Xtruppaw, known for their satirical send ups of local and universal themes set to highly danceable rock tunes, are set to launch their long-awaited second album at a concert at the old military prison in Corradino on 6 July. Having built up a large following and massive critical acclaim since their debut in 2006, the five-piece combo tell Colin Fitz that their new offering will offer their trade-mark humour while exploring new musical territory.

One look at Xtruppaw’s Facebook page says it all.

The members of the band pose in the cover picture, dressed as medical practitioners, staring at the camera with completely straight faces, while the title of their soon to be released second album is emblazoned across the top of the page. The title? Xtruppozitorju.

For those of you lucky enough never to have had to experience the uncomfortable sensation of having medicine administered to you ‘from the other end’, this is a play on the band’s name and the Maltese word for suppository… an item often used as an analogy for having to grin and bear an uncomfortable situation.

How often have we heard a relative or friend lament that he or she has had to endure such a situation, probably using an even more colourful metaphor? But, despite the ubiquity of such language and figures of speech in our everyday communication, do we hear such language in local pop culture such as music and TV?

Hardly ever, you might say, remembering the saccharine-sweet, completely sanitised (and often archaic) Maltese you might have come across at a local council pop music at festival, or perhaps heard on one of the radio stations aimed at older listeners.

But Xtruppaw arrived in the mid-naughties to save the day and declare that singing rock music in Maltese can indeed sound ‘normal’ and that the Maltese sense of humour (not the slip on a banana skin type we are force-fed with on TV, the other, observational, cynical, witty one) was alive and seeking to be acknowledged.

Those faces on the album cover. Not one of them bears a fake Deceduti moustache, or features a woman’s make-up, or any one of a million other devices traditionally used by Maltese humourists to guarantee a laugh, and signal, from miles away, that jollity is on the way.

This ‘straight face approach’ is probably one of the main reasons Xtruppaw (Jeffrey, Noel, Marvin, Rex and Dino), have set themselves apart as an entertaining live draw producing albums worth buying.

The rock/punk/ska band has been acclaimed by Maltese music critics since the release of their first album (L-Ewwel Album ta’ Xtruppaw) in 2006. Xtruppozitorju, is set to offer more of what their fans love, but, as the band explained to me when I met them at their garage, there are also going to be a few surprises.

“When we were jamming we often ended up falling into a bit of a ‘funky’ vibe, so we ended up with a disco-flavoured track on the new album,” explained Jeffery. “But we’ve also got a country song on there, a calypso-style song and even a Eurovision-style ballad!”

However, the band stressed that they have retained the same lyrical approach, so despite their growing maturity in musical exploration, the fans can expect the same (or more) never-grow-up-attitude.

Their new album has also heralded a new ‘look’ for the band. The popular puppets (reminiscent of the irreverent South Park cartoon programme) that had adorned the cover of their first album have been consigned to a dark corner of the garage, to be replaced by a slick set of photos, featuring the band in various costumes. I am also promised that there will be a booklet featuring extensive sleeve notes accompanying the CD.

I must confess that I’m not sure whether they are genuinely interested in giving their fans extra value for money by giving them promotional tidbits, and in going through the motions a ‘mainstream’ band would, or whether they are simply-carrying out an elaborate, tongue-in-cheek send-up of the entire promotional bandwagon. With their humour, it would be the kind of thing they would do. I keep thinking of those serious faces they have on while wearing those ridiculous costumes on the album cover.

Not that Xtruppaw define themselves as ‘comedians’ mind. They are, first and foremost, musicians, and damn good ones too. Most of the members also play in other bands, and songs such as Glorja Tonna and il-Puberta are well-constructed, infectious danceable tunes that do look (and sound) out of place among many other punkish tracks by big international bands filmed being performed live and available on Youtube.

The only difference to the English or American videos is the language. Technically Maltese is meant to be the first language of most of us, but geographical and historical factors have resulted in this island having English spoken as a first language by a significant portion of the population and also dominating various spheres – this very article itself, is, if you hadn’t noticed, is in English.

Unlike many Maltese bands that simply want to have a good time by  performing songs that make them sound like their (US or British) musical heroes, and getting played on radio stations whose playlists follow the world’s top 20, Xtruppaw follow their nature and transfer the Maltese they speak and sing around their barbeque to CD and the stage. 

“We’ve been told that for the first time since the ’60s heyday of rock’n’roll and love songs in Maltese, we have helped make the use of the language in popular music ‘cool’ again,” Jeffery observed.

I tend to agree. The use of colloquial language that is heard and spoken by almost everyone, but is shied away from in writing and performance (the reasons for this could probably fill an anthropologist’s PHD thesis), has made Maltese sit naturally with the pop and rock music Xtruppaw perform. This is as opposed to other attempts (particularly in the ’80s) to fuse Maltese lyrics, often featuring poetic words that offer no connection to everyday life, with modern music beats that have ended up sounding, somehow, uncomfortable on the ear.

This process also meant that Maltese was often relegated to a language of the syrupy ballad of the type that Calypso Radio or DJ Mario Laus on Radju Malta delights in playing in between golden greats by Elvis and Connie Francis. There’s nothing ‘wrong’ with that music of course; it’s just a style that belongs to the past and the radio listeners who enjoy wallowing in it.

Not that Xtruppaw expect to be played on young people’s radio any time soon. They readily admit that many of their tracks are either too ‘heavy’ or feature subject matter that is not in line with the lyrical content of the Rihanna-Justin Bieber-Pitbull-Snow Patrol-Coldplay-Winter Moods playlists of stations such as Bay, Vibe, XFM and Magic. In fact, as part of their humorous attitude to most things in life, they actually wrote and recorded Diska Cool Ghar-Radio for their first album.

Some in the band are of the opinion, however, that certain radio stations will not play songs with Maltese lyrics even if the song itself was radio-friendly and professionally recorded. On this point, having worked in radio myself, I see this thinking as a bit simplistic.

For example, the song Diska Cool Ghar-Radio contains a lyric that implies that if the song was in English it would be played… but having personal knowledge of how playlists are put together in commercial music radio stations nowadays, with their emphasis on the ‘overall sound of the station’, I very much doubt the song would have made it on to the airwaves. Its jaunty, fast rock’n’roll style is simply out of sync with most other things on air in the world right now, so that would have ruled it out, Maltese lyrics or not.

The judgement of a song’s suitability is a subjective thing so songs are often rejected for a whole multitude of reasons that may not seem to make sense to the person who recorded it. Often it might be the simple lyrical content… if all songs on MTV at the moment are about relationships, one could hardly expect a song that came out of a jamming session around a campfire about puking in Paceville (for example) to be accepted by an MTV-style radio station.

If there is such a thing as discrimination against the Maltese language in songs on certain radio stations, one must also remember this: When a station chooses its playlist, it is keeping in mind its advertisers, who often voice their opinions to the managers about the station’s overall sound. So if there is anyone that should be accused of ‘disrespecting’ Maltese by discriminating against it on the radio, one has to question an entire attitude among at least part of the power-wielding population, not just the radio stations.

But enough polemics and back to Xtruppaw. When I met them, these 30-somethings turned out to be a warm and fun-loving group who have been friends since their teenage years and who are simply forwarding to the world the jokes, comments and random observations they have been making to each other from childhood.

And they are presenting them, in the matter-of-fact, sometimes cynical, way that thousands of people all over our islands do every day, albeit in musical form. This, to me, is their strength. They do not hide behind characters or make-up or costumes, as so many Maltese comedians do… neither do they hold back with the attitude or the language. And they were one of the first Maltese bands to simply reflect the Maltese character without editing or discreet self-adjustment ‘so as not to rock society’s boat’.

Although there have been Maltese punk bands that have even sung protest songs in Maltese about the country’s state of affairs, I believe that Xtruppaw are the first local band to really reflect the Maltese character. The vast majority of us are either too lazy or too protective of what we have to honestly attempt to change the status quo, but what we do a lot is constantly moan, crtiticise, make fun of our institutions, or anyone in the news with put-downs and cynical jokes.

These are the reasons they have endeared themselves to so many musical observers in the country, me included. I see them as the equivalent of John Cleese, Michael Palin and the rest of the British Monty Python comedy team, who in the late ’60s, revolutionised comedy in the English-speaking world by performing skits satirizing what their society held sacred or untouchable, and presenting hilarious situations based on everyday common events – all with a completely straight face.

They shocked the mainstream establishment when they appeared, but many more people embraced them as young people finally ‘telling it how it is’ – through comedy.

Laughing – and dancing – along to Xtruppaw can feel like something your parents told you shouldn’t do as it will only encourage them. This band is officially Malta’s guilty pleasure. Bring on the oxygen, doctors.

Xtruppaw’s new album Xtruppozitorju will be launched during a concert at the old military prison at Corradino on 6 July. BNI will be the support act. For tickets and more information find Xtruppaw on Facebook or go to www.xtruppaw.com