Possibly the next breakthrough album for Australian music - Colour Day Tours, by Trial Kennedy.

When seeing the cheery bunch of guys chilling out with a beer at Vic Hotel punters wouldn't expect them to have just released what could be described as the next breakthrough album for Australian music - Colour Day Tours.

Vocalist Tim Morrison has even been touted as one of the most original voices to grace the music scene with a voice sometimes reminiscent of Wolfmother lead singer Andrew Stockdale.

But this new found fame has come at a cost to all band members who have worked hard for the past 10 years to make it into the spotlight.

"We've been doing this since we were 18," guitarist Stacey Gray said.

"There's been a huge amount of sacrifice, we've had to sacrifice good jobs, relationships and good friends, but every week there's not one minute where we think we would rather be doing something else."

"So many people would love to be where we are." Morrison said they felt lucky.

The group spun into recognition with Morrison's unusual vocal talent.

In their time as a relatively unknown band Trial Kennedy released two spectacular albums under local producer Kalju Tonuma before being picked up by Gotham Records.

Trial Kennedy was then taken under the wing of Atlanta-based producer Nick DiDia (who has helped the likes of Powderfinger, Audioslave and Incubus) and pumped out a debut album Manic Art which is now taking the country by storm.

"Nick is amazing," Morrison said.

"He takes our music and tries different things out and just enhances it."

Morrison said he was encouraged to drop the strong Australian accent in his singing by the record company but that DiDia preferred his unique vocals.

Manic Art is an album rich with sound and features DiDia playing a wide array of instruments in the background including the theremin, toy piano, mellotron, marxophone, lap steel guitar, microsynth, the piano and several percussion tools. There are some very well-written songs on the debut album including Neighbours which has received great air-play over the radio stations and Colour Day Tours which had guest vocals by DiDia's three-year-old daughter.

After 10 years of hard slogging and setting up their own gigs, a thing the boys have had to get used to is other people doing their work for them.

"One really bizarre instance was when I was walking from the recording pit and had my head down and suddenly the door opened, and I thought maybe it was an automatic door but someone had actually come and opened it for me as I was walking there," Morrison said,.

"We've now got bottled water on our music stands and a pen and paper just in case we feel like writing something - it's a bit humbling."

"We're simple guys who've grown up working our bums off so we're not interested in having all these things done for us; we don't expect it," Gray said.

One thing Trial Kennedy is particularly proud of with Manic Art is the honesty behind the recording.

Working in a polished studio has led the band away from trying to create a polished record so listeners will hear it as it is - mistakes and all.

"It's the mistakes and the little things like that that make a record interesting," Gray said. "The mistakes on the White Album (The Beatles 1968 self-titled album) are what make it so great."

author:  Nikkita Dixon