Swansea's own Trampolene announce details of new album, MADE IN WALES, and share the first taster from the record, 'KILLING ME SARAH'.
The album’s first taster is supercharged, streamlined punky rock ‘n’ roll – a two-minute blast of suddenly being forced to confront reality after a long night of feeling invincible. Frontman Jack Jones says, “Like the rest of the country, I’d become slightly obsessed with Sandro Ford’s Instagram. There was something about the wildness and humour of it all that I loved. He brought a certain side of Welsh drinking culture – for better and for worse – into the mainstream, and I wanted to try and bottle some of that feeling in a song.
“I was on the 10:08 train from Manchester back down to Swansea when I started writing ‘KILLING ME SARAH’. It came pretty much straight away. That invincible feeling you get on a night out with your mates, when everyone’s laughing, nobody wants to go home and tomorrow feels about a million miles away. ‘Double parked’ is what we’d say in the pub when you’ve ended up with two drinks in front of you… so you’ve got to get one down before you can start on the other. That point in the night when the drinks are arriving quicker than you can drink them.”
Listen to ‘KILLING ME SARAH’ on our Swansea City Fan playlist.
Jack continues, “Really, the song is just about having a f***ing great night and then coming home half-dead, only to get absolutely ribbed by someone who has no sympathy for the state you’ve got yourself into. You thought the night was going to kill you. Turns out Sarah’s finishing the job. That’s basically the song. The invincibility of the night out and the glorious humiliation of coming home afterwards. A Welsh love song, in a way.”
The Trampolene story is a classic rock ‘n’ roll story, a band who have embraced chaos, thrown everything into their music, and earned a reputation as one of the UK’s cult underground favourites – all topped with the articulate lyricism of vocalist, punk poet and novelist Jack Jones. Now Trampolene live up to that reputation with, MADE IN WALES, set for release on March 26 2027 via Pete Doherty’s Strap Originals label.
MADE IN WALES is a record that pulsates with the urgency of a life lived at a million miles an hour. There’s nihilistic hedonism at every turn, punctuated with moments of searing self-reflection and anxiety as the fleeting comedowns take hold. But there’s a poetic streak and a street level romanticism at play too, celebrating how your roots and the community around you shape your life and outlook. Those concepts are set to rampaging garage-rock and boisterous indie-rock played with a thrilling recklessness akin to a runaway train desperately trying to stay on the tracks. It culminates with the poignant title track: part state-of-the-nation address, part alternative national anthem.
The record is also the product of Jack’s rebirth. His commitment to rock ‘n’ roll was such that his life spiralled out of control, and he eventually ended up living in a broken down van while putting what little money he did have towards his next project. When Pete Doherty realised the gravity of his situation, he lent Jack his camper van – a moment that cemented a friendship that continues to this day, and that helped alter the trajectory of Jack’s life. He got sober and found a new focus that allowed him to see his old excess from a much healthier perspective, a change that fuelled these songs.
Jack Jones adds, “‘MADE IN WALES’ is everything we’ve been trying to make since we started the band. From struggling young kids in Swansea to struggling young adults who still believe in the same thing. It feels like the record we’ve always been trying to get to. The title might say where we’re from, but its arms are open to everyone.”
