‘GG Allin is shitting on people; all we’re doing is eating a burrito while we play’ — Trans Am have had it up to here with your rules
“There are a lot of rules about being in a rock band, and we’re here to show that you don’t have to follow those rules,” says Trans Am’s Phil Manley from the back seat of the band’s tour van. “One of the rules is that you have to have a front man. Well, we don’t have a front man. Another rule is that you can’t eat while you’re playing. Well, we’ll eat while we’re playing. I mean GG Allin is shitting on people; all we’re doing is eating a burrito while we play. People need to understand that there’s more than one way to do this music thing.”
This seems to be the underlying ethic throughout Trans Am’s career. Since their beginnings in high school circa 1990, Trans Am have released eight full-length records on Chicago label Thrill Jockey, documenting a band that has constantly pushed forward with their trademark blend of funky, danceable, (mostly) instrumental rockers. But while anyone familiar with the band could point out a Trans Am song even if they didn’t know it, the exact nature of their sound is hard to pin down.
“We never sat down and said ‘this is going to be the Trans Am sound,’” says Manley. “We have always consciously pursued different sounds. For example, Red Line was the super experimental one, and T.A. was the one we tried to be more song-oriented on — but for some reason, it all still sounds like Trans Am.”
Their latest offering, Sex Change, was released earlier this year after a three-year hiatus and captures everything that makes Trans Am exciting. Even the notoriously cynical critics over at indie-headquarters Pitchfork Media saw the album as a summary of “the band's career thus far, shining light on unmined and forgotten sounds and genres from the not-too-distant past but forgoing most of their less-advisable indulgences.”
“On this album, we were like, ‘OK, we have solved all the problems at the time we recorded [2004’s overtly political] Liberation. Now we can go back to the party.’ The war’s over, right?” Manley says with a laugh. “Seriously, the way [Sex Change] was recorded was different for us. Being recorded in all these different studios and having the time off, it just came out the way it came out. It’s not really very good, and by that I mean it’s totally awesome.”
Besides grabbing the attention of critics, the new album has had fans the world over yearning to get a piece of the live Trans Am experience, leading the band to travel through Europe and even complete their first ever jaunt across Canada earlier this year. Now, one of the band’s fans, Tool’s Danny Carey, has gotten Trans Am to join their current North American tour.
“We’re in good company, they have good taste in opening acts,” says Manley of joining King Crimson, Melt Banana, Isis and The Melvins as openers for Tool. “Honestly, we were a bit concerned, because apparently Tool fans don’t take too kindly to the opening band sometimes. But it’s only been one show with Tool so far, and the fans were cheering and seemed to dig it, so I’d say things are going pretty good.
“A girlfriend of the band saw the show two nights ago, and she said, ‘you should have been playing arenas years ago, it sounds great in an arena,’” he continues. “We do have a pretty big sound sometimes, and I think maybe some of it was written unconsciously with an arena in mind.”
The band’s Calgary date is one of three tour gigs that have the band headlining in clubs rather than opening for Tool in front of thousands of people, but this fact doesn’t seem to get Manley down.
“We give back to the people. We can’t get too big-headed now that we’re arena rock,” he jokes. “It’s much more intimate playing in clubs, and also you are the focal point of the evening, which is nice. And also there are more girls; female attention is always good.”
