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 Trik Turner vocalist Dave Bowers says about the band's lyrics: "We're not what I call ABC lyricists, talking about bitches and blunts." Along with fellow band mates (vocalist Doug "Rid" Moore, drummer Sean Garden, bassist Steve Faulkner, guitarist "Tre" Thorstad, guitarist Cristin Davis, turntablist DBX), Bowers is ready to stomp down on the rap-metal rat that keeps scurrying around mainstream music. Trik Turner's self-titled debut boasts an impressive mix of hip-hop know-how with a maelstrom of hard rock. NY Rock talked with Bowers about the allure of hip hop, the drive behind the band's songs, and how they came up with the name "Trik Turner." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
I was checking out the Trik Turner website, and looking at the members' musical influences. I wasn't surprised to find the Deftones, Cypress Hill, At the Drive-In, or Kool Keith, but I was really surprised to find Prince, Unwound, Ani DiFranco, and Portishead mentioned. How does the band benefit from all this diverse music? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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DAVE: | Well, in general, just like you said, there are seven individuals in this band. Our songwriting process is not about everybody trying to conform to a hip-hop sound or a rock sound – some of my guitar players aren't even into hip hop, and that's fine. We like it like that. When we sit down to write a song, it's about that song and that particular vibe, not about an overall sound we're trying to achieve. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
How did you start the band? What was its beginning? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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DAVE: | Well, we all have lived in Phoenix, Arizona for the last 10 or 12 years, and a lot of us had our own bands going on, and we all kind of knew each other in a roundabout way.... It just so happened that a couple of years ago we came together. It wasn't for anything serious. We weren't trying to search a record deal out. It was just to play the local college ASU [Arizona State University] campus scene out there. In a way, it was kind of our last shots at music. We were fed up with playing the demo game, trying to get a record deal and all that... It was kind of a thing we did for fun at the last minute. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
What were the early gigs like? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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DAVE: |
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NYROCK: |
What was it about the allure of hip hop that made you want to combine this music with really hard riffs? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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DAVE: | It was a natural thing. Of course, everybody lumps it with the whole rap-rock thing, whatever. I was a drummer at a really young age, I mean, 9, 10, 11 years old and I used to throw on my sister's Van Halen records and AC/DC records and I was self-taught as a drummer. So my main niche in music and what I always concentrated on was the percussion side of it. In high school, I got into DJing, you know, getting schooled in hip hop. DJing was, I know it's vinyl, but it's still a rhythmic thing to me. It was just a natural progression to move up and to get some samplers. I mean, when I heard that first Cypress Hill record and heard what DJ Muggs did production-wise, it wasn't the typical hip hop that was going on at that time. It made me want to [do that]. I got my first sampler and started tooling around with it. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Since we're NY Rock, the song "NY Groove" was pretty intriguing. How did that one come about? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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DAVE: |
That was when, before we got signed, we had an opportunity as a band to go to New York. It was the first time for all of us. We were out there for a couple of days. We did a showcase. We met some people, just the typical go somewhere, try to meet somebody who knows somebody type of bullshit. Anyway, basically spent two days in New York with our heads cocked up to the sky. You know, the parties out there in the clubs start at like midnight, one o'clock, whereas in Phoenix, that's when stuff is closing down. It was a new energy for us. We definitely felt an energy in the city, a vibe, and we all loved it. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
There are a couple of really rough tracks on the album. "Triks of the Trade" is pretty rough and so is "Father." Where'd they come from? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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DAVE: | (sighing) "Father" is definitely Doug's true account of his upbringing with his father. It's a very personal song for him, and it's actually a very personal song for all of us because we felt what went into that song for him. Live onstage that is one of the more emotional songs. "Triks of the Trade" is just me flexing a bit of hip hop, letting everybody know you call it what you want, this is natural for me, this is day-one stuff for me. That was the main thing. We weren't just some rock-n-roll band that tried to infuse hip hop in our music. There are genuine elements on both sides of the spectrum as far as rock and rap so, hopefully, it was done in a more unique way than what's been done in the past. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
And how about the name Trik Turner? I think of prostitutes, like hip-hop rock prostitutes, which I suppose is pretty cool. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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DAVE: | (laughing) Yeah, well the whole thing about that, it's not even an interesting story. We were sitting around drinking and maybe smoking a little something and we were watching Boogie Nights, and it was just a dumb thing, like the female equivalent of Dirk Diggler. Trik Turner. And the thing was that everybody would come up to us like, "Who's Trik and who's Turner? Is that some guy's name?" It was just the fact that everybody kept on asking about it, so we just let it stick. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NYROCK: |
Anything you want to tell the fans and readers? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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DAVE: | Well, as like a final thought, you know "Friends and Family" was our single, and it's a song we're very proud of. But for the people that just know that as our single and maybe haven't had a chance to listen to the record, we represent a little bit harder. The live shows are definitely more rock, they're very energetic. June 2002
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