Trans Am is a three-piece American band from

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

, that was one of the originators of "

post-rock Post-rock is a subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes Texture (music), texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings wit ...

" in the mid-1990s. Their work combines elements of

Krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electron ...

, heavy metal,

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

, and

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

. Since their inception, the group has toured with

Tortoise Tortoises ( ) are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin for "tortoise"). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like o ...

Pan Sonic Pan Sonic was a Finnish electronic music group founded in Turku in 1993. The group consisted of Mika Vainio, Ilpo Väisänen, and Sami Salo. Salo left in 1996 leaving Pan Sonic a duo. The group was originally named Panasonic until 1998. In Dec ...

the Fucking Champs The Fucking Champs are a three-piece rock band from San Francisco, California. They are known for their heavy metal sound, based largely around shifting time signatures, guitar harmonies, and plentiful rhythm. Most songs are instrumental. They ...

, and

Tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by animals, animals use simple tools, only human bei ...

History

Nathan Means (bass, keyboards, vocoder, vocals), Philip Manley (lead guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals), and

Sebastian Thomson Sebastian Thomson is a Grammy Awards, Grammy-nominated musician based in Brooklyn, New York. He is currently the drummer for Baroness (band), Baroness, Trans Am (band), Trans Am, and solo act Publicist. Early life Thomson was born in Chaco Prov ...

(drums, bass, keyboards, guitar, vocals) formed Trans Am in 1990 near

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Initially influenced by local hardcore and

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term " post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad conste ...

bands

Fugazi Fugazi (; ) is an American post-hardcore band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1986. The band consists of guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally, and drummer Brendan Canty. They were noted for their style-transc ...

Bad Brains Bad Brains are an American punk rock band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1976. They are widely regarded as pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members have objected to the use of this term to describe their music. They are also an ade ...

, and

Soulside Soulside, also spelled Soul Side, is an American post-hardcore band from the greater Washington, D.C. area. History The original name of the band was Lunchmeat which was formed by high school students Bobby Sullivan, Chris Thomson, Scott M ...

, Trans Am quickly moved away from that sound and began drawing from such bands as Chrome,

This Heat This Heat were an English experimental rock band, formed in early 1976 in Camberwell, London by multi-instrumentalists Charles Bullen (guitar, clarinet, viola, vocals, tapes), Charles Hayward (drums, keyboards, vocals, tapes) and Gareth Willi ...

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1973. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene, Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances and the virtuosity of their guit ...

Manowar Manowar is an American heavy metal band from Auburn, New York. Formed in 1980, the group is known for lyrics based on fantasy (particularly sword and sorcery) and mythology (particularly Norse mythology and Greco-Roman mythology), as well as n ...

, and in particular

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

acts such as

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...

Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), known professionally as Aphex Twin, is a British musician, composer and DJ active in electronic music since 1988. His idiosyncratic work has drawn on many styles, including techno, ambient music, ambi ...

, and

Autechre Autechre ( ) are an English electronic music duo consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, both from Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1987, they are among the best known acts signed to UK electronic label Warp Records, through which all o ...

. According to Thomson, they had searched for a unique sound and "were floundering until one day we hooked up a

Casio is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturing corporation headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Its products include calculators, mobile phones, digital cameras, electronic musical instruments, and analogue and digital watches. It ...

keyboard in 1993 and realized that a keyboard can also be a

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

instrument." Sometime around 1993, Trans Am had a lead singer, who was eventually fired for missing rehearsals, and the band opted not to replace him. Since then, Trans Am's music has been largely instrumental. The band's self-titled debut was produced by

John McEntire John McEntire (born April 9, 1970) is an American recording engineer, producer, drummer, and multi-instrumentalist, based in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of both Tortoise and the Sea and Cake. Early life McEntire was born on April 9, 1970 ...

of labelmates

at Idful Music Corporation, in Chicago. Afterwards, Trans Am opened for Tortoise on a brief US tour. In 1996, they released a self-titled EP, which showed a greater reliance on electronics. The group expanded that approach to album length on '' Surrender to the Night'' (1997) and ''The Surveillance'' (1998). Their sound during this period was reminiscent of such acts as Kraftwerk, Can, and

New Order New Order may refer to: Politics * ''L'Ordine Nuovo'' (''The New Order''), a socialist newspaper edited by Antonio Gramsci in the early 1920s * ''New Order in East Asia'', propaganda term for Japanese-dominated East Asia announced by Japanese ...

, interspersed with more rock-oriented material. Also in 1996, they appeared on a split 12" with Wingtip Sloat. One track from that record, "Starjammer", was later included on the electronica label Mille Plateaux's double-CD compilation ''In Memoriam Gilles Deleuze''. Around the time of the release of ''The Surveillance'', Trans Am started to perform material with

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder wa ...

-heavy vocals by Nathan Means. Their fourth album, ''

Futureworld ''Futureworld'' is a 1976 American science fiction thriller film directed by Richard T. Heffron and written by Mayo Simon and George Schenck. It is a sequel to the 1973 Michael Crichton film '' Westworld'', and is the second installment in ...

'', came out in 1999. The first side of this album featured songs with vocoder and the second side had all instrumentals, including the sprightly "Cocaine Computer". A music video for the title song was filmed and released. In 2000, the group followed up with the double album '' Red Line'', recorded in their own National Recording Studio. A rarities collection, ''You Can Always Get What You Want'', was also released that year. In 2002, Trans Am released '' TA'', complete with tongue-in-cheek promo photos featuring the band in

boy band A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their Teenage, teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands ...

-esque matching white outfits. ''TAs cover art was a parody of a

REO Speedwagon REO Speedwagon (originally stylized as R.E.O. Speedwagon), or simply REO, was an American Rock music, rock band from Champaign, Illinois. Formed in 1967, the band cultivated a following during the 1970s and achieved significant commercial suc ...

best-of collection. Though the album was essentially a spoof of the

electroclash Electroclash (also known as synthcore, retro-electro, tech-pop, nouveau disco, and the new new wave) is a Music genre, genre of popular music that fuses 1980s Electro (music), electro, New wave music, new wave and synth-pop with 1990s techno, re ...

genre, it was mostly panned by music critics. During the 2004 U.S. election year, Trans Am released the politically charged ''Liberation'', an album that questioned the

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

presidency and addressed such issues as the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the War on Terror, and paranoia. ''

Sex Change Sex change may refer to: Biology and medicine *Gender-affirming care, the medical aspect of gender transition, that is, modifying person's sex characteristics **Gender-affirming surgery, surgical procedures that alters a person's physical appearan ...

'', the band's sixth studio album, was released in 2007. Following the release, Trans Am did a tour of the United States with Zombi and The Psychic Paramount, seventeen shows opening for

, and they played the Thrill Jockey 15th anniversary show in Chicago, Illinois. Also in 2007, Trans Am contributed to the soundtrack of the video game '' After Burner: Black Falcon'' for the PSP. In April 2017, Trans Am released ''California Hotel'', an eight-song album on Thrill Jockey.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''

Trans Am Trans Am may refer to: * Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, an automobile model * Trans Am (band), an American post-rock band ** ''Trans Am'' (album), their 1996 debut album, or the title song * "Trans Am" (song), a 2015 song by Thompson Square * Trans- ...

'' (1996) * '' Surrender to the Night'' (1997) * ''The Surveillance'' (1998) * ''

'' (1999) * '' Red Line'' (2000) * '' TA'' (2002) * ''Liberation'' (2004) * ''

'' (2007) * ''Thing'' (2010) * ''Volume X'' (2014) * ''California Hotel'' (2017)

EPs, singles

* ''Trans Am'' - 7" (split with Thigh Mastersson) (S.K.A.M., 1996) * ''Tuba Frenzy'' - 12" (split with Wingtip Sloat) (1996) * ''Illegal Ass'' - 12" (Happy Go Lucky, 1996) * ''Who Do We Think You Are?'' - Australian Tour CD EP (Spunk!, 1999) * ''You Can Always Get What You Want'' - rarities compilation CD (Thrill Jockey, 2000) * ''Extremixxx'' - CD EP (remixes) (Thrill Jockey, 2002)

Live albums

* ''What Day Is It Tonight? - Trans Am Live 1993–2008'' - 2xLP + DVD limited to 1500 copies (Thrill Jockey, 2009)

with the Fucking Champs

* ''Double Exposure'' - CD/LP - recorded as TransChamps (Thrill Jockey, 2001) * ''Gold'' - CD/LP - recorded as The Fucking Am ( Drag City, 2004)

References

External links

Thrill Jockey Records

Trans Am Fanzine

Trouser Press entry

Interview with Trans Am
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trans Am American post-rock groups Indie rock musical groups from Maryland Thrill Jockey artists Musical groups established in 1990 City Slang artists Low Transit Industries artists

History

Discography

Studio albums

EPs, singles

Live albums

with the Fucking Champs

See also

References

External links