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 Trapt played the Action Sports World Tour USA Championships on Sunday afternoon, September 24, 2006 |
Trapt
Trapt Appeared at the Action Sports World Tour USA Championships in San Diego
The ipayOne Center rocked beyond belief when Trapt performed at the Action Sports World Tour USA Championships in San Diego on Sunday afternoon - September 24.
Frustration. Anger. Angst. Hard and heavy power riffs. They've long been part of the rock tradition. And they've all recently become almost a rock cliché.
And then there's TRAPT, one of the most successful breakout new rock bands of the last two years. In the studio and at their headlining gigs in front of thousands of fans, TRAPT is a young band that likes it hard and heavy...but also defies all classification. Thanks to a strong sense of melody, soul-searching lyrics, gorgeous ethereal guitar tones, and some archetypal hooks, this is a quartet so eclectic that the list of diverse bands TRAPT has been compared to simply boggles the mind. "Their blend of courageous intensity and sweet melodicism suggests a band weaned on equal parts Soundgarden and Pink Floyd, Korn and Metallica," critic Bob Gulla wrote in Guitar One of the Northern California group's two million-selling self-titled Warner Bros. debut disc in 2002.
SOMEONE IN CONTROL, TRAPT’s much-anticipated follow-up album, continues to build on that eclecticism and momentum with 11 songs co-produced by TRAPT and the esteemed Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Pearl Jam, Good Charlotte). And while the sonics still illustrate why this band was chosen to open for Papa Roach early in their career (they were still high school juniors!) and was given their first demo deal by Incubus's Immortal Records label (they were ironically rejected for "not sounding enough like Incubus"), new songs like "Disconnected (Out Of Touch)" and "Stand Up," the first single, include elements that should capture the ears of rock aficionados everywhere. The atmospheres of lead guitarist SIMON ORMANDY have already garnered comparisons to The Cure. The melancholic, openhearted lyrics of lead singer CHRIS BROWN have even gained TRAPT a following amongst the young emo/rock brigade with such songs as the #1 single “Headstrong,” which earned two Billboard Awards for Best Modern Rock Track and Best Rock Track of 2003, and the follow-up single “Still Frame” that also went into the Top Five of the Modern Rock and Active Rock charts.
"That's what TRAPT essentially is," explains CHRIS. "We're melding all of our influences together, but at the same time, putting our own little spin on it so that it's a cohesive TRAPT sound. Any of the bands I've ever listened to have hooks in their songs--in their guitar and bass riffs, and even in their drum beats. If you're not going to make a song memorable--every part of it memorable--there's no reason to do it."
Adds SIMON: "Along with heavy, driving riffs, I like to try to get real nice, beautiful melodies in there, because music is melody. And that's what most people gravitate towards in the end." "I mean, take a band like U2 or the Police," continues CHRIS. "They're all about hooks. It's what songwriting should be.” Like we said, very eclectic.
Another element that seems to separate TRAPT from most of its modern rock peers is that despite the hard rock attack, their music more often than not comes across as--dare we say --positive in nature. The soaring melodies and hooks are certainly part of that equation. But so are CHRIS’s lyrics, which, the savvy listener will notice, are full of questions. They may not offer a definitive answer in the end--but just the fact that he's asking them puts TRAPT’S music in a more positive mode.
"Definitely," says CHRIS. "Just to see it for yourself and to ask it is to not live in denial all the time. To be honest with myself is my main goal in life--to be truly free of all the perceptions of other people. And if I do have a problem, then to take it on and turn it into a situation that works for me rather than against me.
"I don't really feel all that alienated or have too much angst,” he continues. “I mean, ‘Stand Up,' to me, is just about not letting everyone walk all over you. Everyone gets angry sometimes. And there is a different array of emotions on this album. 'Lost Realist (Rush To Slow Down),' for instance, is about my inability to open up to people. But with ' Stand Up,' it's just that I hear so many people complaining about other people abusing them and they just kinda take it. And so many songs I hear on the radio are about 'Oh, I'm so depressed.' Or 'I'm so lonely.' And it's like, c'mon, at a certain point, you've got to take a stand for yourself. We've always been about that in TRAPT. But by the same token, it's not always cool to be so fiercely independent. That attitude alone isn't going to make you happy forever. So I kind of view SOMEONE IN CONTROL is about the process of growing up and realizing there's more to life."
Suburban alienation has also long been a theme in the rock genre, dating back to at least Goffin & King's "Pleasant Valley Sunday"--but the members of TRAPT actually lived it, which gives them the right to walk the walk and talk the talk. In fact, the group's high school roots in the Bay Area town of Los Gatos, California have been described by one astute observer as nothing less than "twisted suburbia." It often felt like a trap to the youngsters growing up...and it’s, of course what ultimately led to the band's unique moniker.
"It was like we were in this small little town and were kind of sheltered by the community being so protective," recalls bassist PETE CHARELL (whose instrument is such an integral part of TRAPT’s sound that he's listed as "lead bassist" in most of the group's credits). "It was this small, sheltered, boring place."
"I got into my fair share of trouble--a DUI, a couple of minor offenses, and a few weeks in juvenile hall," recalls CHRIS. "TRAPT was originally an outlet for the frustrations of being constantly monitored by the suburban authorities who were very bored because there was almost no crime. All the lyrics were aimed at society trying to bring us down. As the years went by and I got older, my lyrics became more personal. But that was the original intent."
Indeed, something was definitely in that Los Gatos water. Lyndsey Parker would later describe "Headstrong"--the group's "rifftastic" first radio hit--as a contemporary "anthem for all downtrodden children of the 'burbs," in the pages of Revolver. Never mind that the song was originally written about a record producer who was trying to deny the band artistic control. The music of TRAPT had directly struck that suburban angst nerve.
Accordingly, TRAPT was born the very first day that high school buddies CHRIS, SIMON and PETE got together to jam in 1997. CHRIS and PETE had previously been playing together with another friend, a drummer, in the latter's garage.
"We were already a band," remembers PETE. "We had two guitar players-- CHRIS was one of them. And we were rehearsing at our drummer's house. But the neighbors were home all day and they were always complaining about us playing in his garage. So he was like. 'I have a friend who plays guitar and he has a little guest house up in the hills. It's perfect. And we can play there. We were kind of iffy at first, but then we heard SIMON and realized this guy is good! From that point on, we started writing songs as TRAPT and CHRIS started singing."
"We made up a song the first time we ever played together," agrees SIMON.
From then right up to the present, all of TRAPT’S music has been written and arranged by--and credited to--TRAPT as a unit. And it is a group effort; some of the material has even originated with the rhythm section. "The music still always comes before the lyrics," says SIMON. "How we do it varies. Sometimes, we'll walk into the room and--bang!--there's a song. Sometimes I'll come in with a song or a part, or Chris will have something. So there's not one set way in our songwriting process."
Soon thereafter, TRAPT became a dynamic staple on the local scene, releasing their own indie disc and becoming a major draw at the now well-known Cactus Club. Even after CHRIS and SIMON enrolled in UC Santa Barbara and PETE was hundreds of miles away at UC Santa Cruz, the band managed to keep making it work, regularly getting together to rehearse and record.
After a 2000 appearance at L.A.'s famed Troubadour club, and the first inklings of major label interest, the band all dropped out of college and moved to Los Angeles.
TRAPT replaced their drummer with Seattle native AARON "MONTY" MONTGOMERY. MONTY brings his rock influences to the band having grown up watching Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam bring down the house at local venues. And in the tradition of classic drummers, MONTY also brought a sense of humor and a lightness to the proceedings.
"CHRIS is very analytical and curious beyond belief," says MONTY. "Which is why he comes up with some amazing things. There are a lot of things to take seriously, but from the get-go, the reason we're all doing this is because it's fun and to have a good time.”
TRAPT sold a lot of records before embarking on a two-year, sold-out national tour, playing as many as 300 dates in one year.
Which brings us a full circle to SOMEONE IN CONTROL. CHRIS believes that the new release, "better captures what we sound like live," as TRAPT continues on its road to musical and lyrical maturity.
"Every song is either about losing control or trying too hard to have control," explains the singer. "There's a fine line between allowing yourself to be vulnerable and closing yourself off to everything. There's a balance point--and I think most people who are happy have found that balance. Being able to balance control is when you're really in control."
Control is something TRAPT has demanded of its own music from the very beginning--and, ultimately, this is a band of dedicated kindred spirits with a shared ambition who've worked very hard to get where they are in 2005.
"I think most bands have to be that way unless they're really ‘pretty looking,’" deadpans CHRIS.
"Well, you know, we hate each other sometimes, too," counters SIMON. "I mean, we lived on a bus together for two years. Nothing is devoid of conflict--but at the end of the day, we're all friends”.
"All anybody can do is make music that they really like. We're just trying to make music that we enjoy--and how it turns out is how it turns out."
For more information go to:
»» The Action Sports Tour's Keith Allen Talks with the Band
»» www.trapt.com
