INTERVIEW: TRASH KIT

Trash Kit’s style can best be described as post-punk meets the song writing style of Haim and Lorde. The three-piece from Glasgow, London and Cambridge are heading to Brave Exhibitions festival at the Cluny on Saturday 20^th November, for one of their first shows since the pandemic. During my interview with the band, guitarist Rachel Aggs spoke of what it was that drew them to the festival. “Some of the other bands looked really interesting, there were lots of names I hadn’t heard of that I am always excited to see.”

The soundscape of the band has developed from their post-punk roots to include longer harmonies, focused vocals and honest song writing, and I asked Rachel what accounted for this shift. “A big part of that was that [bass player] Gill joined the band. We started the band as a two piece and then our friend Rosemary played bass for us for a few years and then Gill joined after the second album so this album, Horizon, is all with Gill writing the bass parts, so that’s a big change.”

Rachel added that there is also a sense of “growing up and maturing” to their sound since they started in 2009. “We’ve got a lot more confident and self-assured in our sound, especially as things are a little less bite-sized, we’re more confident at letting ideas play out over longer songs and having slightly more bold musical concepts.”

We’ve got a lot more confident and self-assured in our sound

These bold concepts are what makes Trash Kit stand out, and are seen on personal favourite track Coasting, where eclectic instruments mix with a soft yet punchy vocal range. “We each have a distinctive style when it comes to how we play, and that’s also how we approach songs,” says bassist Gill, “we do our own thing, and it just works, it just all comes together, we don’t actually think how can we make Trash Kit X, Y, or Z, it’s very organic and we don’t really plan anything, that’s our secret!”

The band hint that there’s new music in the pipeline. “There is some stuff in the works that we haven’t properly worked on since 2019, and we would really like to pursue more collaborations with other musicians.” Pushing drummer Rachel Horwood to find out who they take influence from, she says: “I really love The Ex, we did a lot of touring with them, and I’d say that was the band that you could compare us to in terms of sound and attitude towards music making. They do a lot of collaborating with African and jazz artists, and they are really interested in improvisation, but they still have this kind of punk heart to them which is really inspiring.” You can definitely see the reflection of this punk heart also within Trash Kit, especially on standout track Horizon where the vocals are sharp and vigorous, against a strange soundscape which flows in its own way.

It’s clear that Trash Kit aren’t afraid to experiment, although it only goes so far, as Rachel jokes: “Maybe we should start an ultimate band with Gill on the drums, me on the saxophone, and Rachel on the trumpet, it will be terrible!”

Trash Kit play Brave Exhibitions at The Cluny on Saturday 20th November