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Mark Hoppus’ Pick of the Week: The Temper Trap

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When he’s not commandeering the stage as the boisterous bassist for SoCal punks Blink-182, Tweeting wisdom to more than 1.6 million followers, or handling album production duties for bands like Motion City Soundtrack and New Found Glory, you’d think Mark Hoppus would turn down the music.

Not. Possible.

In our continuing series, Hopp on Pop, Hoppus is sharing his favorite acts, culled from his incessant pursuit of all that rocks. (Click here to discover Mark’s previous picks: Brooklyn keyboard punks Matt & Kim, Kiwi dance rock goddess Ladyhawke, Canadian rock duo Japandroids, and NYC popsters fun.) Check out his fifth entry below, and come back to SPIN.com every Wednesday for Mark’s latest discovery.

Be sure to follow more of Mark’s opinions and exploits via Twitter and on his blog! THE TEMPER TRAP

HOMETOWN:
London, via Melbourne, Australia

THE BASICS:
This quartet made a big splash earlier this year when their song “Sweet Disposition” featured prominently in the Zooey Deschanel/Joseph Gordon-Levitt film (500) Days of Summer. Their solid debut album, Conditions, fuses the arena-ready rock of U2 with post-millennial immediacy and ’80s British shoegazer bands.

WHERE HOPP HEARD THEM FIRST:
“Actually, from my friend Justin, who turned me on to Ladyhawke. We were driving to go to lunch, and Temper Trap were playing at the Roxy that night. We saw their name on the marquee, and he was like ‘You gotta check these guys out. They’re really amazing.’ I checked them out, and they were.”

WHY THEY ROCK:
“They’re produced by James Abbiss, who did U.N.K.L.E. and Arctic Monkeys. When I listen to Temper Trap, it really reminds me of late ’80s early ’90s Manchester bands like Charlatans UK, and bands of that genre. I don’t know why exactly that is — maybe it’s in the drum patterns they use.”

HOPP’S TOP TRACK:
“‘Science of Fear.’ I love the guitars on that song and it reminds me of late ’80s Teenage Fanclub stuff, or one of those Manchester bands.”

LISTEN: The Temper Trap, “Science of Fear”(DOWNLOAD MP3)

WATCH: The Temper Trap, “Sweet Disposition”

FIND OUT MORE: thetempertrap.net