Trapt

Trapt is an American rock band formed in Los Gatos, California, United States. It consists of vocalist Chris Taylor Brown, bassist Pete Charell and guitarist Brendan Hengle. They have recorded eight studio albums to date: Amalgamation (1999), Trapt (2002), Someone in Control (2005), Only Through the Pain (2008), No Apologies (2010), Reborn (2013), DNA (2016), and Shadow Work (2020). Trapt is best known for their 2002 hit "Headstrong".

This article is about the band. For their debut album, see Trapt (album). For the video game, see Trapt (video game).

Trapt
Trapt performing live in 2013. From left to right: Charell, Brown, Howard and Miguel (on the far right)
Background information
OriginLos Gatos, California, U.S.
Genres
Years active1995–present
Labels
Websitetrapt.com
Members
  • Chris Taylor Brown
  • Pete Charell
  • Brendan Hengle
Past members
  • Manny Terres
  • Mike Smith
  • Aaron Azlant
  • Simon Ormandy
  • Rick Sanders
  • David Stege
  • Robin Diaz
  • Aaron "Monty" Montgomery
  • Robb Torres
  • Travis Miguel
  • Dylan Thomas Howard
  • Ty Fury
  • David Suddock
  • Collin Dz

History

Formation and early years (1995–1999)

The members of Trapt met in middle school in the mid-'90s, and were in an early NOFX cover band called the Swinging Udders, with Manny Terres on guitar and Aaron Azlant on lead vocals. Shortly thereafter, the band reformed and developed an act with Chris Taylor Brown (lead vocals), Simon Ormandy (guitar), Peter "Pete" Charell (bass), and David Stege (drums). The band's first few rehearsals were in Ormandy's guesthouse, which had a party-like atmosphere with its loft overlooking the living room.[1] They began playing at local venues in 1997 before any members had graduated high school. In 1998, still before graduation, they were already opening for up-and-coming fellow acts like Papa Roach.[2][3] They recorded and released their first CD, Amalgamation in 1999, which they sold at their live shows. Their second release, the Glimpse EP, came in 2000, and another EP, 2001's self-titled Trapt, served as the band's demo.

The debut independent release by Trapt, Amalgamation, released in June 1999 and sold only in the Los Gatos, California area.

Trapt (2001–2003)

In 2001, the band signed with Warner Bros. Records[2] and started recording their debut album, with Robin Diaz replacing Stege on the drums. On November 5, 2002 the band released their self-titled album, Trapt,[2] which produced a total of three singles.

Someone in Control (2004–2006)

Before releasing their next full-length album, the band released a self-titled three-track EP, released March 30, 2004, that included live versions of the "Made of Glass" and "Echo" tracks from their debut album, as well as a previously unreleased non-LP track, "Promise".

Their second full-length album, titled Someone in Control, was released September 13, 2005.[2] It produced three singles for the band: "Stand Up", "Waiting", and "Disconnected (Out of Touch)".

Only Through the Pain (2007–2009)
Trapt vocalist Chris Taylor Brown live in Abilene, Texas in 2007

Their live album titled Trapt Live!, was released on September 18, 2007.[2] The album featured two new studio songs ("Stay Alive" and "Everything to Lose") as well as live versions of nine songs from their earlier records. On March 7, 2008, it was announced that lead guitarist Simon Ormandy had parted ways with the band. He was replaced by Robb Torres.[4] Despite rumors indicating otherwise, Ormandy's departure was amicable, and Chris Taylor Brown continues to speak highly of Ormandy to the media, while promoting Torres as the new guitarist.[5] On March 8, 2008, Trapt released "Who's Going Home With You Tonight?" on the band's website, a song from their then-upcoming studio album entitled Only Through the Pain.[2] The band also posted four other songs from the upcoming album: "Black Rose," "Contagious," "Wasteland," and "Ready When You Are". On April 15, 2008, Trapt announced they would be touring as part of Mötley Crüe's Crüe Fest along with Buckcherry, Papa Roach and Sixx:A.M.. The tour began July 1, 2008 in West Palm Beach, Florida.[6]

On June 10, 2008, Trapt released "Who's Going Home with You Tonight?" as a single. They also recorded a music video for the song.[7]

No Apologies and Reborn (2010–2013)

In March 2010, Trapt said they were wrapping up the recording process of their new record with producer Johnny K. [8] No Apologies was released on October 12, 2010. The first single, "Sound Off", was available on iTunes on July 20, 2010. Another song, "Stranger in the Mirror", was released for free from the band's Facebook page August 11, 2010.[8]

DNA and Shadow Work (2014–present)

In 2014, Trapt re-released their early, out of print albums Amalgamation and Glimpse EP.[9] and announced "The Self Titled Tour", a tour focused around their self-titled album. On June 15, Trapt announced their next studio album, DNA, and a collection of acoustic versions of songs called The Acoustic Collection.[10] They also announced they would participate in the Make America Rock Again tour.[11]

The band's seventh studio album, DNA was released on August 19, 2016.[12] It was the band's poorest charting album to date, debuting and peaking at number 148 on the Billboard 200 chart.[13] Similarly, its three singles, "Passenger", "Human", and "It's Over", failed to crack the top 20 of the Mainstream Rock Songs chart, or chart at all on the Hot Rock Songs chart.[14][15] In 2018, the band released the non-album single "Come Together", which did not chart on any Billboard song charts.[16][17]

In May 2020, a new studio album, Shadow Work, was announced.[18] It released the following July, though it failed to chart in the top 200 of albums released in the US Billboard 200 chart in its release week, selling only 600 copies, an 87% drop from their prior studio album, DNA, in 2016.[19][20] In the following December, multiple outlets reported that Brown had been fired from the band, though it was debunked as a hoax hours later.[21][22] On January 23, 2021, drummer Mike Smith announced that he had left Trapt for "primarily political" reasons.[23]

Musical style and influences

Trapt's sound has been described as nu metal,[24][25][26][27] post-grunge,[24] alternative metal[2] and hard rock.[28] AllMusic critic MacKenzie Wilson thought that the band "draws influences from grunge and heavy metal" while "absorbing the heavy rock sounds of Korn, Soundgarden, and Metallica."[2] The band has cited Korn, Tool, Papa Roach, Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam and Genesis as influences.[29]

Social media use

Many publications have taken note of the band's unusual use of social media accounts, run by Brown, often to lash out and attack others, something not often done from official band accounts. Music website Metal Sucks noted in 2015 that the band's official Facebook account made lengthy posts criticizing viewers of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which devolved into the account swearing and berating commenters.[30] The comment also included homophobic insults towards internet musician Rob Scallon, whom the band had feuded with on social media earlier in the year over the unauthorized and unattributed use of Scallon's videos.[31][32] In 2017, Brown insulted commenters who disagreed with his defense of President Trump's dismissal of James Comey,[33] and then again later in the year with anyone who disagreed with Brown's stance that institutional racism does not exist.[34]

In March 2020, Metal Injection, The A.V. Club, and Slate all reported that the band's Twitter account had gone on a week-long effort of arguing with and insulting people.[35][36] It began with insults of civil rights activist and bishop Talbert W. Swan II and accusations of having a "victim mentality". The comments then expanded into areas such as defending the Unite the Right rally, calling people "nerds", challenging the existence of white privilege in society, supporting Trump's "Chinese virus" rhetoric in reference to the COVID-19 pandemic, and fat-shaming women.[35] This caused some viewers to label Brown as a racist and homophobic. Loudwire noted that many notable bands and musicians later responded to counter or ridicule the claims.[37] Brown later used the band account to threaten legal action against an unflattering parody account assuming Trapt's identity, only to drop the issue on the same day once the account altered its Twitter handle to make the parody clearer.[38][39] In May 2020, Brown threatened legal action against multiple Change.org petitions to keep the band's music off of the upcoming Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 re-release, even though the band's music never appeared on the originals nor was announced for the remaster.[40] In the same month, Brown used the band's account to blame George Floyd for his own death.[41]

In August 2020, in response to an article by music publication Consequence of Sound that asserted that the band drew a small crowd size at a festival, the band took to Twitter to berate the publication and any fans who agreed with the story's claim of poor attendance.[42] The following month, the band's account was used to publicly berate Travis Livingston, an artist the band had commissioned, but not paid, for album artwork and lyric videos for their album release that year.[43]

In November 2020, Spin reported that Facebook had deleted Trapt's page on the grounds of hate speech.[44] In December 2020, the band's Twitter account was suspended after Brown wrote a series of tweets defending statutory rape.[45]

Band members

Timeline

Discography
Main article: Trapt discography
Studio albums

References
  1. "Trapt History". Synthesis. September 12, 2002. Archived from the original on January 10, 2009.
  2. Wilson, MacKenzie. "Trapt Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved February 4, 2012.
  3. Abe (August 1, 2008). "Interview With Trapt". Shave Magazine. Retrieved February 4, 2012.
  4. "trapt.fancorps.com". Archived from the original on August 5, 2009.
  5. "2 Music Geeks' Podcast 21: The Geeks Are Legal– Featuring Chris Brown of Trapt". musicgeekmedia.com. Archived from the original on August 5, 2009.
  6. "Concert Announcement: Cruefest with Mötley Crüe". STLtoday.com. Archived from the original on June 23, 2009.
  7. "404 Page". Globenewswire.com. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  8. "Trapt". Facebook.com. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  9. "Trapt: The Strength in Numbers Bundle". Facebook. Facebook. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  10. "TRAPT: Become Part of Our DNA". Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  11. "Make America Rock Again! – Official website for the Make America Rock Again tour". Make America Rock Again!. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  12. "Billboard Premieres Trapt's New Album 'DNA'; 2nd paragraph". Retrieved October 5, 2016.
  13. "Trapt". Billboard.
  14. "Trapt". Billboard.
  15. "Trapt". Billboard.
  16. GmbH, finanzen net. "Cinq Partners with Rock Group TRAPT, Drops New Single - TRAPT and Rapper An0maly To Release Unifying Single 'COME TOGETHER' Friday November 16 | Markets Insider". markets.businessinsider.com.
  17. "Trapt". Billboard.com.
  18. "TRAPT To Release 'Shadow Work' Album In June". Blabbermouth.net. May 11, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  19. "Trapt". Billboard. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  20. Pasbani, Robert (July 15, 2020). "All That Publicity Led To TRAPT Selling A Whopping 600 Copies of Their New Album". Metalinjection.net. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  21. https://loudwire.com/trapt-didnt-fire-singer/
  22. "Trapt Just Fired Singer Chris Taylor Brown [Update: No They Didn't]". MetalSucks. December 15, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
  23. "Trapt Drummer Michael Smith Quits Band, Issues Statement". Loudwire. January 23, 2021. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  24. Monger, James Christopher. "Trapt: Headstrong". AllMusic.
  25. Larkin, Colin, ed. (2006). "Trapt". Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-531373-9.
  26. Weingarten, Christopher R. (March 31, 2003). "Trapt – Trapt". CMJ New Music Report. Vol. 75 no. 807. p. 31. ISSN 0890-0795.
  27. Mills, Matt. "The 10 best songs by the 10 worst nu metal bands". LouderSound. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
  28. Augusto, Troy J. (June 25, 2003). "Trapt; Seether". Variety. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
  29. Fisher, Trevor (February 13, 2003). "Trapt stays true to 'Headstrong' attitude, beliefs". Iowa State Daily. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
  30. Rhombus, Emperor (July 20, 2015). "Trapt Frontman Goes On Just The Worst Facebook Rant". MetalSucks. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  31. "Least Shocking News Ever of the Day: The Dudes in Trapt are Total D-Bags". MetalSucks. February 17, 2015. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  32. "Trapt's Frontman Sparred With Fans & Made Some Very Questionable Statements On Facebook". Theprp.com. July 18, 2015. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  33. "Trump-Loving TRAPT Frontman is Fighting with People on Facebook About the James Comey FBI Scandal". MetalSucks. May 12, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  34. Neilstein, Vince (September 8, 2017). "Trapt Frontman is Still Fighting with Fans on Facebook, Does Not Understand What Racism Is". MetalSucks.net. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  35. "Nü-metal band Trapt is now 6 days deep into a Twitter meltdown". News. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  36. Feinberg, Ashley (March 18, 2020). "A Panicked Nation Comes Together to Watch Nu-Metal Band Trapt Melt Down on Twitter". Slate Magazine. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  37. "The Rock + Metal World Has United to Destroy Trapt, A Dozen Bands Attack 'Headstrong' Singer". Loudwire. March 20, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
  38. Robert Pasbani (March 31, 2020). "Free Speech Warriors TRAPT Threatened To Sue Parody Twitter Account". Metal Injection.
  39. Amanda Ross (March 30, 2020). "Trapt Twitter drama sparks a parody account and no one can tell the difference". Alternative Press.
  40. Greenwood, Koltan (May 18, 2020). "'Tony Hawk's Pro Skater' fans want to keep Trapt off the new soundtrack". Altpress.com. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  41. "Trapt Frontman Blames George Floyd for His Own Death". MetalSucks,net. May 30, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  42. "Trapt's Buffalo Chip concert drew the largest crowd ever to witness a concert, period". Consequenceofsound.com. August 10, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  43. Dowd, Rachael (September 11, 2020). "Here's why Trapt might end up on a 'Judge Judy' episode". Altpress.com. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  44. "Facebook Deletes Trapt's Account Following Prior Ban". Spin. November 19, 2020. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  45. Hartmann, Graham (December 8, 2020). "Trapt's Twitter Account Has Finally Been Suspended". Loudwire. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
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