Two years ago, the Melbourne rock outfit were perched at the edge of something big. After

two killer EPs (2004’s Present for a Day and 2005’s Picture Frame), their Nick DiDia-

produced debut album, New Manic Art, was garnering the sort of critical acclaim every band

aspires to. Songs such as Neighbours and Colour Day Tours became instant Triple J

anthems. The band toured hard, earning a burgeoning Australian fan base to go with their

stellar live rep, and coveted support spots with the likes of Fall Out Boy and Birds Of Tokyo.

Their star was rising.

And then… well, then a whole lot of bad mojo went down.

Their original bass player, Aaron Malcolmson, left. Business arrangements were tested.

Resulting in band and management parting ways. Frontman Tim Morrison had a heart

operation. Then he fell off a ladder, cracked his skull open and wound up with 30 staples in

his head. Meanwhile, the daily struggle of balancing day jobs and personal relationships with

artistic careers ground onwards. Girlfriends became casualties to the hard slog of the road.

And finally the band parted ways with their label. You name it, the band went through it.

A string of luck like that would have spelt death for lesser bands. But not Trial Kennedy. Stoic

as ever, they channelled everything into the music and prepared for that all-important second album. Songs written, honed and arranged, they hired out Sing Sing and tracked ten songs in nine days for what would become the new album .

When it comes to the mixing, the band sought the help of friend and engineer extraordinaire

Haydn Buxton – brother of their new bassist, Richie. “Haydn did an amazing job,” says Morrison, “After all the shit we’ve been through, in the end, we came out with a rocking record!”

Rocking is putting it mildly. Just like its predecessor, Living Undesigned wields as much grunt

and guts as it does gravitas. A bare-boned rock record, but one with soul and heart. And also

a significant step up for the band.

Best of Tomorrow is all ballsy, bendy riffs and gutsy vocals!

Morrison’s stratospheric range, gritty power, uncanny phrasing, and melodic sensibility

remains the calling card of Trial Kennedy – the way he moves seamlessly from full-tilt rock

scream to delicate falsetto and every velocity in between is simply jaw-dropping. And just as

Gray’s ever-intuitive and signature guitar work crafts a veritable sound scape of texture and

colour, so too does new recruit Richie Buxton’s inspired bass work give the band a whole new

dimension of musical muscle. “Richie’s brought with him a new direction – a new maturity,”

enthuses Morrison. “It still sounds like us, but we’ve moved away from a rock-pop vibe into

something darker, dirtier, with more edge. Richie actually writes jingles for TV commercials,

so he’s very much a songwriter with a lot of great creative ideas. Plus, he’s a musical genius.

From both a technical and song writing perspective, he’s an amazing bass player.”

The band is also revelling in their newfound liberation in being independent again. “This time

around, every decision – from the single, the artwork, the arrangements – has been

completely ours,” says Morrison.

They say behind every great album there’s an equally compelling story. And in the case of

Trial Kennedy, they’ve traversed a world of shit to come out clutching a diamond. Living

Undesigned is not just the album Trial Kennedy fans have been waiting for – it’s the album

that will blow anyone else away who missed them first time around. And this time, the band

are doing things their way. The hard way. The real way.

Living undesigned, indeed.