Temper Trap, SXSW 2012: Band 'Nervous' to Debut New Tracks in Austin

The Temper Trap are starting to get nervous about South by Southwest. Even though the London-based Australians have logged a couple of past appearances at the festival, this year's appearance (which includes a slot on AOL's March 15 showcase) will be a whole new experience for the band. It marks the first time the Temper Trap will be playing songs from their forthcoming, yet-to-be-titled album.

"It will be the official debut," drummer Toby Dundas tells Spinner. "We're all excited and nervous about South by. It's kind of a high-pressure situation with so much media and so many other great bands there. You really want to play a great show. And having all of this new material, that's quite different as well. It's going to be a nervous time."

As nervous as they are, the band never considered playing it safe and sticking to tried and true material from their debut album, 2009's 'Conditions.' "We're excited to play the new stuff after playing the 'Conditions' stuff for two years, and some of those songs we were playing for four or five years.

"Having the new stuff is going to be really good in the live set. It was just more of a question of can we be ready in time? But after a couple of weeks of practice, I think we're starting to feel a bit more comfortable with it."

Watch the Temper Trap Perform 'Sweet Deposition' Video
'London's Burning (Repeater),' one of the new songs on the band's SXSW set list, is getting a lot of early buzz after premiering online last month. The track revolves around last year's England riots that left parts of the country in a state of mayhem. Other songs off the new record have been played to a select group of friends and critics at listening parties in Australia and the US -- a London edition is currently in the works -- but Dundas says that unheard material is going to find its way to the show, as well.

"The thing about South by, with the shorter sets, you kind of want to pick songs that are maybe a bit more upbeat and kind of bigger sounding. Maybe the more slow, contemplative ones are better kept until people have had a chance to hear the album and take those songs in over a few months," Dundas says. "So, for now, we've got a good mix of more up-tempo and a bit more epic numbers from the new album, and then we'll play five or six songs from the old album as well."

With eighth new tracks "ready to play live," the band are planning to sneak in a few new songs on the rest of their brief North American tour this month, which includes dates in Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto and Brooklyn. After that, they hope to hit the rehearsal studio to get even more tracks ready to see the light of day.

Once the live arrangements are settled, the Temper Trap have one more hurdle to face before the summer release of their new album -- settling on which songs will make the final cut.

"We're getting close," says Dundas. "We recorded 17 songs, so there's some fierce debates going on amongst the band to see what will make the track list. And we're still deciding how long the album's going to be. It'll be interesting. There are a lot of ways the album could go depending on what tracks make it. So we'll see what happens."