Guildford post-hardcore punks Trails have announced they are splitting up and will play a final hometown show at The Boileroom on May 30th.
Support comes from Swim Good, Darko, Atiptoe and Flesh Trench.
A lengthy statement from the band can be read by clicking read more.
Trails released their debut full-length, ‘Crooked Trees’ late last year.
“TRAILS ARE FUCKING DEAD.
(Refused pussied out)
With a heavy heart it’s time to announce that Trails are splitting up. A lot of you already know, and in a way it’s been a long time coming. When Will left last year we were just about to release our album, so as much as I didn’t want to do the band without him at the time, it certainly wasn’t a point at which we could stop. Having invested so much time, energy and money into the album we needed to see it through, release it, and tour it to the overwhelming masses.
Touring is the measure of every band, and tends to be the thing that takes it’s toll. We didn’t do a lot of touring by any means, and I think that was in part our downfall. Due to work commitments it became a struggle to do any substantial touring at all, and a leap of faith with a couple of different small booking agents saw the UK tours we did do be pretty dismal. Getting out to Europe was always great in every way as everyone knows, and I regret not being able to get out there again with my friends to tour the album, travel to new places and meet more like minded people (especially with all the stock sitting in my house!). That’s one of the things I’ve loved, travelling all over Europe only to find that for all the interesting differences in culture, the people within the punk scene hold strong similarities in ethos, taste and humour, and it feels like where ever you go you share a common understanding with people before you’ve got to know them. Maybe it’s just the South Park connection (don’t watch German dubbed South Park though, ruins it).
We’ve never been a band driven by money or fame (a shocking admittance I know based on our pop stylings and sexy boy looks), but there needs to be some sense of progression for everyone to remain on board. Some sense of ‘this is going somewhere’, ‘we’re building up a name for ourselves’ etc. We never really felt that, and while we did plenty that we can all be proud of – 2 Eps, 2 singles and an album (most of which were self produced (by Will) but thanks also to Chris Coulter and James Kenosha), 11 ‘Trails original concept’ self produced music videos, multiple self booked UK and Euro tours – everyone has their own cut off point, and when Adam chose to leave as well, it didn’t really feel right to carry on what had been a band of 4 mates without 2 of them.
So it’s over, with no sense of relief or light-heartedness. Since the inception of Jeremy George when I was in Sixth Form, the various incarnations of this band have been a large part of my life and my main creative outlet for the last 10 years, and I can’t really imagine what I’ll do past this right now.
It seems like I’m being told something I couldn’t tell myself, that maybe it’s the right thing to do to draw a line under it and start afresh with something new, rather than plough something into the ground, or as it was put ‘driving down a cul-de-sac’. I prefer to think of it as the open road, never knowing what lies ahead, but there we are. It’s a hard decision to make, as even on this most recent UK tour, at some of the most quiet, empty, depressing shows we’ve done (and that’s saying something) the people we did meet and play for were adamant often to the point of anger that we shouldn’t split up, they wouldn’t let us, we were too good, it was a waste of talent etc. So you see how this has split me, but in the end it has split Trails.
All that’s left to say is the generic but heartfelt thanks to all our friends and families, everyone who’s booked a show for us, let us crash on their floor, all the bands we’ve played with and hung out with, everyone who’s come to a show, bought a record, everyone who’s genuinely been into our music and our band. You know who you are, it means a lot, no one can take that away from us. Thank you. Take it away Bill:
“The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it’s real because that’s how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it’s very brightly coloured, and it’s very loud, and it’s fun for a while. Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, "Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?” And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and say, “Hey, don’t worry; don’t be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride.” And we … kill those people. “Shut him up! I’ve got a lot invested in this ride, shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry, look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real.” It’s just a ride. But we always kill the good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok … But it doesn’t matter, because it’s just a ride. And we can change it any time we want. It’s only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings of money. Just a simple choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one. Here’s what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defences each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.”