This week’s featured Meet The Band artist is the Austrian group Tripsitter. Their debut album is The Other Side Of Sadness. Vocalist/guitarist Meinhard Taxer introduces us to his band.
Chad Bowar: Give us a brief history of Tripsitter.
Meinhard Taxer: Tripsitter was formed in late 2012. We are lucky to be four best friends who have the opportunity to make music together, which is very rare.
Describe the songwriting process for The Other Side Of Sadness.
Usually our singer and our drummer started with the basic idea of the songs and the rhythmic stuff. On the other hand, there are songs on the LP which we jammed all together till it was perfect.
What will be your strongest memory of the recording of the album?
Definitely the vibe of recording it as a live session. It was more like a gig we played for us than a standard recording. That kind of emotion was really intense and we hope that it’s possible for our listeners to hear that.
How would you characterize its style/sound?
First of all it is very very dark and depressing, but it wouldn’t have the name The Other Side of Sadness if it would be just like that. We tried to create something different than the typical melodic hardcore bands and so we put some shoegaze and kind of dreampop elements in it.
What lyrical topics do you tackle?
Love, hate, problems of any kind. Especially problems with our mindset and our attitude towards the modern world. In this record we tackle our own problems very hard.
How did you come to sign with Prosthetic Records?
Two words: Jack Rogers. He is our manager and made all that possible. Great dude!
What are your goals and expectations for the record?
To be honest, we haven’t any expectations. Of course we are very excited and grateful, but if people wouldn’t like it, it wouldn’t be much of a problem. We are super motivated in the moment so let’s see. Our goals are to play bigger shows with bigger bands of course.
What has been your most memorable Tripsitter live show?
That would be Novarock Festival 2017 for sure.
What are your upcoming show/tour plans?
We have a headlining tour now in April and a tour with Polar in May and some shows afterwards. And of course our LP release show.
How did you get started in music?
In general we all listened to the same bands when we were young like Blink 182, then later Slipknot and harder stuff. That was our connection. But all of us had some musical background before. Like relatives and so on.
Who were your early influences and inspirations?
That one I mentioned above, then later bands like The Chariot, Counterparts, Landscapes, Bring me the Horizon and this kind of band.
What was the first rock/metal concert you attended?
The first big show was a festival so we saw a lot of our favorite bands all together.
What’s the heavy music scene like in your area of Austria?
Very very poor. It’s better in the east of Austria. But Austria in general is maybe the wrong country for this kind of music.
What’s currently in your heavy musical rotation?
I have to say it is not really heavy, just weird.
Anything else you’d like to mention or promote?
First of all we would like to thank you for this interview. Of course we want to promote our LP which was released at the 19th of April and our upcoming tours. Thank you!
(interview published April 20, 2019)
