Welcome to a feature where we sit down and talk to bands and artists about their latest albums to find out all about it. Today we speak to Nick from Trash Kickers about the latest album Way Out, Somehow.

Hello nice to meet you, tell us about yourself!

Oh you know, we’re just four Chicago boys sitting at the other end of the bar from you. You can catch almost any of us out most nights taking in the city, seeing our friends, going to the same haunts, catching shows, and waking up one minute before work. 

Tell us about the new album:

It’s heart on the sleeve rock n’ roll. Clearly Midwest born. Touches on the Bruce-esque human condition songwriting while also smashing a bottle on your own head in an ode to Paul Westerberg. On top of that, we love to play it loud live and make every show different. 

Favourite track on new album and why?

Signage is a special one. We ultimately decided to release that as the first single as that seemed to be what the crowd responded to the most prior to us having anything on streaming. We respond to the crowd energy, so give the people what they want 

Tell us a bit about the recording process, was it fun to do?

We’re all good friends. We can make anything fun. Stas was the last member to join the band and he just so happened to have a full studio he put together himself with aspirations of quitting the 9-5 to be a full time producer. It ended up being even better because we decided to track everything ourselves with Stas as the engineer. He’s a stickler, and in very un-punk fashion, we didn’t always take the first take. Sometimes it was the 19th or the 27th. The only downside is we set our own schedule, so let’s just say the album release came down to the wire.

What inspired the album name?

We took the name from some lyrics on “Come Undone.” They felt thematic to the record. Brought out the vibe. The hill Danny chose to die on was not naming the record after a song name. He hates when bands do that. 

Tell us the idea behind the album cover?

Schubas is a second home to us and we all have a strong connection there for different reasons. It was Tyler’s idea to all get in the photo booth and turn it into a ‘Some Girls’ homage. Turned out pretty good.

 

What one of your songs on the new album do you think will be the most difficult to rehearse for a live audience?

We’ve only played “Wild Stab” once live. John and Danny don’t play on the recording so it’s an interesting song to play live. As they also don’t play live. So we barely rehearsed it. Tyler locked it in though – it’s the tear jerker. 

Why should people listen to the album?

Remember that summer where time wasn’t a thing? Remember those early crushes where you had no clue what you were doing? It’s angsty, a little punk, a little country, and oozes nostalgia. And yet, you put it on when you’re speeding to destinations unknown with a smile on your face. It’s got something for everyone, for real. We genuinely think people will dig it. 

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