The Bad Penny (beta)

Excitement is building for the full-length debut by Trauma Kit, an experimental-hardcore-rock band from Boise that we introduced you to last year. Train Wrecks Take Time will come courtesy of bassist Shadrach Tuck’s Mishap Records label on February 23 — but in the meantime, we bring you the exclusive premiere of album track “Better” today.

The new cut follows the release of first single “Plateau” last month.

” ‘Better’ is about the separation between knowing and understanding,” vocalist Mason Waters told The Bad Penny. “Emotions that are sufficiently strong are felt with a totality that is difficult to move beyond. When everything in life feels bad and you feel like you are incapable of moving forward, both the future and the past begin to occupy that space in your mind. The feeling that you are nothing more than meat — a body which is only defined by its value — stretches so far that you begin to believe you have never felt anything different.”

Waters continued: “I have only ever been this despondent, and I will continue to be this way forever. Any memory I have which is positive, happy, or fulfilling, is only a lie — it was never true. I am overstimulated, disconnected, and completely apathetic. Just as I always have been. But things are going to get better. I know they must. However, I cannot bring myself to see anything outside of the center of the hurricane. The only thing around me is this tumult. Though I know the hurricane is only within a specific boundary, my vision is of nothing but wind and destruction such that it must be infinite.”

The instrumentation on “Better” materialized quickly, in just one or two rehearsals, Tuck noted. Guitarist Dustin White came up with the guitar riff, and drummer Max Ball added the blast-beats.

“I did that noisy, atonal, sliding riff over the blast-beat parts and it was pretty much a done deal,” Tuck said. “The rest was fine-tuned in the studio.”

Trauma Kit produced Train Wrecks Take Time, which was recorded, mixed and mastered by Andy Agenbroad at the Chop Shop.

Pre-order the album here. Trauma Kit will celebrate their debut with a record release show at Treefort Music Hall on the day it comes out. Go here for tickets to the gig. Also on their calendar is a concert at this year’s Treefort Music Fest later that month.

This entry was posted on 02/09/2024 at 7:58 am and is filed under Exclusives with tags Trauma Kit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.