Interview: Kevin Bogart of Trophy Lungs talks about tour, new album, and nicknames

Interview: Kevin Bogart of Trophy Lungs talks about tour, new album, and nicknames

 

Boston’s Trophy Lungs has a big fall ahead of them, with an upcoming tour of the Midwest and a new album coming out on Antique Records.  I recently got to catch up with singer/guitarist Kevin Bogart to ask him all about the band and what they’ve got on the horizon.  You can read it all below.

The band’s latest release, Day Jobs, will be released on September 18th.  If you want to get in line early, you can pre-order the vinyl here.

Gina Skidz (Dying Scene):  Thanks for taking the time to sit down for an interview!  Although I guess you’ll be doing a lot of sitting lately—you broke your ankle?!  Ouch.  How’d you manage that?

Kevin Bogart (Trophy Lungs):  I was up in Burlington, VT working merch for my buds in Bottlecaps and for some reason I thought I could still skateboard as well as I could when I was a kid… Turns out I super can’t and rolled my ankle doing a 180 off a huge rock like an idiot.

Will you be recovered in time for your upcoming tour?

I’m not worried about it at all, we actually just shot a video for our new single Bathroom Graffiti and my ankle stood up to the test so we should be good to go.

Glad to hear it!  Ok, let’s go back to the beginning of Trophy Lungs for a sec. How did you meet Kelly and Bren?

All three of us were in different bands back in the day and we used to play together all the time. After those bands faded out we got together and decided to make a band playing the music we grew up listening to.

How’d you get into music in the first place? Have you always been a punk fan?

Music has always been a huge part of our lives. All three of us come from places where there was nothing to do and anything against the grain was heavily frowned upon. Going to punk and hardcore shows gave us a place were we didn’t feel so alone. It was a community that didn’t only except people who were considered different, but celebrated it. That’s still very important to us today.

Where did the band name come from?

I actually used to be called Trophy Lungs at my job. I worked at a hotel and at the time my job was to build the tables and chairs for whatever function was going on at the time (weddings, receptions, conferences, etc). I was the only person who’s job this was so I never had a break on busy days… because of this I got really good at running outside and smoking a cigarette in two drags because I had no time. There used to be this older kind of crazy engineer who would constantly be outside smoking and one day he came up to me and said “Two drags and it’s done? You’ve got those Trophy Lungs son.” After that day every time he’d see me in the halls or in the offices he’s scream “Hey Trophy Lungs” at me. Later on and after telling that story so many times we were trying to think of a band name and it just seemed to stick.

How do you describe your sound?

We’re influenced by a certain grittiness from east coast bands like Kid Dynamite and Latterman mixed with a kind of melodic influence from bands like Banner Pilot and Alkaline Trio.

You guys have been together since 2012, and you released the No Judgement EP in 2013. Have the new songs been brewing for a while, or did you sit down recently to get it all done?

We actually recorded this record over a year ago with Jay Maas at Getaway Recording in Haverhill. We honestly rushed to get everything ready in time to record but couldn’t be happier with how it came out. We shopped the record around for a while and ended up getting a call from James at Antique Records. Fast forward a few months and now Day Jobs is coming out on vinyl and we’re super excited about it.

The new album is called Day Jobs. I’m guessing from the cover art that music isn’t your day job currently? Would you want music to be your actual job, or are you happier with it as a hobby?

We think it would be really rad to play music full time but that seems really unlikely. We all work full time to make this band happen and appreciate every minute we get on stage.

Sound-wise, what can we expect from Day Jobs?

Jay did a killer job and we love the way the record sounds. We think it shows us growing as a band and as song writers. Having never released a full length and our only release being two years old we can’t wait for it to come out.

Is there an overall “theme” to the album lyrically?

This record is about what it’s like being a working class kid. It reflects a lot about what was happening in our lives and the lives of our friends and family. We really wanted to write a record that was a real representation of ourselves and I think we did just that.

How do you guys go about writing songs?

We really try our best to write songs together. Usually one of us brings an idea to practice and we build it from there. Kelly and I are constantly sitting down and working on lyrics together. Being in a band where we both sing we think it’s important to get both our perspectives in the song. Whether those songs are about getting laid off or losing a loved one, they are a creative representation of us as people.

Tell me about working with Antique Records, how’s that going?

They’re an awesome Boston based label who reached out to us about pressing Day Jobs on vinyl. They’ve been super helpful and we’re crazy thankful to be working with them.

We already touched a bit on the fact that you guys are heading out on tour. Is this the biggest tour you’ve done?

We try to do this tour every year. We can’t wait to start banging out longer and bigger tours but for now we’re just super stoked to see our friends in the Midwest. 

What’s the best thing about being on tour? …and what’s the worst?

We can go into crazy stories like shooting fireworks at cops and swimming in Great Lakes naked while playing football but honestly the best part about touring is the friends you make and the places you get to see. If I had to pick a worst part about touring it would be the money that goes into it. We’re clearly not into it for the money, we’re just want to play our songs and have fun. Sometimes it’s not that easy and you need to make sacrifices. Either way we love touring more than anything and can’t wait to get back on the road.

What else do you want fans to know about Trophy Lungs?

We couldn’t be more stoked for Day Jobs to come out. This record has been a long time coming and we’re super thankful to be a part of the the Antique Records family.

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published.