Start Listening To: Fat Trout Trailer Park
Beyond the cacophony, Fat Trout Trailer Park offer a sharp critique of current society exploring topics of 21st century disillusionment, economic and environmental brutality, despair, and out-of-control hedonism.
Fat Trout Trailer Park's new track 'Belt' has been released by NYC label 22Twenty. 'Belt' is the first single from the duo's upcoming second EP 'Florida,' which will be released this autumn and is the follow-up to their explosive self titled debut EP 'Fat Trout Trailer Park', which was released in 2020.
"Lyrically ‘Belt’ is a critique on capitalist culture ranging from its benefit of political polarization, false meritocracy, nepotism and participation trophy culture. Sonically the menacing instrumental backdrop contrasts the deadpan vocal delivery illustrating the duality of inner rage and outward composure required to survive and endure capitalist reign."
Can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?
We’re Fat Trout Trailer Park, we’re based out of NYC and we make music we enjoy.
What encouraged you to start your own band and how did the band form in the way it is now?
Sean: This started as a solo project of mine after moving to NYC from Belgium. I released an EP in the middle of the pandemic and hadn't yet assembled a live band. That’s where Laurence came in.
Laurence: Sean sent me a link with his EP and “I doubt it, but do you want to play in my shitty band?”. I listened to the music and really took to it.
Sean: Then I sent him the new tracks, the four off our upcoming EP. He wrote drum parts that were so much better that I couldn’t not ask him to fully join the band as a duo.
Laurence: I said ‘I do’.
What is the background story of your band name?
It’s the name of the trailer park Harry Dean Stanton’s character manages in Twin Peaks. Once we were watching the series and it paused on a still of the sign.
Can you tell us more about how you produce your music?
Laurence: Sean will send me tracks without drums and I’ll write parts to them. Or I will record several drum parts and send them off to Sean and he’ll write guitar parts to it.
Sean: We go back and forth like that for a bit and when we settle on something worth trying out we play it live together and workshop parts and flesh out ideas.
Laurence: Then we bring the songs to Jack Moulton, who plays bass in the live band as well as mixed the EP. We leave room for the songs to change shape in the recording process, playing around with different sounds and Jack is a big part of that.
How has New York influenced you as a band?
Being in the belly of the beast that is New York City, really brings out vastly contrasting perspectives in people. For us, being confronted with chaos day in day out definitely paints a grimmer reality than some living here might want to admit. Yet, we’re hopeless romantics.
“Fountain of youth straight into the bloodstream
Chief of disaster now elect my offspring
Priest of a temple they call the West Wing
Heir to a class war to invest in.”
We love your new Single “Belt”. Can you tell us more about the lyrics?
The 2020 elections were sadly an inspiration to try and incorporate the bizarre polarization of this country into the song. And mainly how the rich profit off of this chaos.
What was the best gig you guys ever played and why?
Our shows at Purgatory in Brooklyn have been our favorites so far. It’s a small venue, quite off the beaten path. It’s next to a graveyard and the building used to be a funeral home. People that come there really want to be there, which make the events more personal and intense. No finance babies standing at the bar requesting Freebird.
What music styles do you guys listen to and how different are they from each other?
We definitely have overlapping taste in music so when we’re together we listen to new stuff from other upcoming bands, see if we can find some like minded people.
And when we’re apart Laurence listens to UK Grime and Sean makes house music.
Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s important to you?
We bonded over Bloc Party’s ‘Silent Alarm’ when we first met and other albums of that time that we grew up with and to this day still get regular spins at FTTP HQ.
Is there any new music from 2022 you have been enjoying?
Laurence: Crows - Beware Believers
Sean: Soul Glo - Diaspora Problems
What do you love right now?
Sean: My foam roller
Laurence: Funyuns
What do you hate right now?
Sean: NYC rent hikes
Laurence: Love
Where do you see your band one year from now?
We hope to be finishing up our debut album, playing a summer full of festivals, our rider decked out with Funyuns.
Is there a particular place in the world you would love to play a gig one day?
Laurence: Montreux Jazz is somewhere I’d like to return to.
Sean: Fuji Rock looks sick.
Laurence: But we don’t have specific ambitions in that sense, we just want to play shows.
