trunkweed

trunkweed began in the early hazy summer daze of 2014 as a collection of bedroom recordings by singer/guitarist, Brady Kelly, and drummer, Kyle Phass. They released their first album,"Days of Haze", in July 2014, which was self-released both digitally and on homemade cassettes. The lo-fi album quickly sparked enough attention for the project to become a gigging band. This is when the pair added a bass player so they could take their dreamy, reverb-washed, surf pop on the road. trunkweed very quickly garnered a reputation in the baltimore/dc area as a refreshingly energetic and unexpectedly impressive live experience, which lead them to booking their first diy tour only several months after forming. It was on that first tour, by some strange ripple of events, that the band had the opportunity to record a live, studio album, called “trunkweed live, man… “, which was released internationally through Miles Apart Records, a Japan-based cassette label, and sold out during pre-order. Because of this newfound love for travelling and performing, the group began touring endlessly from coast-to-coast, all around North America - throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Their restlessness resulted in Baltimore City Paper naming trunkweed as, “Baltimore's Best Live Band" as well as listing "Trunkweed live, man..." on their “Top 10 Albums of 2015”. In the summer of 2015, the group returned to Cleveland to record their first, and only, true studio album, "You Are A Nice Surprise", which was later released on vinyl with the help of 2 small labels, Funeral Sounds (Houston, TX) and Out Of Breath Records (California) in December 2016, as well as self-released on cassette by trunkweed under Brady's own 'secret label' called "whatever". The band, when not touring the country, has since spent the majority of their time perpetually writing and recording music from whatever apartment, basement, or friend's house they are living in or happen to be at any given time. This drive for creating music has lead way to the creation of numerous side projects, such as: - Brady Kelly's "trunkweed meets guided by voices solo project:" ~ Cool Powers ~ ( https://coolpowers.bandcamp.com/ ) - Kyle Phass's drug-induced vaporwave galore extravaganza ~C!erra My$t ~ (https://cierramyst.bandcamp.com/) - Tucker's Neill's (with the help of Brady, but now defunct) Loozer ( https://loozer.bandcamp.com/ ) - & Brady, Tucker, and Toronto's own sad rock queen, Hannah Edgerton's emotional rock group (now defunct) Zoe Slayer ( https://zoeslayer.bandcamp.com/ ) It was with this return to home recording as their medium that trunkweed decided to take a slower, fuzzier, and generally heavier approach to their unique strain of sad-surfy-slacker nighlistic pop-music by releasing their loudest, and fuzziest, work to date: "negative universe" in October 2017 via Brady's label, "whatever". After the removal of their longtime bassist in December 2017, trunkweed evolved forward as a 2 piece. With only 2 days to practice and reshape their sound before departing on an insanely ridiculous 3 month long North American tour; songwriter, Brady Kelly, discovered a new-found power in the, debatable, simplicity of a 2 piece by rigging his guitar through a stereo multi-guitar amp rig, heavily complemented by a signal splitting, eq scooping 3rd channel that ran through a fuzzed-out low-end bass rig as well. While drummer, Kyle Phass, was able to let his skillful and passionate hard-hitting shine through transforming his drums into an instrument of their own. They initially doubted their sound and potential as a 2-piece; up until their Audiotree debut performance, which gave proof, not only to them but, to the world that their sonic abilities were stronger and better than ever. After losing their minds to the very particular strain of madness, known only by those who have endured a 3 month outing on the road, brady and kyle returned home and decided to spend a good bit of time recovering, reimagining, and rediscovering what exactly trunkweed was supposed to be and where it should go next. It wasn't until almost 18 months later, in the early weeks of October 2019, that they reunited with only one thing on their mind: "it's time to create more music". After 3 long weeks of the duo spending endless hours in Brady's new and improved basement home studio, an album was born. There's no current release date set, as the music is still in the process of being finessed, mixed, and mastered. While trunkweed is currently looking for new industry partnerships to assist and guide them in achieving the undeniably justified proper release that this new album truly deserves. So, be on the lookout because it appears that big things will be coming very soon for the duo as trunkweed is still very much alive, well, and better than ever before!