TRC Singer Chris Robson Talks UK Hardcore Scene, British Pride

Posted on Jul 17th 2012 12:00PM by Carlos Ramirez Comments

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English hardcore-punks TRC recently signed with red hot No Sleep Records. Mixing hardcore, metal, U.K. grime and hip-hop, the sextet formed in London seven years ago and recently were nominated at the 2012 Metal Hammer Golden Gods Award as Best U.K. Band.

"Ever since i started No Sleep i have been looking for a good mix of Hardcore and Metalcore to bring to this label, and when my good friends from another Southern California label showed me TRC I fell in love," said No Sleep president Chris Hansen at the time of TRC's signing to the label.

Now with their sites set on an American invasion, Noisecreep spoke with TRC vocalist Chris Robson about the band's mission. As a bonus, we also got our hands on a kickass track called "Cocky Is Back" for you to check out!

We recently interviewed Silent Screams and they gave us some bands to watch out for from the UK and you were one of the acts they mentioned. What's your take on what has been happening across the pond in the hardcore scene these past few years?

You mean across the pond from us? Or across the pond from you? I'm gonna go with the U.K. scene. Yeah mate, it's kind of blown up - not so much the London hardcore "scene" we come from (shout out Rucktion Records), but as a whole, U.K. heavy music is doing big things. I mean we just signed to No Sleep, which in itself is a madness, and then you got bands like Your Demise, who we used to play with in church halls, and rugby clubs touring worldwide - We always had the talent, it just took time for people to notice. Now everyone is getting involved - Kind of the reason we wrote the song "#TEAMUK." It's just the right time for U.K. music right now, hardcore or not - And we know it comes in trends, hence the #.

Tell us about "Cocky Is Back."

It's old [laughs]. I keep forgetting that No Sleep are re-releasing our 2009 EP with two newer tracks. Basically, back then, we just wanted to come back with something that people knew us for. Everyone said we were a bit too cocky, so we thought fuck it, have it back ten fold. I don't really like guitar solos, so it's certainly not one of my favorite tracks, but it's still a banger, and we might have to start playing it live again.

Listen to "Cocky Is Back"

Listening to some of your material, there's a certain swagger to it in the delivery. It's rare to hear that get that kind of vibe in hardcore, unless you're talking about some of the NYHC bands. Where does that come from for you? Is it a London thing?

It's a TRC thing. I don't think we're trying to be anything that we're genuinely not so if a certain "swagger" comes through in our tunes, then so be it. I love the tunes we write, I love being in the band, and I love feeling part of something that seems to be moving in the right direction - Why not show it off a bit? People say we're arrogant but that's wrong. "Confident" in what we do is how I'd describe it.

There's definitely a British pride sort of spirit in your music.

Absolutely. Why the hell wouldn't there be? One of my pet hates is how so many bands from U.K. went through a stage of sounding like a Terror cover band. I mean, a load of them still do, but you just gotta let them get on with it. We've got a tune called "Go Hard or Go Home" with the line "... for pete's sake you are not from New York city..." which pretty much sums it up. I genuinely think we've made people from the U.K. to realize that it's OK to be proud to be British. We get a lot of comments about our apparent "accents." Fucking hell, that's just the way we sound!

Now that you're signed to No Sleep here in the States, can we expect some U.S. shows soon?

All in the planning stages, my man. You know we can't wait to get out there and bring a little English charm to your fair country. Hopefully see you soon.

Watch "#TEAMUK" Video