Joe and Torche’s Rick Smith first met when their respective bands shared a bill in Dallas, TX, in 2008. The two reconnected last year when Rick was in Los Angeles, touring behind Torche’s excellent new album, Admission. During the age of social distancing, we’re releasing new episodes every day.
Ben Gibbard is best known as the vocalist and guitarist of Death Cab for Cutie, and as co-founder of The Postal Service. Ben and Joe discuss: songwriting; the challenge of creative evolution; existential dread; and life in quarantine.
Armed with a background in orchestral percussion, hand drumming, and jazz studies, Andrya Ambro possesses a uniquely compositional drum set style and is a proud member of the Singing Drummer Club. A resident of New York City, Andrea tells Joe about how she is handling the current pandemic; growing up in Delaware; the influence her…
Billy Martin joins Joe to discuss: how his parents met at Radio City Music Hall (she–a Rockette, he–a musician); his childhood affinity for Jacques Cousteau; how going to the movies informed his inner world; some of his key mentors; the difference between dead music and live music; and why he considers himself an experimental artist.
Matt Sharp and Joe gulped down thick, black coffee and hung out for well over two hours. We discussed: Matt’s itinerant childhood as the son of a government contractor; working with brilliant producers such as Ric Ocasek; how his first band–Weezer–willed themselves to success; working with Nick Zinner and Ronnie Vanucci on the new Rentals…
The legendary Billy Gibbons joins Joe to discuss: his love of Fugazi; studying percussion with Tito Puente; attending art school in Hollywood; Roky Erickson; his uncle, Cedric Gibbons, the most awarded art director in history; and why–after over 50 years as a band–it’s still a joy to play with ZZ Top.
Mike Bordin delivers trance inducing rhythmic patterns with earth-shattering power. This inimitable style places him in the pantheon of all-time great rock drummers. Mike and Joe discuss: Mike’s journalist grandfather who worked as editor of The Milwaukee Sentinel; how Mike and his childhood friend, legendary bassist Cliff Burton, began playing their respective instruments together; how…
Chad Clark’s parents were attorneys positioned at the vanguard of the civil rights movement, representing the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Baldwin. Ergo, Chad feels that–however lofty his ambitions–he’ll never impact the world to the same degree as his family. That said, his music is enormously impactful on the folks lucky…
Before attaining massive success with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Flea was a wild child, roaming the streets of Hollywood. He and Joe discuss: the unfamiliar vulnerability he faced when writing his excellent memoir Acid for the Children; the cathartic experience of translating traumatic memories to text; the spiritual connection between jazz and punk rock; the…
Cedric Bixler-Zavala is best known as the explosive vocalist for bands like The Mars Volta and At The Drive-In, but he is also an accomplished drummer. He and Joe discuss: a punk rock video arcade in El Paso, TX; drumming in punk band Foss with Beto O’Rourke; the unique story behind his surname; selling bootlegged…
Joan Wasser began her career as a session musician for artists like Elton John, Lou Reed, John Cale, and Sparklehorse. It wasn’t until she was in her 30s, that Joan began writing her own, highly-acclaimed material as Joan As Policewoman. She and Joe spend an hour discussing the songwriting process and how personal loss pushed…
Sean Tillmann and Joe met when Sean played in Joe’s basement in the late ’90s. Sean tells Joe about: his early love of community theater; the origins of his ambitious nature; creating his Har Mar Superstar alter ego; losing his way in LA; why he decided to get sober; and how a series of coloring…
For nearly 40 years, The Melvins have been an astounding live band and peerless in their prolific ability to create a consistently adventurous body of work–a musical universe unto itself. Buzz Osborne discusses: his childhood in WA; feeling comfortable around firearms; being too smart to enjoy school; writing his memoir; the discipline required to maintain…
Because many of you are on lockdown due to the Corona virus outbreak. We’re bringing you new episodes of The Trap Set every day for the foreseeable future. Today’s episode features the inimitable Meshell Ndegeocello. Meshell has charted a wildly adventurous artistic course over the past 30+ years, and throughout it all, she has retained…
Life has slowed down as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, so we’re using the extra time at home as an opportunity to create and release a new episode of The Trap Set everyday until further notice. We’ll record by phone, and–by necessity–experiment with a more raw and immediate production style. It’s our hope that…
Mike Post started out as a studio guitarist, recording on hits such as Sunny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe.” As a producer, he won a Grammy for “Classical Gas” in 1968 and worked with artists ranging from Sammy Davis Jr., to Dolly Parton (on her smash 9 to 5 album), to Van Halen. But…
Copyright ©2017 THE TRAP SET
Recent Comments