Trainwreck Riders
In this era of prefab image and musical poseurism, it's easy to get a natural high from the Trainwreck Riders. Known for playing live in non-traditional places like subways, sidewalks and basements they bring authentic melody and emotion with equal roots in country and punk.
Growing up the Kerwin brothers were raised on their father's collection of fiddle and honky-tonk records. Meeting Steve Frauenfelder in High School led to garage demos with elements of "cowpunk," the hybrid sound borne from Uncle Tupelo and the Meat Puppets. Years of live performances around the San Francisco/Bay Area honed their sound to produce 2006's Lonely Road Revival. This waltz through Americana tells of the open road with dancing melodies and twangy grit.
Lonely Road Revival
What inspired your Rock The Rabbit T-Shirt design? It's a song I wrote. A girl I used to see worked at Ben and Jerry's. Andrew tried to get some free ice cream from her and she turned him down. The picture is of Andrew after he got shut down.
How would you describe your sound? Rock n' Roll
How did you get together? Were there musical touchstones that brought you together? High school. Neil Young.
How did you approach the project to reinterpret the Playboy iconography? Andrew loves Playboy so I put the logo on his shirt
What does Playboy mean to you? Adolescence. It's the articles, literature.
What's the most exciting thing you've done in the past year as a result of your music career? I saw the sun rise some-thirty days in a row. I am pretty proud of that.
What's your favorite place on earth? San Francisco, the city by the bay.
Do you have a favorite driving song? I don't have a radio in my car so I hum to myself.
Do you have a favorite article of clothing? An old Ben Davis shirt.
Where did you pick up ideas about style and design? Mom.
Do you have a favorite musician who served as a sort of fashion icon for you as you formed your ideas of style? Virgil Shaw.
When you go out, do you prefer going to concerts or clubs? Why? Ever worry that, with the democratizing effect of electronic music distribution combined with the ever-broader acceptance of DJ as selector as opposed to performer, concerts will become an anachronism? I usually go to bars or parties. I don't think of that much, no.
What was the best show you ever played? Why? What makes a good show from your perspective? At Café du Nord (San Francisco) recently. I really like audience participation and the home crowd gets pretty into it.
Anything weird on your rider? Uhhh. Organic peanut butter?
What is the best piece of obscure gear you use? How did you find it or get exposed to it? We're not really tech heads. Our gear is pretty straight-forward. I play a Fender DeLuxe amp.
Do you guys have a pre-game ritual before shows? I can't talk about that. The band would kill me.
Cowbells or handclaps? Cowbells for sure.
Beatles or Stones? Were there bands you heard at a certain point in your lives that made a huge difference in how you thought about music? Stones. And yes, there have been a lot.
Why are musicians so much more attuned to design (not just fashion design, but design in general) than, say, writers? Because they're in front of people all the time. Presentation is important for bands.
At what point do you know a song is good? I play it for someone and if they like it, I know it's good.
How has the technology boom affected the way you approach music or your career? It hasn't at all. We're pretty traditional.
