New Jersey quartet Trophy Scars, purveyors of darkly cinematic blues-rock opuses, bring their first European tourto The Exchange in Bristol tomorrow , supporting Josh Scogin (The Chariot) and Michael McClellan’s acclaimed new duo project, ’68.

Trophy Scars, who have attained a rabid cult following over the course of 4 albums and 4 EPs, began in 2002 as a post-hardcore outfit, first gaining widespread critical attention with the release of their ‘Hospital Music for the Aesthetics of Language’ EP in 2004.

Numerous US tours, including the Vans Warped Tour in 2004, earned them a reputation as a formidable live act who throw everything they’ve got into their performances.

In 2008, the band was offered a support slot on a European tour with a high-profile UK band. A week before the tour was set to kick off, the headliner broke up, leaving Trophy Scars heavily in debt from lost airfares and other unrecoverable expenses, to the extent that the band was forced into an indefinite hiatus.

When their fans learned of the situation, the online message boards lit up. They were so devastated that they would never get to hear Trophy Scars next album, ‘Bad Luck’, that eventually fans started emailing the band, asking if the band had a PayPal account so that they could send money to the band to help keep the band alive. This act eventually became ‘The Bad Luck Foundation’, which raised enough money to enable the band to record the album, well before crowd-funding concepts like Kickstarter came into existence. The fans saved the band.

Over the years, Trophy Scars have evolved and broadened their sound while still maintaining their trademark energy and penchant for darkly gripping narratives.

Their fourth album and magnum opus, ‘Holy Vacants’, was released worldwide in April 2014 on Monotreme Records, garnering numerous 5-star reviews from around the world and paving the way for their long-awaited debut European tour.

To help the band raise funds for the tour, The first ever vinyl edition of their much-loved third album, ‘Bad Luck’, was recently released on Monotreme Records as a limited 180 g pressing of 200 copies on black vinyl and 300 copies on clear red vinyl with black spatter. All profits from the sale will go directly to the band to support their touring and recording.

Andy Howells recently poised questions to the band

Who are you and where do you come from?

We are Trophy Scars. We came together in 2002 after our former high school band broke up. We’ve known each other forever.

Where are you from?

Morristown, NJ. From the loins of our fathers.

How would you describe your music?

2 parts Blues.

3 Parts Psychedelic.

1 Part post-hardcore

Put the lime in the coconut and mix it all up…..

Whats been your best live experience?

We re-released our album “Alphabet. Alphabets.” on vinyl a few years ago and had two back to back sold out shows at a legendary venue in our home state of New Jersey. We were completely humbled and shocked by the amount of people that flew from all over the country to see the show.

Your new album came out earlier this year, tell me more about that.

We released our new album “Holy Vacants” this past summer on Monotreme Records. This album is conceptually our most ambitious. It took two years to complete - the recording process was a lot of fun. We waited until we found the proper label that loved the record as much as we did - we wanted to release the best quality album that we could, Monotreme Records allowed us to do that.

You’re touring at the moment are you enjoying that?.

Of course. This is our first european tour. We are so grateful to be on this tour with such a badass band - ’68 - Check them out.

What can people expect in Bristol?

A little bit of everything from all different eras of our career during the show… After the show, you can expect us to have a few pints and embed ourselves in your city.

Do you plan on coming to wales in the future.

absolutely.

Where can people hear your music?

Facebook, spotify, iTunes. All the usual places. Our label is out of the UK so you can find our new album in most record shops!