I will say that the interview was filled with humour, Trole are relaxed & having a good time doing the music life. Although for lack of space, the interview has been edited down to just the nitty gritty of what this site is all about. That is helping you learn about the life style & what to expect. Trole tells it like it is, check it out.This is the most insightful interview to date.
the edited comments were amalgamations of different reponses from band members.

INDIE RAGE : First off , in my digging, I learned some of you used to be in a band called the Lovely Lads, I remember them, Is this true ?
TROLE : The truth is, the band TROLE rose from the ashes of the Lovely Lads.

INDIE RAGE : Your new song 'Just a Girl' is what got my attention. Very cool like a ' Modern Day 'The Doors'. Have you been pushing it to radio ?
TROLE : No, not really because it's just a demo at this point in time. We're doing a proper recording of the song at Metalworks studios and once that's finished, that'll be released as the single and we'll be pushing that.
We sent copies of THE ILLEGAL BOOTLEG DEMOS off to various college stations across the country but that's been more to help us facilitate tour dates and publicity rather than draw attention to it as a legitimate release. All the songs on there are rough mixes only and remain largely unproduced.

INDIE RAGE : I thought you were from London, But I hear you are now located in Nipigon.
TROLE : As far as I know, there are no booking agents in London who handle original acts at this level. If there are, I apologize coz I've tried looking for them. On the other hand, we don't have a problem finding booking agents outside of London willing to take on original acts. That's why we've recently relocated to Nipigon.

INDIE RAGE : Do you guys work day jobs or is this your main focus right now ? & if so, do any of the jobs deal within the music industry?
TROLE : I recently went over to England to work with some bands on tour over there, which was a fascinating experience. I got to travel around with guys from bands that I loved when I was a kid and musicians who've been in the game for 20 odd years. I definitely came back with a new insight into what being a career musician entails. There's a fallacy that's common over here that you need something to fall back on if the music thing doesn't work out. That's bullshit advice that's only useful for crap musicians who don't stand a chance of making it. If you're any good, you have to pursue it with everything you have. If you try to live a double life and work some useless full time job elsewhere, you're only losing valuable time developing your musical career and given that it's a hard career move to begin with, you can't afford to do that.

INDIE RAGE : You have been touring across Canada quite a bit, What is your feel on the scene for rock in Canada? What areas seem to be happening?
TROLE : This is the most happening area in Canada: Southwestern, Ontario. Definitely. Because there's a lot of access to the states and it's the most heavily populated area of Canada. Canada is very sparse as far as the music towns. Sometimes you're driving 15 to 20 hours between towns whereas if you were just touring in Southwestern Ontario, you can hit a lot of big towns in a very short drive.
As far as Canada goes, there's only really two hot spots that are going to do anything for you. We're touring so much now to give the band a lot of experience on what it would be like to play long tours. Every other band that's taking the music scene seriously will pick a few spots in Canada to play but besides that, it's not really worth their while to come to Canada and expect a big response.
There are a few cool spots. Alberta's cool. Edmonton and Calgary: they're cool cities. Edmonton's got a cool main strip on Whyte Ave. People respond and it's happening.

INDIE RAGE : What is the biggest sham you ever received by the music industry? Anything that can help warn other bands.
TROLE : Fortunately, nothing horrible has happened to the band but then again, we haven't begun dealing yet with the usual suspects who make a living out of f**king bands over.
Things like getting double booked or having some wanker keep you on the ropes for months before they'll confirm a date with you. Or people coming up to you at shows and annoying you with claims to be connected to powerful music industry movers and shakers.
   Because we play a lot of live shows, a lot of people come up saying that they can do this or they can do that, they can sink money into the band, they're gonna help you out, they're gonna do all this stuff for ya but most people are full of shit. You know, they wanna get to know the band, they wanna be a part of everything but that's about the only thing that they could really do for you. And that's disappointing to hear over and over, it really is. This is something we've put our entire lives into. If someone was to come along and give us money, that would make a difference for us and I think the worst thing people can do to you is to come up and do that and not really mean anything by it.
   I think a good model for all Canadian Rock Bands to follow from an independent point of view is the Toronto band,DANKO JONES.
Specifically, I'm talking about their deal with Universal. Even though they're distributed by a major record company, the record itself was self financed and they retained all publishing and control of the masters. They're not a band that's in a hurry to get fucked over. Unfortuately, a lot of bands waste time soliciting record companies hoping to get signed, playing showcase gigs only to have A & R wankers come out making flimsy suggestions that drastically alter the band's look or sound.
Anyone you bring into the band to work with you, they're there to comply with what YOU want, not the other way around. It's absolutely crucial to approach things from that perspective.

INDIE RAGE : Being an informative zine to bands, is there anything you learned from your tour that makes you change something next time around?
TROLE : Eat from grocery stores , it's allot cheaper than eating out. Take care of yourself health wise. Not partying too much.
In terms of what we've learned about setting up the tours, We set up the first tour by emailing hundreds of bands in different cities through MP3.COM.
Basically we said, give us the goods on your local scene and we'll give you the goods on ours.
It was amazing how many wrote back and from that, we've compiled a massive amount of info. It's also a constant process of weeding out the good clubs from the bad, the cool people from the wankers. If anyone reading this interview is interested in getting a hold of our list of places to play in Canada, complete with recommendations and warnings, then please feel free to email us and we'll gladly pass along the info that we have.
INDIE RAGE: How do you guys write your music, I mean do you use computers to help, 4 track, just jam etc. ?
TROLE : Everyone doing a good part really makes it all a lot stronger. We're spending more time jamming and writing songs together. I think that's eventually what we'll do a lot more of. It just happened that I had all the songs together that started the project.
The band agrees that it is essential to all have at least a 4 track recorder to present idea's to each other.

INDIE RAGE : I get the feeling that the songs have so much potential if you had the money for a big time studio & producer, Have you tried to get involved in that in anyway? What's your take on the Industry fight that we all go through?
TROLE : We're attempting to make a major label record WITHOUT the major label.
When we started the record at Metalworks, Rob wasn't in the band yet and Jeff was tied up in another project, so out of necessity, we had to bring in session players but we spent the money and got the very best that we could. Of course, it's costing us a fortune but that underlies how important it is to keep the money situation under control and how important it is to be crafty and convince all these guys to do the work for less money than they would normally get. The only drawback is that it's taking so long and what's holding us back is the money to finish the record but when it eventually comes together, the results will be worth the wait. We don't want to make the official debut release anything short of spectacular.

INDIE RAGE: Thanks for doing this, Any words of advice to the Masses ?
TROLE : Come to our shows. Buy merchandise. Be careful with the Bible.
If anyone's got any advice for us, we could definitely use some advice as well.
What we've learned is work hard and never give up on what you do if you believe in it because it's not a matter of becoming successful by the time you're 25 or you're not going to be a musician anymore. It's a matter of living a lifestyle as a musician and believing in what you do and striving to work with guys who are of a certain level.
Always play your instrument like it's the last time you'll ever get a chance to play it.
And if you're going to go to a rub and tug, go to one on the weekend coz that's when the hot chicks are working. And don't go in the hot tub.

Visit Indie Rages Canadian Band list link page to get to Troles website.
The unedited interview can be found there.
Thanks to J. Trole Taylor & the boys for doing this for us. Joe Silvera : Indie rage