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After nearly two decades, U.S rock stalwarts Trapt are finally bringing their concert to us Australian audiences, kicking off in Perth on July 4.
“It’s not that we didn’t want to come over there in the past,” apologized vocalist Chris Brown. “We haven’t been deliberately neglecting you or anything like that (laughs). There really is a lot to organize and finding a promoter to take care of all the details and get behind you is probably the biggest obstacle. Things just seemed to come together this time. We were already doing a show in Okinawa and we decided to look into coming to Australia again. We called our agent and luckily he knew people over there at Metropolis and they thought it was a great idea, so we put it together and announced the tour and ticket sales on the first day just went crazy! Things have just worked out this time.”
That Trapt haven’t found an interested party to bring them to our shores in the past almost defies logic.
Over their seven studio albums, Trapt have sold more than 2.5 million albums worldwide and through songs such as “Headstrong” “Echo”, and “Still Frame” have become one of the most dependable rock outfits in America.
The fact that all three of those songs were from their self-titled album in 2002 only adds to the pedigree of their material.
“We started the band when we were all 16 years old and juniors in High School,” Brown recalled. “We had this little house that belonged to our guitarist at the time, Simon Ormandy – actually, it was a little house on the side of another house – and that was where it all started. It was our jam room and party house and it grew from a group of sixteen-year-olds trying to have a good time into what you see today (laughs).”
By 1997, Trapt was performing in local venues and by the following year were opening for Papa Roach with Brown admitting that the reality of the situation had still yet to fully set in.
“It was just all about having a good time, even then,” he laughed. “By that stage, we were all going to college, and then we dropped out to move to L.A so it was just a whirlwind of drinking and playing music. The labels had already started calling before we moved so we knew it was something that was going to be possible for us and we took that opportunity.”
Coming into the music world at such a young age, Brown says there was never any goals further than keeping the good times going, but even then, the young boys knew that they had to keep grounded and avoid the trappings of music life in the big city.
“We just made a vow to be ourselves,” he recalled. “We knew we had to be uncompromising on what we wanted to do and what we wanted out of life and music, and not let our peers or anyone else in society sway us in ways we didn’t want to go. We wanted to be free from limitations that people put on us or we put on ourselves and to try and get away from that and do and perform how we wanted.”
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After putting out their independently released debut Amalgamation in 1999, Brown said the band started to truly believe in themselves and their talent and realized that they were a part of the music scene not by chance, but because they deserved to be.
“We were only sixteen or seventeen when that came out so there has been a world of changes in the band since then,” he laughed. “I think definitely our songwriting has gotten tighter and our sound has come a long way. That period was about finding the band’s sound and setting ourselves up for the future. I think the first record that truly captured our sound was our self-titled debut album in 2002, and before that, we had an EP called Glimpse that was a good indication of where we were headed, musically.”
When Trapt was released it was an instant success, spawning the trio of songs that have remained fan favourites to this day.
“We didn’t know what to expect back then,” Brown mused. “Then “Headstrong” came out and really took off and it’s given us a great career. We’re blessed and very happy that things have turned out the way they have.”
With early success comes increased pressure and Brown concedes that especially at such a young age, the pressure on Trapt mounted instantly.
“Oh, yeah, for sure,” he affirmed. “You’re 21, 22 and you have a huge song all around the world, and it’s crazy! You haven’t even grown into your own shoes yet as an artist and as a performer. You’re just thrust out there playing shows and touring and you haven’t learnt that much yet about what to expect (laughs). The band we are now is just light years ahead of where we were fourteen years ago in 2003 when stuff started happening, so now it’s definitely a lot easier. We’ve kind of mastered what we do and we can do it pretty well now. We’ve grown into it, for sure, but it’s crazy to have that success right away on the first single you ever put out to the world.”
That early success and experience is showing dividends now, with Brown saying the band are comfortable in themselves and their music, and as such, are unconcerned about what their peers and other bands are doing.
“We don’t really worry about what the pack is doing,” he shrugged. “Whatever works for us at the time musically and whatever influences make their way into our lives, we take on board but we don’t really try to keep up with what the rock radio or anyone else is doing. We just do our thing – no matter what – and it seems to work for us.”
Written by Kris Peters
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