Trans Am is a three-piece American band from
Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...
, that was one of the originators of "
post-rock
Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...
" in the mid-1990s. Their work combines elements of
Krautrock
Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock
Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments ...
,
heavy metal,
hardcore punk
Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...
,
synthpop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...
,
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
, and
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
. Since their inception, the group has toured with
Tortoise
Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a turtle shell, shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, ...
,
Pan Sonic
Pan Sonic was a Finnish electronic music group founded in Turku in 1993. The group consisted of Mika Vainio, Ilpo Väisänen, and Sami Salo. Salo left in 1996 leaving Pan Sonic a duo. The group was originally named Panasonic until 1998. In Dec ...
,
The Fucking Champs
The Fucking Champs are a three-piece rock band from San Francisco, California. They are known for their heavy metal sound, based largely around shifting time signatures, guitar harmonies, and plentiful rhythm. Most songs are instrumental. They ...
, and
Tool
A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...
.
Biography
Nathan Means (bass, keyboards, vocoder, vocals),
Philip Manley (lead guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals), and
Sebastian Thomson (drums, bass, keyboards, guitar, vocals) formed Trans Am in 1990 near
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
[
]
The band started as a
HarDCore
Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to:
Arts and media Film
* ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film
* ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott
* ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...
project but their sound evolved as the members finished college to include additional influences, such as
new wave,
classic rock
Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...
, and
experimental rock
Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...
.
[
]
In 1995, they began recording their music, which until 1998 was almost entirely instrumental. Their sound is generally marked with acoustic and electronic drums, guitars, electronics, and a varying amount of often-heavily processed vocals. Instrumental virtuosity (especially on drums) is a focal point. All of their albums have been released on the Chicago-based independent record label
Thrill Jockey
Thrill Jockey is an American independent record label established by former Atlantic Records A&R representative Bettina Richards and based in Chicago.
History
Richards started the label in 1992 with $35,000 of family and personal capital, while ...
.
Trans Am's self-titled debut, recorded after just a few rehearsals, contained instrumentals which were largely improvised versions of simple rock-oriented motifs based loosely on 1970s bands such as
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Bachman–Turner Overdrive
Bachman–Turner Overdrive, often abbreviated BTO, were a Canadian rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba, founded by Randy Bachman, Robbie Bachman and Fred Turner in 1973. Their 1970s catalogue included five top-40 albums and six US top-40 single ...
, and
Yes. The album was produced by
John McEntire
John McEntire (born April 9, 1970 in Portland, Oregon) is an American recording engineer, producer, drummer and multi-instrumentalist, based in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of both Tortoise and the Sea and Cake.
McEntire started playing dr ...
of labelmates Tortoise at Chicago's Idful Studios. Afterwards, the band opened for Tortoise on a brief US tour.
In the fall of 1996, Trans Am released a self-titled EP, which showed a greater reliance on electronics. The group expanded that approach to album length on ''
Surrender to the Night'' (1997) and ''The Surveillance'' (1998). Their sound during this period was reminiscent of such acts as
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...
,
Can, and
New Order, interspersed with more rock-oriented material.
In 1996, they appeared on a split 12" with Wingtip Sloat, which accompanied the zine
Tuba Frenzy. One track from that record, "Starjammer", was later included on the highbrow electronica label
Mille Plateaux
''A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia'' (french: link=no, Mille plateaux) is a 1980 book by the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze and the French psychoanalyst Félix Guattari. It is the second and final volume of their collaborativ ...
's double-CD compilation ''In Memoriam Gilles Deleuze''. In their live shows, the band began to incorporate trigger devices and MIDI-wired beatboxes in order to perform their electronics-heavy songs. Around the time of the release of ''The Surveillance'', Trans Am started to perform material with
vocoder
A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation.
The vocoder was ...
-heavy vocals by Nathan Means.
Their fourth album, ''
Futureworld
''Futureworld'' is a 1976 American science fiction thriller film directed by Richard T. Heffron and written by Mayo Simon and George Schenck. It is a sequel to the 1973 Michael Crichton film ''Westworld'', and is the second installment in the ...
'', came out in 1999. The first side of this album featured songs with vocoder and the second side had all instrumentals, including the sprightly "Cocaine Computer". A music video for the title song was filmed and released. In 2000, the group followed up with the double album ''
Red Line'', recorded in their own National Recording Studio.
[
]
A
rarities collection, ''You Can Always Get What You Want'', was also released that year.
[
]
In 2002, Trans Am released ''
TA'', complete with tongue-in-cheek promo photos featuring the band in
boy band
A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...
-esque matching white outfits. ''TAs cover art was a parody of a
REO Speedwagon
REO Speedwagon (originally stylized as R.E.O. Speedwagon) is an American rock band from Champaign, Illinois. Formed in 1967, the band cultivated a following during the 1970s and achieved significant commercial success throughout the 1980s. The ...
best-of collection. Though the album was essentially a spoof of the
electroclash
Electroclash (also known as synthcore, retro-electro, tech-pop, nouveau disco, and the new new wave) is a genre of music that fuses 1980s electro, new wave and synth-pop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) ...
genre, it was mostly panned by music critics.
[
][
]
During the 2004 U.S. election year, Trans Am released the politically charged ''Liberation'', an album that questioned the
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
presidency and addressed such issues as the
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
, the
War on Terror
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...
, and paranoia.
[
][
][
]
''
Sex Change
Sex change is a natural or artificial process in which an individual's sex is changed.
Sex change may also refer to:
Biology and medicine
*Sex reassignment therapy
*Sex reassignment surgery
*Sequential hermaphroditism, a phenomenon whereby some ...
'', the band's sixth studio album, was released in 2007.
[
][
]
Following the release, Trans Am did a tour of the United States with
Zombi and
The Psychic Paramount
The Psychic Paramount is an American experimental rock group from New York City that was formed in 2002.
History
The band was formed by guitarist Drew St. Ivany and bassist Ben Armstrong after the dissolution of noise rock band Laddio Bolocko. ...
, seventeen shows opening for
Tool
A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...
, and they played the Thrill Jockey 15th anniversary show in Chicago, Illinois.
Also in 2007, Trans Am contributed to the soundtrack of the video game ''
After Burner: Black Falcon'' for the
PSP.
In April 2017, Trans Am released ''California Hotel'', an eight-song album on Thrill Jockey.
Discography
Albums
* ''
Trans Am
Trans Am may refer to:
* Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, an automobile model
* Trans Am (band), an American post-rock band
** ''Trans Am'' (album), their 1996 debut album
*** ''Trans Am'' (1996 song), their eponymous song from the eponymous album, see ...
'' (1996)
* ''
Surrender to the Night'' (1997)
* ''The Surveillance'' (1998)
* ''
Futureworld
''Futureworld'' is a 1976 American science fiction thriller film directed by Richard T. Heffron and written by Mayo Simon and George Schenck. It is a sequel to the 1973 Michael Crichton film ''Westworld'', and is the second installment in the ...
'' (1999)
* ''
Red Line'' (2000)
* ''
TA'' (2002)
* ''Liberation'' (2004)
* ''
Sex Change
Sex change is a natural or artificial process in which an individual's sex is changed.
Sex change may also refer to:
Biology and medicine
*Sex reassignment therapy
*Sex reassignment surgery
*Sequential hermaphroditism, a phenomenon whereby some ...
'' (2007)
* ''Thing'' (2010)
* ''Volume X'' (2014)
* ''California Hotel'' (2017)
EPs, singles
* ''Trans Am'' - 7" (split with Thigh Mastersson) (S.K.A.M., 1996)
* ''Tuba Frenzy'' - 12" (split with
Wingtip Sloat) (1996)
* ''Illegal Ass'' - 12" (Happy Go Lucky, 1996)
* ''Who Do We Think You Are?'' - Australian Tour CD EP (Spunk!, 1999)
* ''You Can Always Get What You Want'' - rarities compilation CD (Thrill Jockey, 2000)
* ''Extremixxx'' - CD EP (remixes) (Thrill Jockey, 2002)
Live albums
* ''What Day Is It Tonight? - Trans Am Live 1993–2008'' - 2xLP + DVD limited to 1500 copies (Thrill Jockey, 2009)
With the Fucking Champs
* ''Double Exposure'' - CD/LP - recorded as TransChamps (Thrill Jockey, 2001)
*
''Gold'' - CD/LP - recorded as The Fucking Am (
Drag City, 2004)
See also
* ''
Life Coach
Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...
'' - solo album by Phil Manley.
References
External links
Thrill Jockey RecordsTrans Am FanzineTrouser Press entryInterview with Trans Am
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trans Am
American post-rock groups
Indie rock musical groups from Maryland
Thrill Jockey artists
Musical groups established in 1990
City Slang artists
Low Transit Industries artists