Interview with Trucker Diablo frontman Tom Harte

Trucker Diablo are a band that have gone from strength to strength, through hard work and dedication to their craft. The band was born in 2008 and quickly gained a name for themselves picking up endorsements along the way from their peers such as Ricky Warwick, Ginger Wildheart, Joe Elliot, Damon Johnson and Cormac Neeson. 2011 saw the band be hand picked by festival promoters to appear at Download Festival. Leading right into 2012 the band had their single “Drink Beer, Destroy” feature on Kerrang TV, MTV Australia and Xbox game Rock Band 3.

Following on the boys took 2012 by the throat and played a massive 40 shows, which including some key highlights from playing Hammerfest with Anthrax, supporting Foo Fighters at Tennents Vital, supporting Terrorvision on their UK tour, rocking crowds on the main stage at Hard Rock Hell festival and topping Thin Lizzy in Belfast.

What does 2013 have in store for the Trucker boys? After the success of their debut album “The Devil Rhythm”, the band will start 2013 with the release of the highly anticipated second album “Songs of Iron” (reviewed here), which be released officially in May of 2013 by Ripple Music, single “The Rebel” released on the 1st February.

 

Interview with Trucker Diablo frontman Tom Harte
Interviewed By Craig
 

 

1) First of all, can you introduce yourself and tell us what you do in the band?

Hi all, my name is Tom Harte and I am the guitarist and singer for Trucker Diablo.
 

2) Can you give us a little history surrounding the band? How it all came together, where the name came from etc?

Sure, we have all been friends for quite a long time and myself and Terry our drummer played together in band previously.  So when it came to putting the band together I had a fair idea of who I wanted to be a part of it.  We put the band together at the start of 2008 and recorded a demo but didn't really do that much.  I came up the name, I always liked Trucker as Diablo so I gave it the evil edge it needed and we all like the whole muscle car thing so it stuck pretty hard.

3) Your latest album 'Songs of Iron' is due out next week, there have been loads of positive reviews for it. How does it feel to know that your music is gaining high review scores?

Its really amazing that people are enjoying it.  People always worry about their second album and we did to I suppose, but when we heard the record back we we're blown away.

4) Someone who has never heard Trucker Diablo comes up to you and asks you to define Trucker Diablo's music. You tell them…

Its hard and heavy, but also music that you can sing along to… Enjoy with beer!!!

5) The band all hail from Northern Ireland, can you tell us what the rock/metal scene is like there?

Yeah its pretty healthy, there are a few stand out bands that are doing well and we are proud to be a part of that.

6) What is it like playing alongside legendary bands such as Anthrax, Terrorvision and Foo Fighters?

Sometime its hard to think about that when you have a show to play and you wanna make it rock…But when the shows over we're like "Is this really happening" lol "Yeah its really happening" lol

7) Can you tell us some of the highlights or something funny that has happened while on tour?

Definitely playing with Foo Fighters and Thin Lizzy.  We drank 5 bottles of Jim Beam on the tour with Terrorvision, was funny at the time but not the next morning lol….

8) What bands are you listening to now would you recommend to our readers?

Blackberry Smoke great southern rock band, gonna do great things…

9) What do you do outside the band – free time and job etc?

I am a games designer by day, so all trucker the artwork for cd's, gigs, t – shirts I had a hand in those….I have a 7 year old son and you will find us either emptying bad guys on Call of Duty or building cities on Minecraft… 😉

10) What does the rest of 2013 and 2014 hold for Trucker Diablo? I presume you will be touring and promoting 'Songs of Iron'?

Yeah we are formulating a plan to tour the record, hopefully in the states next year, maybe Australia, and definitely a UK/Irish tour this year….

11) Any last thoughts or comments for our readers?

New album is out now, give it a listen and hopefully we will see you guys on the road.