Trapt
They’ll Take on Anyone
2005-11-02
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I can guarantee that no matter who you are, you’ve had a Trapt song stuck
in your head before. In fact, if you’re anything like me, you probably had
it stuck in your head for days at a time. You know how it goes, “back
off I’ll take you on / headstrong I’ll take on anyone,”
etc. With a song that catchy, it’s amazing they could write another one
equally likely to get stuck in your head. But with their second album out, they’ve
proven they’re more than just a rocking lyric or two. Simon Ormandy, guitarist
for the group, recently talked with Synthesis about Trapt’s new album, their
upcoming tour and why he’s glad to be out of the suburbs.
Trapt formed in 1997, during their sophomore year of high school. “The drummer at the time was one of my good friends,” begins Ormandy, “and he was like, ‘hey you know I’ve got this thing and we need a place to play,’ so they brought the instruments and we made a song the first day and that was kind of like the beginning.” Ormandy lived in the hills of Los Gatos, CA and had a practice space where potentially offended neighbors wouldn’t complain. “We could play at full volume in the middle of the night, so that was a plus,” he mentioned. Trapt has continued since that fateful day (despite a drummer change) devoting their lives to their music. In 2000, the members all dropped out of their respective colleges and decided to give the band a real shot, moving to LA. They signed with Warner Bros. Records and hit the scene with the chart-topping, award-winning single “Headstrong” in 2003.
Inspiration for their music is diverse and complex, but in the early days, a lot of what they focused on was the alienation caused by growing up in the suburbs and feeling (excuse the pun) trapped. “Los Gatos is kind of a nice place. There’s not a lot of crime and it’s a good place to raise a family and all that kind of good stuff. It’s also a place where things are kind of planned out and mapped out, and certain things are expected of you; you got to go to college, you gotta do what your parents want to you to do. The cops are always harassing us kids who are up to no good. Our friends are just kind of doing the same thing, not really moving or progressing. People can get stuck here,” he explains.
When Synthesis spoke with Ormandy, he was recovering from a night spent with those old friends. “We just played a show in Santa Cruz last night; it was kind of a hometown CD release. Afterwards, we went down to one of the local bars with some of our old friends, and got rip-roaring drunk and talked about the good old days,” he relates.
The new tour officially started on September 22nd in Chico, CA, but the band has been playing for a while, including a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, to promote their new album. Someone in Control, which was released September 13th, shows a growth and maturity on the part of the band, dealing with more complex issues and themes, but maintaining the integrity of the band’s sound. “This record is a little bit more heavy and a little bit more dark, but more raw. We’ve been playing countless shows over the last tour and really focusing on how we want our stuff to sound and how we want it to be a little bit better representation of our live show. With this record I think we’ve done that, especially with the guitar sound and stuff like that,” explains Ormandy. Unlike most rock bands that rely on heavy power chords, Trapt focuses on creating memorable melodies. “Music is melody,” explains Ormandy, “You get a little melody stuck in your head. We’ve tried to get nice melodies in there and try to juxtapose them with heavy riffs. That kind of thing is what we do.” The band has always collaborated on their music and each member of the band is integral to their sound. When asked how the songwriting process worked, Ormandy couldn’t specify a specific process. “No two songs come together in exactly the same way. Sometimes I’ll come in with a song, just like done, or I’ll come in with a part or whatever. Or we’ll just walk into a room and Aaron will start playing a drum beat and we’ll just start playing something. A lot of the times that’s how songs come together. It’s like the good songs come together really easily, there’s just no effort, like ‘oh, there it is,’ you know? It’s an ever-changing kind of dynamic,” he explains.
“It’s fun; you never know what you’re gonna get,” he continues. “It’s definitely a collaborative effort; we all bring stuff to the table. The important thing is that at the end of the day whatever we come up with and put to tape everyone has to be happy with.”
Trapt formed in 1997, during their sophomore year of high school. “The drummer at the time was one of my good friends,” begins Ormandy, “and he was like, ‘hey you know I’ve got this thing and we need a place to play,’ so they brought the instruments and we made a song the first day and that was kind of like the beginning.” Ormandy lived in the hills of Los Gatos, CA and had a practice space where potentially offended neighbors wouldn’t complain. “We could play at full volume in the middle of the night, so that was a plus,” he mentioned. Trapt has continued since that fateful day (despite a drummer change) devoting their lives to their music. In 2000, the members all dropped out of their respective colleges and decided to give the band a real shot, moving to LA. They signed with Warner Bros. Records and hit the scene with the chart-topping, award-winning single “Headstrong” in 2003.
Inspiration for their music is diverse and complex, but in the early days, a lot of what they focused on was the alienation caused by growing up in the suburbs and feeling (excuse the pun) trapped. “Los Gatos is kind of a nice place. There’s not a lot of crime and it’s a good place to raise a family and all that kind of good stuff. It’s also a place where things are kind of planned out and mapped out, and certain things are expected of you; you got to go to college, you gotta do what your parents want to you to do. The cops are always harassing us kids who are up to no good. Our friends are just kind of doing the same thing, not really moving or progressing. People can get stuck here,” he explains.
When Synthesis spoke with Ormandy, he was recovering from a night spent with those old friends. “We just played a show in Santa Cruz last night; it was kind of a hometown CD release. Afterwards, we went down to one of the local bars with some of our old friends, and got rip-roaring drunk and talked about the good old days,” he relates.
The new tour officially started on September 22nd in Chico, CA, but the band has been playing for a while, including a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, to promote their new album. Someone in Control, which was released September 13th, shows a growth and maturity on the part of the band, dealing with more complex issues and themes, but maintaining the integrity of the band’s sound. “This record is a little bit more heavy and a little bit more dark, but more raw. We’ve been playing countless shows over the last tour and really focusing on how we want our stuff to sound and how we want it to be a little bit better representation of our live show. With this record I think we’ve done that, especially with the guitar sound and stuff like that,” explains Ormandy. Unlike most rock bands that rely on heavy power chords, Trapt focuses on creating memorable melodies. “Music is melody,” explains Ormandy, “You get a little melody stuck in your head. We’ve tried to get nice melodies in there and try to juxtapose them with heavy riffs. That kind of thing is what we do.” The band has always collaborated on their music and each member of the band is integral to their sound. When asked how the songwriting process worked, Ormandy couldn’t specify a specific process. “No two songs come together in exactly the same way. Sometimes I’ll come in with a song, just like done, or I’ll come in with a part or whatever. Or we’ll just walk into a room and Aaron will start playing a drum beat and we’ll just start playing something. A lot of the times that’s how songs come together. It’s like the good songs come together really easily, there’s just no effort, like ‘oh, there it is,’ you know? It’s an ever-changing kind of dynamic,” he explains.
“It’s fun; you never know what you’re gonna get,” he continues. “It’s definitely a collaborative effort; we all bring stuff to the table. The important thing is that at the end of the day whatever we come up with and put to tape everyone has to be happy with.”
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