DOUGY MANDAGI, cackling dynamo from ex-pats THE TEMPER TRAP, is a one-man research project into sleep deprivation and band shenaniganising. MITCH ALEXANDER feels the need to wash his bedsheets … and made up the word ‘shenaniganising’.

‘Dougy’ Mandagi (born Abby Rai Chrisna Mandagi) is rapidly learning the finer points of making a mockery of the whole band interview process, and I for one am all for it. Picture this: a friendly international phonecall co-coordinator finally gives the all clear to conduct an interview after a length of moderately-to-absolutely dreadful hold music. Your faithful and faithless interviewer introduces himself, greeted by a heart-stopping pause and then what can only be described as a twentysomething musician imitating the act of flatulence with his mouth. After another pause and an exploratory ‘hello?’ from this end, what sounds like a small crowd erupts into laughter in response, much to my bemusement. At least we know that spirits are high in The Temper Trap camp.

After a few years kicking around the club scene in Melbourne, it seems that 2009 is providing Dougy with plenty of reasons to have a bit of a giggle, even if in this particular example it’s at my expense. As an avid enthusiast of laughing at the misery of others – especially if tears are involved – I’m totally cool with this. Of the many sources of happiness currently at his disposal, Dougy is most excited to discuss the band’s recent relocation to the UK. Pushed along by flowery praise from the BBC, NME and more, it’s too early to say if this change of address will pay off, but there’s no reason to spoil the party with tales of other Aussie hopefuls crashing and burning on the mean streets of London.

“We’ve been in London for about TWO weeks, it’s beautiful here, it’s always sunny and there’s palm trees and there’s girls walking around in bikinis … I’ll send you a postcard!” says Dougy. Are we talking about the London in Great Britain? Do you really think English girls in bikinis are a good idea? “No!” he shouts with another hefty guffaw. “You’ll actually probably end up running up to one and covering her up with a towel going ‘oh god, please!”

While the arrival of The Temper Trap’s debut album Conditions will hopefully catapult the band into bigger and better things on a global level, it’s an ascension that is long overdue. A resplendent blend of new wave sensibilities and classic pop songwriting dragged kicking and screaming into the new century, their craft and acclaim have been honed over the years with exponentially hype-inspiring EP’s and a string of chaotic performances. Those who have witnessed the band have talked up their performances with an almost biblical fervour, the unlucky few assure you they were still there and it was epic. But Mandagi is unfazed by their growing fame, as some serious jetlag seems to be diverting his attention elsewhere…

 “Sorry, just a sec,” he cuts off my early questioning with a laugh. “I’m talking to our merch guy, we’re in Berlin and he’s dry humping my pillow!

“On the road with the Temper Trap, crazy times! We all have our needs, in this case it’s a pillow!” he concludes before more boyish giggling.

The unforgiving effects of space madness is our mutual connection tonight, and I’m going to ride it for all its worth. For your second imagination exercise for the day, picture your interviewer in the Summer of 2007, hastily purchasing a ticket to see Kasabian at The Arena (R.I.P.) only hours after touching down on a flight from Toronto to Brisbane. Almost penniless, exhausted and poorly prepared for a forty degree difference in temperature, seeing the support act for the first time was like getting a B12 shot right into the spinal cord. Of course, the band in question was The Temper Trap, and naturally Dougy is quick with a tour anecdote.

“We’ve been in London for about TWO weeks, it’s beautiful here, it’s always sunny and there’s palm trees and there’s girls walking around in bikinis … I’ll send you a postcard!”

“For us it was like playing at a soccer match in downtown London, playing to 800 poms doing soccer chants, so that was kinda good,” he recalls as I jog his memory with my own hazy recollections. “They’re nice guys … we stole their vodka, then I sold it to someone else for 42 bucks.” Do I dare ask what nefarious plans you had for such a specific figure?

“I’m always hustling, man, trying to make that money. I think I started at 50 and we worked our way down. I didn’t sell it to you, did I?”

A couple of stages and a poorly-supervised catering table are no longer the only things that The Temper Trap and Kasabian have shared, as British producer Jim Abbiss was on hand to fiddle with knobs and levels for both Conditions and Empire, Kasabian’s sophomore release from 2006. Abbiss’ services have also been requested by The Arctic Monkeys, Adele and The Editors, which may give you further indication of The Temper Trap’s growing English fanbase.

“No, I don’t think that had anything to do with it, we were nobodies … we’re still pretty much nobodies in the big scheme of things,” he responds, now surprisingly calm. “But his manager was in Sydney visiting a friend and she went out to see her friend’s daughter’s band play, who we were playing with as well.

“She just coincidentally saw us and got back to Jim saying ‘I saw this band, you gotta work with them!’ She got in touch with our manager, I’ll spare you the whole story, but that’s pretty much how we got to his attention…”

Sensing that Mandagi’s attention has again drifted away, I ask if unspeakable acts are still being performed on furniture. Surely your lust-filled merchandise representative has finished up by now?

 “Now he’s just patting my bed, just rubbing it like, ohhhh,” he trails off again. I’d attempt to get the conversation back on topic, but there’s just too much fun to be had. I suppose you could get into a lot more trouble in Berlin than getting your leg humped.

“I’d love to see the dark side of this town and explore it even more, but we’re going to Cologne today,” he continues deflated. “That’s what I want to experience in Berlin, back in the dark days, getting shot at by communists!”

Spending much of 2008 performing on every stage that would have them – with the amount of enthusiasm these four lads exude when performing, I assume they would settle for the back of a ute or supporting a puppet show a la Spinal Tap – the fact that they squeezed out an album in the same period seems implausible. If it was up to Dougy, the band may still not have an album to their name, or at least a posthumous release.

“There was definitely a plateau of touring in the middle, we weren’t doing anything at all, people started thinking that we had disbanded,” Dougy recalls. “I was thinking of starting up a rumour of us breaking up, we’d get some publicity and then BANG! We come out with a record!

“Just like John Farnham, ‘y’know, I’m serious…this is the last one!’ I can’t live like that, it stresses me out. I’m not a recording person, I hate recording, it’s my least favourite part of being in a band. I love touring and performing, that’s my thing, so I was moooore than happy to wave it goodbye.”

Dougy can officially wave the recording process goodbye for the moment, as The Temper Trap embark on another mammoth tour that will keep them busy until at least September. Just remember to hide your pillows and Manchester when The Temper Trap bus rolls into your town.

CONDITIONS is out now through Liberation/Infectious. www.thetempertrap.net

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