The Temper Trap ProfileAussie expats The Temper Trap have described their experience on being caught up in 2011's London Riots as “weird” and “surreal”.
In a recent interview, keyboardist Joseph Greer described the situation the band faced in the city they have called home for four years.
“I don't think any of us were affected on a personal level in terms of harm or anything. But it was in our neighbourhood and literally on Dougie's doorstep some of the stuff that was happening, the car burnings and what-not. We were in the studio the day that it was happening and we were told to go home.
"It was a pretty weird experience 'cause everything was quiet, people were boarding up their shops and you could see smoke and fumes rising from around the neighbourhood which was from burning cars and stuff.
"So it was a pretty surreal experience! You're walking around the streets and you just wanna get to where you're going and hope that you don't run into anything or get in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The experience inspired the track London's Burning, off their 2012 self-titled album. While the track was well-received in their homeland, the UK media didn't warm to the song.
“We were quite surprised at the reaction in the UK actually,” said Greer. “It got quite a negative reaction. We weren't trying to come from a political standpoint, the song was more of an observational thing of what was happening as opposed to trying to comment on society and things like that, which I think is what it got taken for.
"People were like, 'Aussies trying to comment on issues that don't concern them'. But it was completely observational. We were here while it was happening and this is the place we've been living in the last four years. It was quite a significant thing.”
Read the full interview here.
