-an interview with
Steve Faulkner
-an interview with
Steve Faulkner
Meet Trik Turner—David Bowers (vocals), Doug “Rid” Moore (vocals), Tracy “Tre” Thorstad (guitar), Steve Faulkner (bass), Sean Garden (drums), and DJ Danny Marquez (a.k.a. DJ DBX)—a Phoenix-based sextet that threads together a heavy brew of old school hip-hop and indie alt-rock. As a collective, Trik Turner are creative and compelling. The band’s talents shine on their audacious self-titled debut (RCA), which exhibits their eclectic style and unique personality. I caught up with the band in the midst of their Canadian tour. And, even though Steve and his bandmates were sick with the flu, he was more than happy to do this interview.
Is there a correlation between the band’s name and Bling Bling Management?
Not really. One day Dave was watching Boogie Nights at home and he came up with a porn name for a girl, which was Trik Turner. He thought it was a cool name and it stuck, but it started out as a joke. Bling Bling Management is also sort of a joke. Brad and Randy, our managers, deal mainly in hip-hop. They do concert promotions for artists like Jay-Z, Ja Rule, Snoop, Dre…so it’s like two white dudes that totally hang with the brothas. It’s like, “Bling, Bling. We are Bling Bling Management.”
I don’t think we are reinventing the wheel, but I think the lyrics are a big part of what sets us apart.
Dave and Doug really wear their hearts on their sleeves. There’s a lot of personal stuff on the record – a lot of real life personal issues that they’ve gone through, some of which are very serious. Musically we are not reinventing the wheel, but at the same time Dave, who did a lot of the hip-hop production on this album, comes from a strictly hip-hop background. He’s been a hip-hop producer for a long time. He really brings an authentic urban flavor to some of our stuff in regards to beats, samples, production and all that.
What was the best part of making the album?
We put out a demo before this and there were a couple of songs that we re-wrote in the studio for this album. And, for me, that creative process was probably the best part. In addition to working with Mudrock, which was also a great learning experience. We learned a lot from the guy.
Will you take those experiences with you when you get ready to record your next album?
Absolutely. We’ve already taken them with us. We’ve been writing for the next record and definitely taken a lot of what we’ve learned and applied it. You can always grow. We’re always trying to improve and that is one way to do it.
What do you consider to be the band’s greatest asset?
Probably our live show because it is total high-energy. People tell us all the time, “We love the album but you guys are better live.” I think that’s very important.
Now that the album is out and “Friends & Family” has been getting a lot of spins on radio and MTV, are the crowds becoming more involved with your live show?
Absolutely. We started our tour in Cleveland and we’ve only played a few shows but, for the most part, it seems like every time we roll into a new place more people are coming to check us out. Of course, when we play “Friends & Family” people go crazy, which is totally cool. The album has been out for about two weeks, and we are starting to get a lot more people up in the front singing all the words to different songs, which is really cool.
Are the people in Canada giving you guys a warm reception?
We’ve had two shows here so far. Montreal was off the hook. It was crazy. We played at a theatre style club and the whole bottom floor was just going off. They were bouncing. It was really cool. Canada has been cool. We’ve definitely received a good response up here. I think the other thing that has helped us in Canada is the fact that we are getting a lot of spins in all the major markets. We are on Much Music, which is their version of MTV. And, in Quebec they have something called Music Pleuth, which is mandated by the government, 65% of what they play has to be French music but they are playing our songs too.
What are the goals of Trik Turner as a band?
Right now we are concentrating on touring and promoting this record. Our main goal is to hop on a major tour as an opener for somebody. However, our next record is our major goal. We are working hard to avoid the sophomore slump. We’re trying to write better songs and come up with stuff that is fresh for the next record. We’re not going to make the same record twice.
Hell no. None of us did. We didn’t think they would play us on the radio.
How did you feel when you saw “Friends & Family” on MTV?
I pretty much shit my pants. It was crazy. I didn’t think it was real until I saw it. Then it was like, “Wow!” I don’t even know how to explain it. We’ve all put over ten years as individuals into this and then to finally see our video on MTV it made us feel like everything was worth it.
Do you have a good tour story that you can share?
(Laughs) I have a clean one. It was about the fourth show into our tour, and we were scheduled to play in Buffalo, New York. Our managers jokingly told us that we were playing outside, and we laughed it off. We were scheduled to play the Extreme Games at a ski resort. We got there and the stage was outside and it was 17° and there was a blizzard going on. It was gnarly. So we set up our stuff and everything was getting covered in snow and they tried to pull us off and we were like, “No, we are playing. Our stuff is up here. We’re gonna play,” so we did. The stage was like an ice skating rink. Dave fell on his ass twice. It was crazy.
Maybe when I’m not interviewing you, you can tell me a really good tour story.
(Laughs harder.) Seriously, we will probably never forget that show. You have to realize how crazy that was. It was out of control.
Especially coming from Phoenix where it is pretty much warm year round.
We didn’t have any heaters on the stage. We were literally playing in a blizzard. It was gnarly.
There are two things actually. A Game Boy Advance and a Sony Discman.
What do you want the world to know about Trik Turner?
That’s a tough question. Where do you start? We’ve been compared to bands like Linkin Park and Everlast. We’ve all been doing this stuff since before we ever heard of any of them – not Everlast because we are familiar with House of Pain. But we frequently hear that “Friends & Family” sounds like Everlast. That song was written before Everlast. We didn’t try to follow anyone’s footsteps. We played what was in our hearts and the music eventually came around to what we were doing, which was fortunate for us.
What lies ahead for Trik Turner?
We are headlining the MGD Tour starting April 16th. After that we hope to get some shows with other bands. We can’t wait to get back to L.A. Since we recorded there it has become our home away from home. Plus, the other thing we love about L.A. is that there are a lot of other people there who don’t have real jobs, so there are a lot of people to hang out with.
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