Musician Tim Hasemann is originally from Brisbane and is now the frontman of Melbourne band Traut.
A sound engineer by trade, Tim has helped craft a new dynamic for the band after the original frontman left the group.
“I met the two other original members when I moved down from Brisbane just looking to make some music and they were playing in what was Trout – spelled like the fish back then – and it was more of a post-rock, noise-rock vibe than what it is now,” Tim explains.
“Then after about a year the brains of the band moved back to Brisbane and I was left with my final uni assignment to do.
"So I asked the guys if they’d be keen to play some of the stuff I’d been writing in my bedroom that was a little more synth-based and a bit more post-punk and they were really keen for it.”
Swap the ‘o’ for an ‘a’ and presto: Traut was born.
The band launched their debut album ‘Skin No Bone’ at the end of September, which features current single ‘Dead Weight’. The song embodies the sonic textures Traut now work with, largely shaped by cellist Lucy Waldron who integrates the classical instrument into the arrangements as a rock-style synth.
“I thought the classical cello sounds enough like a pad-synth or lead-synth,” Tim says.
“We started jamming with Lucy and the sound moved away from post-rock and noise rock, and became more subdued, mellow and a little more melancholy; that’s how the sound we’re making now came about.”
While the cello makes for sculpting interesting soundscapes, Tim says the nature of its sound and reverberation has created difficulties when taking the band’s music into a live space.
Good thing Tim’s a qualified sound engineer. “Each new venue is a challenge because they’re often quite small stages and the cello being such a resonant instrument will resonate with every snare drum hit and bass note,” he says.
“So every time we play we’ve got to think about the tone and EQ it. Getting the noise up is always a juggle – getting the volume up high enough before it starts to feedback – but each time we’re getting a little better at it and it’s starting to sound really nice.
“Lucy’s also playing around with some [effects] pedals now, so she’s pulling some sounds that mesh with the electric guitar really nicely.”
It’s been a solid start for Traut in 2017 and the band is closing out their year with a pre-Christmas show at The Bearded Lady in Brisbane. It will be a triumphant homecoming for Tim, returning to showcase the band and music he has been developing for over a year.
As for 2018, Tim says new music is already under way and that the band is transitioning into creating arrangements with more live instrumentation.
“We’ve started writing and we’ve got a plan in place to do it as more of a live recording, rather than me having to focus on mic placements and sitting behind the computer with ProTools.
“I’ll maybe have someone else come in and track the whole thing live with minimum overdubs; that will just capture the vibe that we want to get with the next songs.”
