Hello Rockstars! Today my Artist of the Week is Psych Rock / Acid Folk band Trash Animals!
In this article we talk about their origins, music, their future and the amazing work they do at
The Pigeon Hat Collective! Enjoy!
VMS:
“When did you start writing and performing your music.
What’s your backstory and current lineup.”
Germs:
“I started writing music around the age of 14 or 15. I grew up in a cluster of tiny little towns on the California coast called 5 cities (Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo area). That time was pretty intense for me, I was always a socially awkward kid, but I was finding myself for the first time. I was learning to lean into the things that made me unique, and finding that the stuff that I got picked on for throughout grade school were the things that stood out to my new social group. Being a weird creative little nerd brought me a new friend group of weirdo stoner outcasts and playing music helped define who I was in that setting. It helped me ease my social anxiety and brought me a new sense of purpose and confidence.
Small towns come with small town problems, and as amazing as my experiences were, there was a lot of drama and violence, drug abuse and homelessness. It was like being in a simultaneously beautiful and ugly paradise wasteland. Like watching your friends shoot hero*n on the beach at sunset. The punk scene was a huge outlet for me, and for a tiny town, we had one hell of a tight knit punk scene. There was one little bar in town that had all ages shows and every week we’d show up en masse for Tiger Army, or The Vandals, or Voodoo Glow Skulls etc. It was like church.
I thought I was gonna be a little beach bum forever, singing Leftover Crack songs with my friends and drinking Mad Dog til we passed out, but I was always looking for music that pushed boundaries and set itself apart. After a lot of ups and downs, adventures and misadventures I landed in Vegas around 20 years old. At this point I was sort of rebuilding my life. Trying to find where I fit in again. I was going through my folk punk phase and sought out my new community here. It was a real culture shock, haha. I feel like I never really fit in in the punk scene or the folk punk scene here. I was also constantly evolving with my tastes and really in love with psychedelic rock and space rock bands. That’s around when I started Ossum Possum. I was playing in my first real “band” but still learning who I was, and to be honest, learning my instrument (hahah I’m still learning my instrument lol). I think I was still looking for my voice, and battling a lot of demons, but I feel like that’s common in your twenties.
After Possum disbanded I took some time to reset, and met a whole slew of amazing, gifted, and talented human beans. I met my exceptionally talented partner and we built a life together while I wrote the first Trash album. I was still playing solo as Oh Possum so when it came time to name the project, I felt like a continuation of the branding would be cute. So we named the project Trash Animals and chose our trashy avatars, lol. At first it was just me and Ryan (our studio drummer and engineer). It was at least a year between releasing the album and finding people to play the music live. We went through some lineup changes before finding our forever family. In the end I happened upon a most exceptional human to play drums. Somehow we channeled LIMN all the way from Louisville, KY to do the damn thing. Not long after, my brilliant and supportive partner in life stepped up to learn the bass and play with us.
So yeah, the current lineup is LIMN on the drums, Mari on bass, Ryan Pasion as our studio partner and engineer, with me as the producer and primary songwriter.”
Mari:
“I started writing pop songs and playing guitar in elementary school. I tried starting my first band in 8th grade but it was a bust. I (successfully) started a indie pop/pop-punk band, That’s What She Said in 9th grade and we got to play some really cool shows around town with the likes of Agent M from Tsunami Bomb, The Dollyrots, Amarionette, and more. I randomly got to open for Hellogoodbye and Imagine Dragons with my last band Sunday Clothes during college years, lol. Trash Animals is my first time not playing my own songs in a band and it’s been a welcome change of pace. Plus, my band members are awesome.”
LIMN:
“I’ve been drumming on things before I could (would) even talk. I’d empty my toy bins out and set them up around me and hit them with K’nex sticks. I just always knew what I was supposed to do. But I was lucky enough to have parents who at least supported my musical interests and got me started on weekly drum lessons at an early age. My father in particular is a subculture b*tch who was always jamming out to the music in his esoteric CD collection, so I had discerning taste as a child. My mother and I haven’t spoken in a while and likely won’t ever again since she became a pod person, but to her credit, she did contribute what she could to my love of music and sense of eclecticism as well. From there I just looked around for other people who wanted more from art than what the corporate monoculture pushes on everyone, people who really see the limitless human potential in the artistic process and are truly dedicated to pursuing it. Everything else fell into place as it does. Life has dragged me all over this giant horrible country and I eventually ended up here and discovered the Pigeon Hat Collective through sheer chance. Gotta be one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.”
VMS:
“What artist or bands inspire you and your sound.”
Germs:
“We are definitely inspired by such a wide range of different bands but there are some that I feel like come through in our sound. Overall I would say bands like the Flaming Lips, Neutral Milk Hotel, Modest Mouse, Dinosaur Jr., Man Man, and Grandaddy. Mostly indie, psych-y, spacey, lyric heavy weirdness with little tinges of those heavy punk and grunge bands I grew up on. Grandaddy is probably one of the more recent discoveries that really took me down a rabbit hole. Anyone will tell you I’m a shameless wh*re for their music, and god help you if you’re stuck with me on a road trip, cause you might get assaulted with a marathon.
That being said, we are always hunting for new things to listen to. There’s always a flavor of the year or month that comes into our radar and inspires us to create. We recently became super fans of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and will be seeing them for our third time in November. I’ll speak the Gizzard gospel to anyone who will listen. Blonde Redhead has also become a recent influence on our music and writing.
In general though Mar is our pop queen, LIMN has complex tastes that border on the bizarre, and I’m somewhere in the middle there, but I think we value most of the same core of smart, interesting music that speaks for itself. We are constantly showing each other things and that’s such a fun dynamic to have.”
Mari:
“I AM the pop queen of the group, but I love the fringes too. I like everything, even some country (country always gets brought up somehow). I used to listen to and write more indie folk in my old bands and projects (Jenny Lewis is my queen), so the folk sensibility in Trash feels natural to me. My last band has been compared to Blonde Redhead and we’ve all been listening to a lot of them lately and it’s beginning to come through. Really loving Deerhoof, The Lazy Eyes, Crumb, and Glass Beams right now, so it would be cool if we happen to incorporate some of their sonic elements at some point.”
LIMN:
“Anything that excites me, anything that sounds unique, intentional, heartfelt, not corrupted by money and social expectations of art to be baselessly pleasant and easily consumed without thought. I’m much more likely to nod my head to the sound of a crushed soda can spinning on a turntable than the music of, say, Taylor Swift or Imagine Dragons… I’m not even capable of parsing that stuff as music any more. I just hear commercials for big industry labels and other things I don’t agree with. If art isn’t transgressing against the anti-human forces in the world, then what the f*ck is it good for?
If you’re looking for specifics, I’d say the biggest influences on my musical ideology would have to be Pixies, They Might Be Giants (yes really), Devo, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Caroliner Rainbow, Lightning Bolt, Deerhoof, Cheer-Accident, Zach Hill, Mike Patton, Masami Akita, Yamantaka Eye, James Ferraro, Rafter Roberts, Steve Albini, rest his soul…. the list could really keep going but I won’t bother you good people. But of course a special mention must be made to all the other queer, trans and nonbinary artists out there insisting on doing their weird little thing despite the world as it is now being actively hostile to our existence. Just thinking about our shared cultural experience is enough to keep me inspired and willful.”
VMS:
“What’s your writing process and inspiration for your lyrics.”
Germs:
“Music’s so much fun cause you get this whole other dimension to what your words mean. How they’re heard and felt. I love to write about feelings or situations that require that level of complexity to describe. The way music affects us allows us to add a whole extra layer of meaning behind words that might not convey those things as they lay flat on the page. I love writing about gray areas, things that leave the listener with their own interpretation or conclusion on the message but they can relate to that idea. Hopefully something that they also feel unresolved conflict about or interest in. If it hits right, for a moment, we get to share that feeling and have a similar desire to understand these unexplainable phenomena. That’s what I crave out of music really. To relate. To communicate. You can feel when someone understands, and that’s the best. Just to know that they know.
I also love to layer meanings inside of meanings and stack ideas up like stairs in an Escher painting. I make my own little word puzzles and paradoxes that might not even register to most people. That’s why I love contradictions. Contradictions are so compelling. I feel like most of the time we want things to make sense. People crave resolution, within their lives and musically, but the tension points are where everything happens. Most of the time though, that answer will never come, that feeling will never make sense, and most of us will never get to see how it all turns out. Where we’re going, what it all means. We get glimpses, but you got to part with the idea that it’s gonna all make sense. Nothing makes sense. Our lives are hard and complex but also absurd and awe inspiring. I like to write about those moments. The absurdity really gets me. I’m in that post nihilist place where all the things I used to sh*t on just seem fun now and I’m grateful to be a part of it.”
VMS:
“I love your songs “Lucid Dreaming in Stereo”, “Raising the Homunculus” and “Of Wires and Woes”. What is the inspiration or story behind these songs.”
Germs:
“”Lucid dreaming” kind of tees off the album by setting the stage. I was a little obsessed with dream logic. Sometimes I’ll have a dream so nonsensical that I’ll either become aware I’m dreaming, or my brain convinces itself that the dream makes sense. It doesn’t really matter how ridiculous the situation is, my brain will find a way to quantify it. Show up to work naked? Well I suppose it is laundry day… sh*t. Soaring above the clouds in a red wagon? Ehhh it’s probably a radio flyer. Obviously those situations are impossible and ridiculous, but then I like to think about how impossible and ridiculous our waking existence is. Like it’s so much less likely for you to be anything else anywhere else or nothing at all.
Despite that, we try to rationalize being here now in sort of the same way. We convince ourselves of our shared reality based on what we know. We know we’re alive, we know the laws of physics, we know we share similar experiences, but those things we know have already been presented to us. They were here when you got here. Who’s to say you’re not a brain in vat that believes you are experiencing reality. Who’s to say that everyone outside of yourself isn’t an actor here to convince you of some fictional history. Now of course on a certain level, you have to interface with reality so I’m not trying to get too wacky with this idea, it’s just a fun thought to play around with.
In the song, the observer is going throughout his day being presented with fantastical situations. Talking animals, black holes, gravity wells, the dead returning to life etc. As he continues to make sense of these situations he has to do these logical gymnastics and becomes less and less sure of the tangibility of his own existence. Seems logical, seems probable, slightly plausible. I like to think that as the observer doubts his surroundings he begins to doubt his very self. Without an ego he’s basically a blank slate. He could be anything or anyone. That’s basically the rest of the album. He forgets himself and takes on whatever new existences or realities he’s thrust into. Kind of like the Neverending Story. When Sebastian finally gets to Fantasia he has to make wishes to wish it back into existence, but forgets who he is a little more with each wish.
Listen to “Lucid Dreaming in Stereo” on Spotify:
“Homunculus” is definitely the end of the ride. I tried to tie the whole album back into itself by referencing the other tracks lyrically and musically. Admittedly one of the least thought-out tracks. I sort of put the rest of the album in a blender and said, “Let’s go hard here”. If Lucid is mind losing body then Homunculus is body as it’s possessed by mind, if that makes any sense. Here’s the lifeless doll: give it an ego and a heartbeat and see what it does. At the end there’s a small conclusion as our observer takes note of what’s occurred and how maybe he’d like to try again. Spin the wheel and start over.
Listen to “Raising the Homunculus” on Spotify:
“Wires and Woe” was a fun one to write. Definitely my Grandaddy love letter. It’s about our addiction to technology and how the boundaries between us and our machines are getting thinner and thinner. In a way we are subverting our nature by hijacking our evolutionary payoff systems. It’s never been so easy to get a dopamine hit. We built a collective brain and we’re already totally dependent on it. It’s easy to feel like this is an unnatural development or feel like we’d be happier in nature living some sort of subsistence lifestyle (not saying we wouldn’t). It’s easy to see some sort of dystopia in our future where we don’t know what it feels like to be human anymore. I actually had a lot of trouble writing this song because of that. Everything I wrote came out preachy. It sort of felt like I was denouncing technology and I never really want to weigh in on something like that. I kind of wanted to take a more “it is what it is” approach. That’s hard cause I’m a living breathing animal and I’m pretty in touch with that. I’m the happiest me somewhere in the woods, laying in the sunlight. That doesn’t make what we are doing any more “unnatural” than anything else. Bees make beehives, we make cities. Trees talk to other trees through mycelium networks while we hop onto a 5G network so we can login to Reddit and talk to some other nerds about the latest anime we streamed, lol.
I think what I’m saying is that everything’s going to change whether we like it or not, so enjoy the blue skies, enjoy the good food, fall in love, get your heart broken, don’t forget the good times and the good s*x, and remember that right here right now you’re an animal. Someday we might not be, or at least we might be an unrecognizable thing. That’s where the grey area is. Should we be doing this? I don’t know, but I enjoy a good campfire and I also enjoy the 10,000 emulators that run on my Android lol. Wires and Woe hopefully just addresses that feeling some of us have, that conflict, that gray area.”
Listen to “Of Wires and Woe” on Spotify:
VMS:
“Tell me about your EP: “Closer to the Antenna“. What was the inspiration and process of writing it.”
Germs:
“I had been wanting to write a concept album for a long time as Ossum Possum. In my early twenties I was really inspired by the ideas of people like Alan Watts and Terrence McKenna. I knew I wanted to write about consciousness, and had probably an album’s worth of songs to make it happen. Luckily it didn’t happen lol. I think it came out way better after scrapping the old material and starting fresh. I needed to get my ass handed to me a little bit and grow up. I wasn’t what you’d call a stable human being and I think the album really benefited from me taking some time to learn not to be such a selfish d*ckhead. Some of those early songs might be fun to revisit at some point.
Anyways, when we started Trash Animals, the idea was still there. I was interested in writing about a hodgepodge of different scientific and spiritual ideas, things like non-local consciousness, emergence, etc. For a while in discussions with people I’d latched onto this phrase to explain my viewpoint. Basically I feel like a lot of us split ourselves into these separate parts. Our body is a machine, our brain is a computer, our ego is the software that the computer runs, so that our consciousness can interact with reality. Basically you are a machine that houses your consciousness. I think a lot of times we get our ego and memories mixed up with our consciousness. “I am Sarah, I like to read books, I have two brothers and one sister, etc. etc. Yeah, that must be what or who I am”. To me at least my consciousness no longer seemed to be any of that. Like, everything on top was just a filter. If I lived someone else’s life and had their experiences, I could be them. I would be them. Furthermore, my consciousness didn’t really feel like something that was mine. I know to most people it’s a lot of woo woo but after a long history of exploring psychedelics and my spirituality, I felt like I was just another piece of the godhead. That I wasn’t a machine that housed consciousness but more of a conduit for it. Less like a computer, more like an antenna (closer to the antenna). I feel like everything is just channeling that frequency at whatever level of complexity they are capable of.
I know that turns a lot of people off, even the use of the word “god” is super loaded. I get it, I grew up in a cult and left on my own, so I’ve always been super skeptical, but if it makes you feel any better I’m just using god as a placeholder for what we don’t understand. Science could be the same place holder, the two seem pretty similar to me. We’re just trying to find language for things that are bigger than us, and we gotta accept that we’ll never know everything, and that’s ok. If you showed someone 1000 years ago a cellphone they’d probably sh*t their pants before building an effigy of you to worship, lol. Please don’t mistake me for some self-righteous hippie who’s gonna tell you to sleep with sacred geometry under your mattress and tune your instruments to 432 hertz because that’s science. Not claiming any of this is proven science, but I like to think I’m happier believing there’s a little magic in the world. I have no desire to convince anyone of anything, it’s just nice to share my theories and ideas. I like to keep things nice and vague, leave myself open to new possibilities, and am prepared to be wrong 99 percent of the time cause we all are.
Anyways, that’s the gist of it. The observer in the album is just consciousness experiencing itself in different lives and realities, and it goes from the serious to absolutely ridiculous. In a way I wrote my own stupid version of a multiverse Marvel movie haha. A lot of the songs are stories that talk about more personal feelings and ideas that are easier for me to house in their own musical vehicle than express on my own. Those little mini arcs give a little window into the things that I question and struggle with.”
Listen to “Closer to the Antenna” on Spotify:
VMS:
“Which local artist would you like to work with and why.”
Germs:
“We have such a respect for the local Vegas scene and there are so many great artists right now. We are lucky enough to get to participate as founders of the Pigeon Hat Collective and we actually get to work with some of our favorites on the regular. Shout out to The Patterns, Switterbeet, Sticker, Chris Mendoza, Kurian and the rest of our homies. We love getting to produce and promote for anyone doing anything different and refreshing. That being said, I have a huge amount of respect for bands like Simple Fishes, Viaje Nahual, Pool Party, Waitress, Post NC, Same Sex Mary, KingFun etc.
We’re all in the same boat here, and a rising tide lifts us all. I think a lot of people don’t believe Vegas has a music scene, I’d like to help prove them wrong. We have some pretty amazingly fearless art. I’m ready to see Vegas get its dues.”
Mari:
“You already know I’m the biggest nerd for our music scene. We currently have some shows on the books with bands we love. I’d love to bring our sets to some punk-heavy shows and either turn heads or confuse the hell out of people. Featuring the homie Kurian on a future track would be a dream. Co-writing with The Patterns is also a dream; Jake is one of my favorite songwriters of all time. If not in his project, then in some other capacity. Also, Simple Fishes.”
LIMN:
“I’m pretty much affiliated with all my favorite local artists already, but I’d like to be doing more with them across the board. There’s not enough hours in the day, and I have a stupid little job to maintain. Humans are the only animals that pay for food and shelter and it’s all cuz we got tricked into thinking we should have to. They tell us we need money to live and then don’t let us have it. What gives.”
VMS:
“What’s your overall theme or message of your music.”
Germs:
“I’d like to think we talk about a lot of things that make up a loose ethos. Don’t run away from your dark thoughts, feel your feelings. Be grateful for your short life and give out as much love as you can. Be honest with yourself and make positive changes, but don’t beat yourself up; that love I just mentioned- give some to yourself too, silly. Be curious, learn as much as you can and never stop. Lastly, don’t take yourself too seriously, be a silly b*tch cause life’s more fun that way and no one gives a shit how “cool” you are, ya f*ckin’ dork.”
VMS:
“Do you have a favorite song that you like to perform.
Germs:
“Right now I’m really into the new stuff we’ve yet to record. I mean I’m probably always gonna feel that way about new songs cause I resonate super hard with them right now. Last album I feel like I got to hide a lot. I got to talk about my feelings through so many layers of metaphors. Definitely personal subject matter but I got to look at it the way you look at a gorgon in the mirror. I really wanted to push myself to drop some of the pretext and write something a little more human, be a little more naked. If you come to a live show I hope you enjoy “Darkstar” and “Only Human” and hopefully you’ll be able to hear them on a recording soon.”
Mari:
“”Only Human” is a fun time.
LIMN:
“It’s gotta be the new sh*t that no one but us has heard yet. Soon, you’ll see.”
VMS:
“Do you have any crazy or interesting stories from working in the music scene.”
Germs:
“Hahahaha I’m sure and no comment.”
Mari:
“Boy, do I. Stories for another time, haha.”
LIMN:
“Lots of f*cked up house shows from my days in the Louisville punk scene. I remember once the cops came and busted us and we pretended to pack everything up but really just took everything inside and kept going. The crowd was very agitated by the encounter and quite eager to continue raging, and by the time my band at the time started playing people were moshing so hard I thought the floor was going to collapse. That was awesome!”
VMS:
“What does the future hold for Trash Animals.”
Germs:
“I’d love to have a new album out next year, start touring and live some life for a bit, adventure some adventures. I wanted to start recording already but I’ve been working non-stop to buy us a full-size diesel bus. Bus acquired, I’ll probably save a little, and work on sprucing her up before dipping on the full time hustle and committing to finishing this in-limbo record. I see us taking our friends with us to travel, tour, meet new people, write, and genuinely f*ck around for a significant amount of time.”
VMS:
“What do you want your audience to feel and experience at one of your live shows.”
Germs:
“Honestly I always want to give the audience something different and authentic. Hopefully connect with at least one person who was like, “wow, I get that”. I can be kind of an anxious person, it’s hard for me to share my feelings. When I’m able to communicate through music, that’s such a relief for me. Like “I’m not crazy, someone else understands”. It’s the same relief I feel when I hear someone else’s music that gets me. I feel a little less alone.”
Mari:
“Yes.”
LIMN:
“As much as possible. Make peace with your god immediately.”
VMS:
“Mari, I know you are the creative force behind “The Pigeon Hat Collective“, and you have done some incredible work helping and promoting the next generation of artists, I think what you guys do is amazing. How did this dream come into fruition, what’s the backstory, and the future for “The Pigeon Hat Collective.””
Mari:
“Thank you! I think what you’re doing is amazing too!!!
So, the Pigeon Hat Collective was founded by myself, Germs, Ryan, and our buddy Spencer at the tail end of 2020. For about a year we were originally a band solely doing Halloween covers for our friend’s parties and our own silly livestreams, but then started bringing more of our friends into the fold, supporting their art, and hosting events when the world opened back up.
The origins of Pigeon Hat are closely tied in with the making of the first Trash Animals album, as there are a handful of original PHC members on that record, along with Germs and Ryan’s partnership in writing it. Now, there’s over 20 of us rascals running around.
As for being a creative force behind PHC; I primarily run all the accounts, but sometimes Tierney (of Switterbeet) helps out with IG posts and answering messages (thank you Tierney!). I have done a majority of the organizing and promoting under PHC so far, but now a handful of us are doing events under the collective now, which I absolutely love.
Our current staple and weekly open mic at Hola Habibi, MF Monday (run by Chris Mendoza), has really enabled us to tap deeper into the music and arts community, and help give both a nurturing and wacky space for the wonderful art being created. I consider the open mic somewhat of a modern sacred ritual, and often where the magic starts for things that grow into something much bigger than expected. We also just have a lot of fun there.
In the past two years we really stepped it up as a team, not only with ushering in artists and getting more eyes and ears on their art, we’ve been throwing larger events and hosting community workshops. I personally would like to focus more on educational workshops to help empower people in their own processes of community building. We’ve also thrown around being kind of a music label, which has naturally but informally come into fruition with Ryan’s ear and expertise in the studio. He’s currently tracking a handful of local artists who are kicking ass in the scene right now (many of which happen to be Blacksheep Booking artists, hint hint, also- shoutout to Shana!).
Speaking of, we’ve made so many friends in the scene and greater community since our conception and I am thrilled about our network of mutual support, and so very grateful for everyone that f*cks with us and comes to our events. Thank you, all of you absolute clown waffles.
In the near future, we will be turning our previous longer format holiday specials into shorter variety show episodes (with Germs at the technological/editing helm) and will incorporate band interviews, live sets, comedy skits, and whatever else silly sh*t we come up with. We also have a few new members to formally announce this year which is exciting.
Currently, we are slowing our roll on shows to focus on our own projects, but have some down the pipeline and will announce them soon. I am collaborating with Fifth Sun Project on upcoming mutual aid workshops concerning mental health education and harm reduction (issues I feel very strongly about), and I have music-related ones I’ve been wanting to do as well. Germs getting us a converted schoolbus means we’ll be taking Pigeon Hat on the road at some point, I am so stoked for that. Lastly, a few of our artists have albums dropping soon, and we can’t wait to promote their releases!
I hope this wasn’t too long, lol. I am just excited about all of it. Thank you for this awesome and thorough interview and for doing what you do! It inspires me to keep doing what I do.”
Vegas Music Scene Thoughts:
What I absolutely love about Trash Animals is that their music is more than just songs, they give you an experience. Whether they are doing a bluegrass / Primus vibe and then bust into rapping on “Drugstore”, or 90’s Indie grunge ballad on “Eat ‘n’ Run, and my personal favorite “Of Wires and Woes”, which gives me psychedelic rock / bluegrass vibes / 90’s vibe.
But that is the big dilemma when writing about Trash Animals sound, it’s hard to pigeonhole them into one genre. They are not afraid to go wherever their musical journey leads them, which makes for one interesting experience for the listener. I really encourage you to check out their EP “Closer to the Antenna”, it truly is a one of a kind musical adventure that I’m just sad I didn’t know about sooner.
If you ever get a chance to see Trash Animals play live fucking go! That musical landscape translates beautifully into their live shows as well. Between their excellent musicianship, beautiful storytelling, and a sound that transcends genres, they will make you feel all the emotions, even in one song! It’s truly an incredible moment I encourage you all to experience live for yourself. I cannot wait to see what the future looks like for Trash Animals, they have such a vast musical kaleidoscope at their fingertips and I’m so excited to see what they do in that next inevitable evolution of sound.
——–VMS. 😉
For more information about Trash Animals, please check out their Website!