh… no!” the lank haired axeman exclaims. “Suzanne’s the singer, and I think she might have something to say about that.”

“There’s a balance,” explains Suzanne. “Obviously because James can record and play guitar he has more of a say over that, but I tell him what I like. It’s give and take.”

You don’t find this sort of va-va-voom anywhere. For Trailer Trash Tracys, it’s borne out of a close working relationship. Four years ago Jimmy and Suzanne found themselves recording lo-fi songs on the sly while playing in someone else’s nameless pop project. When that fell apart, the sparse Cocteau Twins-sounding tracks they’d put down became the basis for their current endeavour. Times change, but with a full-time drumming slot still vacant, are they more of a boudoir concept act than a band?

“Everything will be sorted soon,” Suzanne says.

“All we want to do is write a great album,” shoots Jimmy. “If someone could help us then great, but that’s not really the purpose of this band.”

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