Despite
what they might say, the history of most unsigned bands is pretty
uneventful. They get the one friend who can string a sentence together to
come up with a band biog, they give him free reign to make them look
exciting, dangerous and – dare we say it – rock and roll, and
desperate to be part of something big he comes up with some tall tale
about how the guitarist and the vocalist met on adjacent mattresses in a
seedy massage parlour, or crossing their legs in the waiting room of a GU
clinic, or hustling for wraps in a dingy backstreet in some backwater
parochial shithole. But, parochial shithole aside, that’s all bollocks.
Bands almost always meet in more prosaic circumstances: on college
campuses, in busy pubs, through mutual friends. Trap 2 are just the same
as everyone else. It’s their music that sets them apart.
What
do you get if you cross two Scousers and an Irish Brummie… 2001 and
Mike, Conor and Fez meet at Sheffield University. It wasn’t long before
they were knocking out tunes and playing the odd poorly attended gig in
one of Sheffield’s many watering-holes. Mike took vocal duties (if
you’ve heard his voice you’ll know why), Fez, a man of raffish charm
and dashing demeanour, alternated guitar and bass duties with Conor. Conor…
nice guy, but he leaves two years later so you can forget about him from
this point on
The
drummer came next via a mutual friend. Describing himself on one website
as ‘happiest with a white Russian in one hand, a biftah in the other’,
Jonny Crofts had been on the local scene for the best part of a decade,
having once won the Sheffield Band of Year competition before
spectacularly blowing it amidst scenes that would make even the Gallagher
brothers cringe. Having brought in some much needed experience to the
line-up, Trap 2 now embarked on playing every toilet and caravan in
Yorkshire. It’s called the ‘apprenticeship’. They could have debuted
at the Marquee, but this way shows they’re dedicated.
The
past two years have seen both the band’s support and line-up snowball.
Tim, a former housemate of Jonny and well versed in the vagaries of
touring, joined on guitar in 2002 and gave the band’s sound a
physicality previously lacking. He was quickly followed by a behemoth on
keyboards called Oagy, a lad of immense talent and no little less
character. The jigsaw complete, Trap 2 now embarked on playing gigs across
the UK. Trap 2 now have significant followings in Sheffield, Manchester,
Liverpool and especially London, where the numbers swell with each passing
gig.
The
band have just been confirmed as supporting The Rain Band on their
Sheffield/London dates in October/November as well as supporting The
Bluetones in December. What you have now is a band on the cusp of breaking
through, considering offers and playing songs that are both shaped by
their spiritual antecedents – The Who, the Stones, Led Zep and the Roses
– and effortlessly contemporary. But don’t take my word for it. I’m
bound to sound excitable – I’ve seen them. You, my friend, can see for
yourself.
Scott
Glover
www.student123.com
and Sandman Magazine (www.sandmanmagazine.com)
.gif){kind=link}