In every field, be it music or carpentry, there are those who do their jobs so well that they inspire others to follow in their footsteps. Trade Heroes, the band, are not those people. Still, they try their best to channel their own inspirations into original music– music that people can run, fight, dance, and sing along to all at once.
What started out as pure escapism– four friends jamming on the weekends to combat the workaday doldrums– soon evolved into a passion project. Now, as songwriters and performers, the members of Trade Heroes strive for that sweet spot between heavy and catchy, light and dark, classic and current – like the Last Waltz by way of CBGB.
In this interview, we chat with Trade Heroes about their influences, their newest project, and more.
Full Q&A, links and a stream for their video Gates of Hell and their album Phosphene below.
Let’s dive a little deeper into You, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?
We play a compendium of styles– think The Last Waltz by way of CBGB– but I guess you might as well call it “alternative rock” for lack of a more descriptive subgenre. We play loud and hard because, well, it’s more forgiving in the chops department but also extremely cathartic; every now and then we’ll switch to our clean channels and turn off our fuzz pedals and play something real tender and sweet, if only to make everything else sound all the more raucous by comparison. It’s dealing in those kinds of extremes and juxtapositions that excites us most on a musical level, I think.
How long have you been creating and sharing your music with the public?
About three years ago, right around the time I moved to L.A., I met Evan Moore (drums/vocals) and the two of us started jamming on the weekends; we were (and still are) roommates and figured we owed it to ourselves not to let our day jobs get in the way of our instruments. What started out as a hobby kind of snowballed when we moved past covers and into original material: in July 2014, we recorded an EP with our producer, Zackary Darling, filling in on bass. By the end of the year, two of my former bandmates from college– Jake Flynn (guitar) and Sam Harwood (bass)– moved out to L.A. and within about a month became full-time members of Trade Heroes. The rest is, as they say, history.
Who or what influences your playing and/or writing? Also, what motivates you to keep going?
We’ve all got our own tastes and loves and hates and what have you, but the musical touchstones that come up in both songwriting and rehearsals usually fall somewhere in that ‘70s FM territory: Black Sabbath, the Stooges, and Big Star on one end of the spectrum; Merle Haggard, The Band, and Jackson Browne on the other. Neil Young can run the gamut between country and hard rock without losing his essence– Everybody Knows This is Nowhere is like the missing link between Gram Parsons and Soundgarden– and in that regard he’s probably influenced me more than any one artist.
Whenever I get discouraged, I look to folks like Dinosaur Jr and Bob Mould who’ve been doing their respective things for 30+ years and yet still manage to put out essential work on a regular basis. They may not be as widely recognized as they deserve– I’d say maybe one in twenty people recognize my Hüsker Dü shirt when I wear it– but they’ve carved out sustainable careers without compromising their artistry and their fans love them for it. What more inspiration could you ask for?
Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?
We set out to record 11 songs– 9 originals and 2 covers– in as little time as possible, not just for the sake of budget but also to capture the energy of our live shows and avoid doing something “overproduced” that we wouldn’t be able to replicate onstage. The session ended up lasting 12 hours and we wrapped everything short of a few unavoidable overdubs. Thanks to the support of our friends, family, and fans on Kickstarter, we’re proud to bring you all that material in the form of a new LP (due out next month) plus a video single for “Gates of Hell” featured here on MTM.
What was the last song you listened to?
“Kerosene” by The Bottle Rockets.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
Vinyl at home, MP3s on the go. I’m only an audiophile insofar as it’s practical…
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
As an unsigned and unrepped artist, I believe that it’s next to impossible to distinguish oneself on a service like Spotify or Apple Music. That’s why Bandcamp is such a revolution in and of itself– taking the DIY ethos of ‘60s folk and ‘80s hardcore and distilling it into a single platform where the competition stays between peers, not between indie kids and Top 40 tentpoles. I’ve started discovering more and more bands and buying more and more of their music thanks to Bandcamp; the rest of the time I do my downloading and streaming on Amazon Music.
Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract listeners to your music?
Well, first and foremost, we don’t play pop music. We may borrow from pop structures and write half-decent hooks from time to time, but the execution tends to be noisy and irreverent and therefore inaccessible to the average listener. Which is not to say that all pop is lame because it’s mainstream; we just aren’t caviar for the masses. That said, we don’t really have a “niche,” either: maybe if we only played punk or metal or country and not a Frankenstein’s monster of the three, it’d be easier to attract fans. But where’s the fun in that?
Do you gig, tour or perform? Do you ever live stream? Where can music lovers see you live?
We’ve played all over L.A. – the Mint being our go-to venue – and will continue to do so as often as possible until touring becomes a financial reality. If people hear this LP and like it enough to request a live stream of our next gig, then you better believe that we’ll find a way to make it happen.
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more of your music?
We’ve got a website (tradeheroes.net) with links to our social media and all that jazz. If you’re interested in hearing more music and feel like going straight to the source, check us out on Bandcamp (tradeheroes.bandcamp.com)
Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?
I just want to add that, having gone to high school in Chattanooga, TN and started my first real band there, it’s an honor to be featured on Middle Tennessee Music today.
