TRUNK TELLS US MORE

With two days to go until TRUNKS live session is out in the world, its only right we find out more about the lads behind this sonic sounding quartet!

Whats one pedal you couldn’t live without?

Dylan (drums): It has to be Connors custom Trunk builds, they’re gonna be ruthless.

Connor (frontman): It’s hands down gotta be my booom/blast pedal, that things on pretty much all the time. It’s without a doubt the loudest pedal I’ve ever used but it’s the most versatile on my board too. Gets me from the classic, bright and janky tones you could find on Biffy Clyro’s earlier discography to pure beef in seconds. It’s ruthless.

Sam (guitar): Picking the multi-fx feels a bit like cheating, so it would probably be the TS mini. It’s pretty simple, but it’s a classic for a reason, and it’s made all my other pedals sound that much fatter since buying it.

Nixon (bass): Digitech bass synth wah - 7 out of the 8 effects sound like Skrillex before he went house and I’m so here for it. Believe it or not, it hasn’t found a way into any of the songs yet but its day will come I’m sure.

If your band was a food what food would it be?

Dyl (drums): I think we’d be a grape, I just think one bite into a grape is what we’d all taste like.

Connor (frontman): chicken bhuna, lamb bhuna and prawn bhuna, mushroom rice, bag of chips, keema naan and nine poppadoms.

Sam (guitar): Some sort of homemade curry. It’s a bit sloppy, and you’ve probably thrown too much into the pot, but it always comes together in the end.

Nixon (bass): Spud - hearty, dynamic, versatile, there when you need it most.

If you weren’t doing music what what you be doing?

Dyl (drums): I’d either be the next Judge Judy, or maybe a hostage survival trainer if I had a change of heart.

Connor (frontman): I work as a show control engineer when I’m not working with the lads, building show systems and programming multimedia shows, I’m also a sucker for any old analog gear.

Sam (guitar): I’d be following in Sleepy Dibello’s footsteps and getting some serious kipping done.

Nixon (bass): Avon representative

We noticed your band T-shirt’s- best blur and Sonic Youth song?

Connor (frontman): Best Blur song has gotta be M.O.R like, that song is killer. For sonic youth it’s got to be Bull in the Heather, 100%.

Dyl (drums): I think with Blur it would be charmless man probably, but I also love Beetlebum.

Sam (guitar): Kill yr. Idols has to take it for Sonic Youth. They came right out the gate and said “fuck you, we don’t care what a band is meant to sound like”, and I respect that. Blur have way too many contenders, but I always find myself going back to Country Sad Ballad Man. It’s about as scatty as Albarn ever let Coxon get on record, and it’s lush.

Nixon (bass): Great question! Fav Blur song is tricky, I think I’d go for Out of Time or No Distance Left to Run. For Sonic Youth I’m gonna go for either Dirty Boots or Sugar Kane. Mildred Pierce is an honourable mention for sure, always cracks me up.

If you could tour with any artist who would it be?

Dyl (drums): I just wanna play with Paul Simon me.

Connor (frontman): It would be an army of Dylan’s that do A Capella version of Debra by Beck for the entirety of their set. That or Scotty T.

Sam (guitar): Guided By Voices. We could proper pick their brains about songwriting and cassette recording. Plus Nixon was born to duet Hot Freaks with Robert Pollard.

Nixon (bass): WHAT SAM SAID

What inspires your lyrics?

Dyl (drums): More like who inspires our lyrics? That would have to be Cbeebies’ very own Moon Baby, get to know.

Connor (frontman): In all honesty, it takes me way too fucking long to write lyrics and when I do, they appear from nothing. It’s not until I look into the final draft further down the line I realise a meaning behind them and I’m like, “ohhhh, shit that makes a lot of sense actually.” So I couldn’t really answer that question cause I’m totally clueless myself nine times out of ten.

Sam (guitar): The people I know, and the things I don’t have the bottle to tell them in person.

Nixon (bass): My lyrics stem from the world around me and how I perceive it. I like writing about real/ imaginary scenarios, framing them in different ways and throwing in some abstract language for good measure. I’m a sucker for rhyming words that otherwise would have no connection, especially if it’s funny. If it’s funny it usually stays in the song.

What inspired the band name?

Connor (guitar): I’d like to say that we had any idea of what we were doing but the reality is that (despite this being a reoccurring theme) we had no idea what to call ourselves for months.

Dylan has tendency to blurt out loads of random shit for band names, song names etc on a daily basis and after trying to convince us all to be named “Önk” (yes after the yoghurt, Önken - no I’m not taking the piss) he put trunk on the table and it’s the only one the rest of us didn’t despise. Later that same day, we were playing at Oporto with another project three of us are a part of (with Lola Simms) and someone asked what we were called, to which we all said the same thing. And it wasn’t önk.

What can we expect next from Trunk?

Dyl (drums): The reintroduction of Wooly Mammoths into the UK.

Connor (frontman): Well that would ruin the surprise, wouldn’t it? All I’ll say is that we are currently in the studio and will be for the next couple of months before we all move back home to Newcastle. Other than that, more shows in uncharted territory and consistent material - but that’s all I’m sharing.

I’m personally very hands on with the project and like to do everything in house in regard to music videos, shows etc (not to mention our very own festival, Flesh + Blood, which will be returning very soon). I become very fixated on my work, so expect a variety of very interesting outputs from us that could be considered slightly less ‘on the nose.’

Sam (guitar): The feel bad hit of the summer.

Nixon (bass): A song on the GTA VI car radio - trust the process