Trapt


Trapt is an American rock band formed in Los Gatos, California. It consists of lead vocalist Chris Taylor Brown, bassist Peter "Pete" Charell, guitarist Brendan Hengle, and drummer Adam Prentice. They have recorded eight studio albums to date: Amalgamation, Trapt, Someone in Control, Only Through the Pain, No Apologies, Reborn, DNA, and Shadow Work.

History

Formation and early years (1995–1999)

The members of Trapt met in middle school in the mid-'90s, and were in an early NOFX cover band with Manny Terres and Aaron Azlant called the Swinging Udders. Shortly thereafter, the band reformed and developed an act with Chris Taylor Brown, Simon Ormandy, Peter "Pete" Charell, and David Stege. The band's first few rehearsals were in Ormandy's guesthouse, which had a party-like atmosphere with its loft overlooking the living room. They began playing at local venues in 1997 before any members had graduated high school. In 1998, still before graduation, they were already opening for up-and-coming fellow acts like Papa Roach. They recorded and released their first CD, Amalgamation in 1999, which they sold at their live shows. Their second release, the Glimpse EP, came in 2000, and another EP, 2001's self-titled Trapt, served as the band's demo.

''Amalgamation'' (1999–2000)

The debut independent release by Trapt, released in June 1999 and sold only in the Los Gatos, California area.

''Trapt'' (2001–2003)

In 2001, the band signed with Warner Bros. Records and started recording their debut album, with Robin Diaz replacing Stege on the drums. On November 5, 2002 the band released their self-titled album, Trapt, which produced a total of three singles.

''Someone in Control'' (2004–2006)

Before releasing their next full-length album, the band released a self-titled three-track EP, released March 30, 2004, that included live versions of the "Made of Glass" and "Echo" tracks from their debut album, as well as a previously unreleased non-LP track, "Promise".
Their second full-length album, titled Someone in Control, was released September 13, 2005. It produced three singles for the band: "Stand Up", "Waiting", and "Disconnected ".

''Only Through the Pain'' (2007–2009)

Their live album titled Trapt Live!, was released on September 18, 2007. The album featured two new studio songs as well as live versions of nine songs from their earlier records. On March 7, 2008, it was announced that lead guitarist Simon Ormandy had parted ways with the band. He was replaced by Robb Torres. Despite rumors indicating otherwise, Ormandy's departure was amicable, and Chris Taylor Brown continues to speak highly of Ormandy to the media, while promoting Torres as the new guitarist. On March 8, 2008, Trapt released "Who's Going Home With You Tonight?" on the band's website, a song from their then-upcoming studio album entitled Only Through the Pain. The band also posted four other songs from the upcoming album: "Black Rose," "Contagious," "Wasteland," and "Ready When You Are". On April 15, 2008, Trapt announced they would be touring as part of Mötley Crüe's Crüe Fest along with Buckcherry, Papa Roach and. The tour began July 1, 2008 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
On June 10, 2008, Trapt released "Who's Going Home with You Tonight?" as a single. They also recorded a music video for the song.

''No Apologies'' (2010–2011)

In March 2010, Trapt said they were wrapping up the recording process of their new record with producer Johnny K. No Apologies was released on October 12, 2010. The first single, "Sound Off", was available on iTunes on July 20, 2010. Another song, "Stranger in the Mirror", was released for free from the band's Facebook page August 11, 2010.

''DNA'' and ''Shadow Work'' (2014–present)

In 2014, Trapt re-released their early, out of print albums Amalgamation and Glimpse EP. and announced "The Self Titled Tour", a tour focused around their self-titled album. On June 15, Trapt announced their next studio album, DNA, and a collection of acoustic versions of songs called The Acoustic Collection. They also announced they would participate in the Make America Rock Again tour.
The band's seventh studio album, DNA was released on August 19, 2016. It was the band's poorest charting album to date, debuting and peaking at number 148 on the Billboard 200 chart. Similarly, its three singles, "Passenger", "Human", and "It's Over", failed to crack the top 20 of the Mainstream Rock Songs chart, or chart at all on the Hot Rock Songs chart. In 2018, the band released the non-album single "Come Together", which did not chart on any Billboard song charts.
In May 2020, a new studio album, Shadow Work, was announced. It released the following July, though it failed to chart in the top 200 of albums released in the US Billboard 200 chart in its release week, selling only 600 copies, an 87% drop from their prior studio album, DNA, in 2016.

Musical style and influences

Trapt's sound has been described as nu metal, post-grunge, alternative metal and hard rock. AllMusic critic MacKenzie Wilson thought that the band "draws influences from grunge and heavy metal" while "absorbing the heavy rock sounds of Korn, Soundgarden, and Metallica." The band has cited Korn, Tool, Papa Roach, Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam and Genesis as influences.

Social media use

Many publications have taken note of the band's unusual use of social media accounts, run by Taylor, often to lash out and attack others, something not often done from official band accounts. Music website Metal Sucks noted in 2015 that the band's official Facebook account made lengthy posts criticizing viewers of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which devolved into the account swearing and berating commenters. The comment also included homophobic insults towards internet musician Rob Scallon, whom the band had feuded with on social media earlier in the year over the unauthorized and unattributed use of Scallon's videos. In 2017, Taylor insulted commenters who disagreed with his defense of President Trump's dismissal of James Comey, and then again later in the year with anyone who disagreed with Taylor's stance that institutional racism does not exist.
In March 2020, Metal Injection, The A.V. Club, and Slate all reported that the band's Twitter account had gone on a week-long effort of arguing with and insulting people. It began with insults of civil rights activist and Bishop Talbert W. Swan II and accusations of having a "victim mentality". The comments then expanded into areas such as defending the Unite the Right rally, calling people "nerds", challenging the existence of white privilege in society, supporting Trump's "Chinese virus" rhetoric in reference to the COVID-19 pandemic, and fat-shaming women. Loudwire noted that many notable bands and musicians later responded to counter or ridicule the claims. Taylor later used the band account to threaten legal action against an unflattering parody account assuming Trapt's identity, only to drop the issue on the same day once the account altered its Twitter handle to make the parody clearer. In May 2020, Taylor threatened legal action against multiple Change.org petitions to keep the band's music off of the upcoming Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 re-release, even though the band's music never appeared on the originals nor was announced for the remaster. In the same month, Taylor used the band's account to blame George Floyd for his own death.

Band members

Current members
Former members
Timeline

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Discography

;Studio albums