When Gene Simmons of KISS fame touted the controversial words “rock is finally dead” he obviously hadn't considered five young lads from Cambridge, England. The boys from The Treatment are the epitome of rock, dirty blues based hard rock with guitars slung low and the swagger of seasoned veterans. With two albums under their collective belts and touring credits that include rock royalty such as Mötley Crüe, Alice Cooper, Thin Lizzy, Slash, Steel Panther and even KISS themselves, The Treatment are living the rock ‘n’ roll dream. Australian audiences will get the chance to see what the rest of the world is raving about when they venture down to our shores for the 2015 Soundwave Festival. I caught up with vocalist Matt Jones and discussed the journey from obscurity to travelling the world with their idols.
Even as a young band The Treatment had a very clear direction on what they wanted to achieve and how they would go about it. Matt elaborated on those formative years. “Dhani our drummer started the band and his dad Laurie (Mansworth of More, Airrace and Roadstar fame) manages us, he’s been in the industry for a long, long time, he’s been doing this for about 30 years and had a lot of success with it. So Dhani kind of went to his dad and said I’ve been playing drums for a few years now and I want to put a band together, will you help me put a band together? They kind of drafted us from all around different areas of the country , I’m originally from the east of England, some of the boys are originally from the south, we all kind of met in the middle in Cambridge. Since then, we’ve been sitting down writing together, recording and going out playing. Things have been going really, really well and now we are coming out to Australia, so we can’t wait.”
From an outsider’s perspective the hard rock scene in the U.K. has been in relative decline since the glory days of the New Wave of British heavy metal. I asked Matt how the scene is over there now. “It’s starting to get better now, I mean there’s a few bands out there now that are going back to the old classic way of doing things, so it’s getting stronger. A lot of people are saying rock’s dead and I completely disagree because there are bands like us that are out there doing it and ones from Australia who are out there doing it. There are so many bands getting into that old classical rock style. Bands like Bring Me The Horizon are sounding more and more like a classic rock band. Asking Alexandria, for example, sound more and more like a classic rock band with each album they make, so I don’t think it’s a case of it being dead at all. More and more bands are going back to that way of doing things; I think over the next few years it’s just going to get stronger and stronger.”
Even as a young band The Treatment had a very clear direction on what they wanted to achieve and how they would go about it. Matt elaborated on those formative years. “Dhani our drummer started the band and his dad Laurie (Mansworth of More, Airrace and Roadstar fame) manages us, he’s been in the industry for a long, long time, he’s been doing this for about 30 years and had a lot of success with it. So Dhani kind of went to his dad and said I’ve been playing drums for a few years now and I want to put a band together, will you help me put a band together? They kind of drafted us from all around different areas of the country , I’m originally from the east of England, some of the boys are originally from the south, we all kind of met in the middle in Cambridge. Since then, we’ve been sitting down writing together, recording and going out playing. Things have been going really, really well and now we are coming out to Australia, so we can’t wait.”
From an outsider’s perspective the hard rock scene in the U.K. has been in relative decline since the glory days of the New Wave of British heavy metal. I asked Matt how the scene is over there now. “It’s starting to get better now, I mean there’s a few bands out there now that are going back to the old classic way of doing things, so it’s getting stronger. A lot of people are saying rock’s dead and I completely disagree because there are bands like us that are out there doing it and ones from Australia who are out there doing it. There are so many bands getting into that old classical rock style. Bands like Bring Me The Horizon are sounding more and more like a classic rock band. Asking Alexandria, for example, sound more and more like a classic rock band with each album they make, so I don’t think it’s a case of it being dead at all. More and more bands are going back to that way of doing things; I think over the next few years it’s just going to get stronger and stronger.”
Matt explained how difficult it was for the band to get a start in that kind of environment in the beginning. “It was hard work at the beginning because we weren’t the flavour of the month, we weren’t exactly the most popular thing. Metalcore was big and everyone was doing breakdowns in their songs and stuff. For us to come along and just play a four four beat it didn’t go down that well, but over the last few years it’s just been going from strength to strength. We’ve been really, really lucky in the fact that we’ve supported a lot of bigger bands who are way more established, for us that is a big thing because that has put us out there to a lot of people. So we have been lucky in that respect.”
The band's latest album 'Running with The Dogs', the follow up to their 2011 debut 'This Might Hurt' has been out for nearly 6 months now, I asked Matt how the reception has been. “It’s been really, really good. We see a lot of people singing the songs live now. It’s been received really well by the magazines and press, you know we’re really, really happy with the way it’s gone, really happy”
Having toured all over the globe with the who’s who of rock royalty I was curious to know whether the frontman pinches himself every now and then to make sure he isn’t dreaming, he was very humble in his response “When we look back at what we’ve done, we go over photos all the time and just kind of relive tours and stuff, we just go to ourselves is that actually us, it doesn’t seem like it’s real. So at the time you don’t really think about it because obviously in your head you're thinking "go out and play the best you can". You don’t really think about what you do until maybe a year later and you go look at what we did. We pinch ourselves a little bit but at the same time you’ve got to try and stay professional about it.”
The Treatment's first trip to Australia will be for Soundwave Festival 2015, I was wondering whether their good mates in Aussie rock outfit Airborne have let them know what they are in for. “Yeah, you guys are big into your rock music so it should be a good time, we’re so excited to come over, we literally can’t wait, the months can’t go quick enough.”
I asked Matt how he would describe The Treatment’s music and live show to those who have not witnessed it. “We’re just a good time rock ‘n’ roll band you know, we’re all about big riffs and big shows and just kind of going out there and try and get everyone to have a good time. So if you’re willing to get involved and come like I said earlier, sink a couple of beers and just get involved in a big rock show, I think we are going to be one of the bands you'd enjoy because that’s what we are all about.”
Interview by Mike Trandafil
The band's latest album 'Running with The Dogs', the follow up to their 2011 debut 'This Might Hurt' has been out for nearly 6 months now, I asked Matt how the reception has been. “It’s been really, really good. We see a lot of people singing the songs live now. It’s been received really well by the magazines and press, you know we’re really, really happy with the way it’s gone, really happy”
Having toured all over the globe with the who’s who of rock royalty I was curious to know whether the frontman pinches himself every now and then to make sure he isn’t dreaming, he was very humble in his response “When we look back at what we’ve done, we go over photos all the time and just kind of relive tours and stuff, we just go to ourselves is that actually us, it doesn’t seem like it’s real. So at the time you don’t really think about it because obviously in your head you're thinking "go out and play the best you can". You don’t really think about what you do until maybe a year later and you go look at what we did. We pinch ourselves a little bit but at the same time you’ve got to try and stay professional about it.”
The Treatment's first trip to Australia will be for Soundwave Festival 2015, I was wondering whether their good mates in Aussie rock outfit Airborne have let them know what they are in for. “Yeah, you guys are big into your rock music so it should be a good time, we’re so excited to come over, we literally can’t wait, the months can’t go quick enough.”
I asked Matt how he would describe The Treatment’s music and live show to those who have not witnessed it. “We’re just a good time rock ‘n’ roll band you know, we’re all about big riffs and big shows and just kind of going out there and try and get everyone to have a good time. So if you’re willing to get involved and come like I said earlier, sink a couple of beers and just get involved in a big rock show, I think we are going to be one of the bands you'd enjoy because that’s what we are all about.”
Interview by Mike Trandafil
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