Neu TRAAMS

: TRAAMS
Based: Chichester
Listen: ‘Mexico’
Similar To: Mazes, Abe Vigoda

Living half an hour away from Chichester, you’re exposed to a quaint and conventionally old-fashioned West Sussex town where garage rock three-piece Traams reside. There are a few reasons why you’d probably choose it as a place to live: it’s quieter than any other town I’ve ever been to, so much so that it borderlines the feeling of a village in the middle of nowhere. It’s uncompromising and habitual; it’s essentially quintessentially British. And it certainly isn’t the place you’d expect a band like Traams to abide.

Or maybe it is? The garage rock three-piece formed in 2011 when they all met a nightclub member Stu used to run, and I have it on good authority that there’s only a handful of clubs in Chichester, let alone club nights. For a city with a university it’s certainly the most foreign place for a student to be, and I can only assume it was these frustrations that led them to form a band and create the racket that they do. And oh, is it a joyous, noisy racket.

Freshly inked to FatCat Records, ‘Mexico’ is a standalone free download track, separate from their Ladders EP which was half recorded with Rory Attwell (on what I can only presume is this mysterious boat studio I’ve heard loads about) and MJ from the almighty Hookworms. Concise, ferocious and driven by some slinky guitar lines, ‘Mexico’ is the sound of a band that know exactly what they’re aiming for and who wear their influences on their sleeve: you’ve got the yelp of a young Andrew Falkous here paired up with the wonkiness and wobbliness established by bands like Abe Vigoda and Women.

Having already supported Parquet Courts at 100 Club and with gigs with Hooded Fang, Fidlar and Temples already under their belts, it looks like Traams are set for success over the next year. Deservedly so, too, as they could well be the best thing to come out of Chichester in recent memory.