Biography
The post-punk revival encompassed TRAAMS among its broadest acts, where their compact, forceful eruptions proved equally compelling as their wide-ranging, motorik-fueled reflections. Emerging in the early 2010s as a trio from Chichester, West Sussex, the group stood apart from more linear peers through the volatile blend of release and sonic trial on their 2013 debut full-length Grin. Although Modern Dancing from 2015 amplified the intensity, TRAAMS continued extending their reach. After seven years, their third album personal best arrived with intricate arrangements and electronically layered instrumentation that showed the band still testing their own limits and those of their listeners.
Vocalist and guitarist Stuart Hopkins joined drummer Adam Stock and bassist Leigh Padley after crossing paths at Goo, the DJ event Hopkins ran at a bar in nearby Bognor Regis, where his sets mixed Wire, New Order, and Le Tigre with mainstream pop and rap tracks. Their common interests, which also embraced McLusky, Pavement, Television, and Kraftwerk, led them to begin performing together in mid-2011. The name TRAAMS stands for Time Reference Angle of Arrival Measurement System. They captured phone-recorded demos fusing Krautrock and punk, then passed them to producer Rory Atwell, formerly of Test Icicles. The first tracks were laid down with him in November 2011 and the partnership lasted through 2012, the year the band joined Fat Cat. Early the next year they recorded the Ladders EP with Hookworms’ Matthew Johnson at his Leeds studio, releasing it that June before Grin appeared in September. They returned to Atwell for the Cissa EP, which surfaced in July 2014. After settling in Leeds, TRAAMS again worked with Johnson on Modern Dancing, their more streamlined and cleanly captured second album issued in November 2015. The following October they put out the eight-minute single “A House on Fire” and toured the U.K. in 2017.
The band then entered a hiatus during which Hopkins completed and released the remaining tracks “Intercontinental Radio Waves” and “The Greyhound” in 2020. Padley started Social Haul, whose self-titled debut album arrived in 2021, while Stock began incorporating synthesizers. Shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, TRAAMS started new material in Brighton. Lockdowns ruled out high-volume recording, so the trio adopted a drum machine and quieter, more measured process, finishing personal best at Hopkins’ Chichester studio space. The July 2022 release featured increased collaborative writing between Padley and Hopkins plus vocal appearances from Protomartyr’s Joe Casey, Lowly’s Soffie Viemose, and Menace Beach’s Liza Violet.
Vocalist and guitarist Stuart Hopkins joined drummer Adam Stock and bassist Leigh Padley after crossing paths at Goo, the DJ event Hopkins ran at a bar in nearby Bognor Regis, where his sets mixed Wire, New Order, and Le Tigre with mainstream pop and rap tracks. Their common interests, which also embraced McLusky, Pavement, Television, and Kraftwerk, led them to begin performing together in mid-2011. The name TRAAMS stands for Time Reference Angle of Arrival Measurement System. They captured phone-recorded demos fusing Krautrock and punk, then passed them to producer Rory Atwell, formerly of Test Icicles. The first tracks were laid down with him in November 2011 and the partnership lasted through 2012, the year the band joined Fat Cat. Early the next year they recorded the Ladders EP with Hookworms’ Matthew Johnson at his Leeds studio, releasing it that June before Grin appeared in September. They returned to Atwell for the Cissa EP, which surfaced in July 2014. After settling in Leeds, TRAAMS again worked with Johnson on Modern Dancing, their more streamlined and cleanly captured second album issued in November 2015. The following October they put out the eight-minute single “A House on Fire” and toured the U.K. in 2017.
The band then entered a hiatus during which Hopkins completed and released the remaining tracks “Intercontinental Radio Waves” and “The Greyhound” in 2020. Padley started Social Haul, whose self-titled debut album arrived in 2021, while Stock began incorporating synthesizers. Shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, TRAAMS started new material in Brighton. Lockdowns ruled out high-volume recording, so the trio adopted a drum machine and quieter, more measured process, finishing personal best at Hopkins’ Chichester studio space. The July 2022 release featured increased collaborative writing between Padley and Hopkins plus vocal appearances from Protomartyr’s Joe Casey, Lowly’s Soffie Viemose, and Menace Beach’s Liza Violet.
Albums
Singles
