Box Of Trash | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: Hmm, I love it. The track is called Nightmare. The band is Box of Trash. And let's see we've connected via WhatsApp. Let's see if we can hear these guys.

0:07 Speaker 2: Hello, guys, are you there?

0:09 Speaker 3: It's just me, It's Bas the guitarist. How's it going?

0:12 Speaker 2: Hey good? How are you doing? How you how do you say?

0:14 Speaker 3: Your name?

0:14 Speaker 2: Is it bas or Baz? Bas? How you doing? Welcome to the show. I'm excited to talk to you. I love that song so much. Nightmare.

0:23 Speaker 1: That is catchy, it's infectious, it gets uh, you know, I wake up with it in my brain in the morning, really really good.

0:29 Speaker 2: So I'm very glad you're joining us today. Did did you write that?

0:32 Speaker 1: Are you responsible for that one?

0:34 Speaker 3: That one?

0:36 Speaker 2: I that's really really good, really good.

0:40 Speaker 4: It's about it's a kind of personal, semi personal, and you know, just kind of waking up and feeling like kid off a budding on folk, but then realizing you're really not and it's just Jay. Do you know what they can of duct feelings you have on a miserable day?

0:56 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, absolutely yeah. I was reading a quote from you about that. Actually, I just found this. It says this song is one of the most raw Box of Trash I wrote.

1:06 Speaker 3: Uh.

1:06 Speaker 1: The song is an introspective journey through self doubt, emotional struggle, and a yearning for care and understanding, set against a backdrop of personal chaos and fleeting moments of clarity.

1:18 Speaker 2: So that's that's a lot. Yeah, yeah, uh yeah, go ahead.

1:25 Speaker 3: Yeah.

1:25 Speaker 2: Oh it sounded like you were sounded like you were starting to say something. I didn't want to interrupt. No, no, it's all good.

1:31 Speaker 1: Yeah, we might have a there might be a slight delay, as there often is with these transcontinental calls. But uh no, uh, I I love and I did listen to by the way, let's see, I did listen to the uh, the entire album really really good.

1:44 Speaker 3: Uh.

1:45 Speaker 1: Now, I'm curious, so where does the name We'll start with one of the most obvious questions. I'm sure you get this all the time, but where does the name Box of Trash come from?

1:52 Speaker 3: Well?

1:54 Speaker 4: I think it's an interesting story, but it might not come across unteresting. But like a collect vinyl and I'm until it sexties, garbage, rocky, you know it kind of early sixties stuff.

2:06 Speaker 3: It's kind of great, like just dies and stuff.

2:08 Speaker 4: Yeah, and I got a compilation vinyl thing and it was called the Trash Box and I had to post it up in a studio and it's saying I was like, why don't we just call sales the box of trash? Yeah, we expectations are low. So that's that's where it comes from.

2:30 Speaker 3: Man.

2:30 Speaker 2: No, it's a great name. It's it's one that it's one you remember.

2:33 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I like it, you know, But it also kind of I think it fits in terms of you know, your sound, it's it's it's raw. You know, you mentioned you know, you really like garage rock or I think I even saw it. Did I see the term trash rock referring to you guys somewhere online? So I don't and I'd never heard that term before, trash rock. I don't know if that's something you say over there, but but I but I really like see personally, I love.

2:57 Speaker 2: That kind of production.

2:59 Speaker 1: I think a lot of I think a lot of the music that's produced and I don't even want to say a lot of the music that's produced today because I think it's been this way for a number of decades, probably starting in the eighties.

3:10 Speaker 2: But I think a lot of.

3:11 Speaker 1: Music is a little bit slicker and a little bit smoother than it needs to be, particularly with rock music, where you know, you really want to hear those crunchy guitars and everything. But the yeah, but the production on what you guys have done really is it's it's raw. You know, it still sounds professional and it's it sounds amazing, but there is kind of a raw, no iss to it, like is that is that something that's important to you? Do you intentionally try to get that sound?

3:39 Speaker 4: And we don't intentionally trying to, but it just kind of it's what to reenter. It is the kind of all phour of us are that type of person, you know what I mean? Yeah, but we recalled the album actually in Illinois and a place called Elgin.

3:57 Speaker 2: Oh no kidding, Yeah.

4:00 Speaker 4: Yeah, the album is called it's named after a hotel room and.

4:04 Speaker 2: Sweet oh wow.

4:07 Speaker 4: Yeah, I forget the name it now Candlewood Speech, Yeah, Candlewood to thirty.

4:14 Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a room number and Candlewood Sweech was the hotel name.

4:19 Speaker 1: No, kidried, so you actually so you came to the States and recorded this in Elgin, Illinois?

4:24 Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, yeah, that's why I come over.

4:28 Speaker 4: I was I was playing bass for a band down in England obviously I'm from Scotland, and I went down the band the Mets, and but they had a guy coming over from Illinois, Juan Velaz from Third Fire Records.

4:43 Speaker 3: He was recording them and I didn't.

4:46 Speaker 4: Have anywhere to stay and he ended up letting me, let's sleep on his couch. Yeah, So I went down straight back and we went to the pub after and he's like, do you write songs?

4:55 Speaker 3: I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, And.

4:57 Speaker 4: I let him hear a demo I had called Space this Man, and he's like, I love it.

5:02 Speaker 3: You need to send me that when you get home.

5:05 Speaker 4: And so I sent him over and he's like, I want his old in Chicago. Well about Elgin? Sorry, yeah, what the colleges? So I that's how that came about.

5:15 Speaker 3: Just a kind of random meat no carding.

5:18 Speaker 2: That's wild.

5:19 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it was one. It's one of the coolest things I've actually done with music.

5:24 Speaker 1: I spent a lot of time in Illinois when I was a kid because my parents divorced when I was pretty young and my mother, per the custody agreement, moved back to Illinois, where she was from originally. So I spent the summers out there, so I know, I know that stayed very well. I know exactly where Elgin is and well that's wild.

5:41 Speaker 3: You know.

5:42 Speaker 4: Another crazy thing about it is right in Scotland. There's a place called Elgin.

5:46 Speaker 2: Oh is there?

5:47 Speaker 4: H So, as I said to the boys, I was like, we've traveled halfway around the world end up in a town that's it's wild.

5:58 Speaker 3: It's quite man.

5:59 Speaker 4: But recording the album, it was like the guy juanne vellas he's it was very insistent on getting the sound we had in our room because we'd send them like like not demos, but like live recordings of in our rehearsal room and he's like, I want to capture that sound that you have there. Yeah, he was quite big on.

6:18 Speaker 3: It as well.

6:18 Speaker 4: So like like I said, it's not really us pushing for it, it.

6:21 Speaker 3: Was more him mm hmm, no that makes sense. So like I I was like, and he knows his stuff.

6:29 Speaker 4: We were just kind of full lads from a small town in Scotland, you know what I mean.

6:34 Speaker 3: We just play our instruments. Yeah, it's just not a thing.

6:38 Speaker 2: Oh that's wild. Yeah.

6:39 Speaker 1: You just never know, you just never know what might happen. That's incredible. So so how long did it take to record the album?

6:48 Speaker 3: We've done it in ten days.

6:51 Speaker 4: That nine days because the tenth the tenth day we ended up that was because we were in for the nine days. We were in every single day for about twelve I was a day, and then the last day we actually got to go into Chicago for the day. Yeah.

7:06 Speaker 3: Yeah, we got the boat too and everything.

7:07 Speaker 2: Oh wow, Oh very cool.

7:10 Speaker 3: I loved it. I loved in America.

7:13 Speaker 4: It's it's it's a beautiful place. So it was really beautiful.

7:17 Speaker 1: Oh that's that's awesome. Wow, yeah, that's really cool. Like I said, I spent a lot of time there when I was a kid, so I know, I know what you mean.

7:25 Speaker 2: Now, that's great.

7:25 Speaker 1: And so you averaged about a song a day then when you were recording it, So that's I mean.

7:30 Speaker 2: Was that what what were you feeling like in.

7:32 Speaker 1: Terms of was that a lot of pressure or were you were you comfortable with it or how was what was that like for you guys?

7:41 Speaker 3: It wasn't really pressure. No, we were quite comfortable.

7:43 Speaker 4: We knew the songs inside out because well it was obviously planned like to go over like just under a year in advance, so we practiced hard, you know what I mean, We've got everything tight and nailed down, So there wasn't no, it wasn't pressure. And Joanne like he he made us feel so comfortable so that like he made like like it would be. So what happened was would lay down tracks as what like as a band like would lay down all the tracks, and then the drummer went and he redone all his parts, the basis went and redone his parts.

8:16 Speaker 3: I went in singer, so like it was.

8:18 Speaker 4: Really easy, and it was really quick, and it was brilliant to work with him. It was really awesome to work with them man, and and I, like I said, it was no pressure whatsoever. That's not mean to start a big headed and anything like that. There just really wasn't.

8:33 Speaker 1: That's amazing. And then and then so how how long after so so you finish up there and then you and then you go back and then what was the so what what about the mastering and everything I mean did did was that also done in Illinois or where was that done?

8:50 Speaker 3: Yeah? That was done in Illinois as well.

8:51 Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, I can't I think Juan got another another guy and I can't.

8:57 Speaker 3: Remember his name just now ah oh ah, I can't.

9:06 Speaker 4: I can't remember the guy's name. Now I feel bad now I can't remember the guys there. But yeah, he got, he got, he got his friend to master it. Yeah, and I we had to redo vocals in one track. But I singer lyle he's he picks apart his vocals like worse than anybody his own. I know, everybody says this, that their own biggest critic. Yeah, he really is, man to the point where we're like, we have him to go lele.

9:37 Speaker 3: Look man, it's fine, it's good.

9:40 Speaker 4: So one of the one of the tracks he had to reado his vocals because he wasn't having it. So yeah, that was the only thing we've done over on Scotland, one of the vocals to a track called Falling Down that was over here the vocals.

9:54 Speaker 1: It's cool too that in terms of the mastering that it's still you know, because I would imagine somebody getting a hold of this who then has to master it. Who you know, you got to hope that they understand that what you know, what you're going for here, right, because I think it would probably be easy to take something like this and then master it in a way that maybe it loses a little bit of that rawness. But obviously obviously they got it right, which is fantastic.

10:23 Speaker 4: I think Juan was like I said before that Juwan was really keen to make sure that he got that sound that we've got in our rehearsal room.

10:31 Speaker 3: M hm. He was really keen on that. Like we see me.

10:35 Speaker 4: Personally, like like I recalled all the demos like on my own, like to bring into the boys all the music and stuff, and like I would spend I would spend the ten days in one song, yeah, and everything affected and like I love all that kind of stuff. But Joan's that no really keen for it. So the guy mastered it. He knew like what Juan, what Im and Joan work together, So like that way it wasn't going to get over produced and stuff.

11:07 Speaker 2: Mm hmmmm.

11:09 Speaker 3: They did.

11:09 Speaker 2: They did a great job.

11:12 Speaker 1: And were you were you intending from the beginning to do a full album because obviously, you know, we live in a time where you have a lot of different options. You know, you can do albums, you can do EPs. A lot of artists just released singles now, wasn't it was it important to you to do this as a full album as one cohesive set of songs. Was that a priority for you?

11:32 Speaker 4: I don't know about a priority, But we did want to do an album because like all the songs like actually tell a wild story.

11:41 Speaker 3: It's like a it's like this the Aliens, this time travel. The whole album actually tells a story.

11:50 Speaker 4: So like, like, we didn't set out to do that, it just kind of came about. Yeah, But like we always knew we wanted to do an album. Maybe I don't know, there's just something about saying I've got an album right rather than I've got a couple of.

12:05 Speaker 3: Songs out right right. Absolutely, it was always it was always an album. We've we've released a couple of EPs.

12:14 Speaker 4: An EP so far, and a couple of singles, but it's just because we haven't been able to get back over to the States to do album two.

12:23 Speaker 1: So so do you plan to ultimately return to UH to Illinois to do another to do more recording.

12:30 Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely, But we were actually we were actually meant to go to Nashville this time really yeah, October this year, but we had to cancel it. A singer ended up getting married, so he was skinned and I so I think his honeymoon was book drowned about that time as well, so he couldn't do it, So I don't We're trying to get over next year.

12:54 Speaker 3: Yeah, but Joanne coming over here. I'd love to. I recalled anywhere in the States, to be honest.

13:02 Speaker 2: Oh wow, yeah, well that's cool.

13:04 Speaker 3: Good. He's got a friend in Nashville. He was the guy.

13:09 Speaker 4: That he works with and Nashville done some of the songs for Red Dead Redemption too.

13:16 Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, So like he was going to bring him in with us as well.

13:20 Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know, get a more cinematic sound because bands developed so like like with the sounds kind of developed, it's still got that kind of raw energy and stuff like that. Yeah, but there's there's a bit of cinematic kind of style as well. So he was wanting to bring on in this guy. But like I said, ultimately we couldn't do it. So I'm hoping to get over next year.

13:43 Speaker 1: Okay, okay, Oh that's that's great, excellent, excellent. Hey, I wanted to ask you too about the artwork for the album. I really like that. Uh and I'm curious if who did that, if if it was somebody in the band, or or do somebody outside the band did that for you?

13:58 Speaker 4: It was it was lyle original concept that the guy with the box on his head. Yes, so like that was Lyle's original concept. And then we've got an artist to draw up and then like we said about because we've got space man and stuff like that, there was kind of like that feeling of like so other worldly stuff. So yeah, we wanted the kind of space ship bringing.

14:23 Speaker 3: We call him Brett. I'm a massive Brett Hart fan.

14:26 Speaker 2: Oh no kidding.

14:28 Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, so like we named the guy with the box on his head Brett. Yeah, so like we wanted to make it as if Brett was getting dropped off on Earth to.

14:36 Speaker 3: Bring our music.

14:37 Speaker 2: Yeah.

14:38 Speaker 3: Oh wow, that was kind of the concept of it.

14:41 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's cool. You like to hit man, Yeah, oh.

14:46 Speaker 3: Man, the best it was the best of us.

14:49 Speaker 1: That's awesome. No, that's very very cool. He's my second favorite of all time. My first favorite is Macho Man Randy Savage, but Brett is a Brett. Brett is a very very close number two, like.

15:00 Speaker 3: But Bett like as number two for me as well. Stone Cold's my favorite, though.

15:05 Speaker 1: Yeah, Sean would be Sean would be my number three. We'll have to I do I also do a wrestling podcast. We'll have to, We'll have to get you on there. Absolutely.

15:15 Speaker 4: I like watched, like, like I said, stone Colds my favorite. Yeah, I watched it from the King of the Ring ninety six. Yeah, so I'd watch every raw, every pay per view, yeah, all the way they retired.

15:29 Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh wow.

15:31 Speaker 4: So like the matches with Brett Hart like that basically made stone Colds for me.

15:35 Speaker 3: So like that's why I've got a fon this for Brett.

15:37 Speaker 2: Yeah.

15:37 Speaker 1: Oh absolutely one. That's well, that's very cool, very cool. Oh you mentioned too, So so you collect vinyl? What's what's the vinyl situation like there? Because here in the United States, a lot of artists are still well all all the major labels still put out vinyl, which a lot of people don't even realize, but a lot of independent artists too. You know, it's active, but but they put music out on vinyl. I mean, do you do you do you have plans to release or maybe you already have.

16:06 Speaker 2: I don't know. Is is Candlewood two thirty coming out on vinyl?

16:09 Speaker 4: Or we actually had, we had plans to release it through a company over here, but it was like through a third party and then they pulled out, So like, really we want to and I think that's something we're going to do in the future. Yeah, like you said, is it's really really expensive, but it's something.

16:30 Speaker 3: It's it's something like I love.

16:31 Speaker 4: Because like having that physical copy of something I don't know. I like, I'm a collector of things, so like having like that is just I'd love to have my own album.

16:43 Speaker 3: Like on vinyl. That's just something that I aspire to have.

16:47 Speaker 4: Yeah, but over here, loads of bands do it, unsigned bands that loads.

16:53 Speaker 3: So they do. Yeah. Yeah's like I said, I absolutely love it. Yeah, vinyl. And I've got my oldest boy he's into it as well.

17:02 Speaker 2: Now, oh good good. Yeah, I always say nothing nothing sounds better than vinyl, you know, the warmth of one hundred. Yeah, well, very good now and oh and so what's the live situation like for you guys? Are you playing a lot of shows?

17:16 Speaker 3: And we're finished up in November there for the year.

17:21 Speaker 4: Yeah, and our first gig is on the twenty first of March. Okay that and that's going to be our next EP release. Oh so we we released Nightmare.

17:33 Speaker 3: Our next single is going to be Oh no, I can't remember.

17:40 Speaker 4: I thought it's between two and I can't remember which ones, so I'm not going to say, okay, I get it wrong. But so we've got another two singles and then it's the EP release, so we're doing a headline guy got in Glasgow.

17:52 Speaker 3: Oh okay, so yeah, so very cool.

17:56 Speaker 4: And then we're booked up. We've got I think we've got ten eggs and the diary.

18:01 Speaker 3: I mean, Glasgow's great, Edinburgh's great.

18:04 Speaker 4: We we don't really get down to England much because it's a lot of the things.

18:10 Speaker 3: Is like pay to play basically. Oh yeah, and it's like.

18:15 Speaker 4: It's it's hard for a band coming up because promoters want you to be able to sell tickets, but bands need to get around the places to start leaving an impression, right, so the cell tickets in the future, so it's kind of hard. But we've got a few gigs down south. We'll get one in Derby and we're trying to get to London. We've got a few folk down in London that what is to go down there? So yeah, that's one for the the future as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the one in the twenty first of March, actually my son's band.

18:45 Speaker 4: It's going to be their first ever gig and they're supporting us, So that's kind of Oh wow, I.

18:51 Speaker 2: Oh that's very cool. That must be what's what's uh? The name of his band.

18:58 Speaker 4: Were called the Addict okay, the sixteen year old I don't think of addicted to anything other than playing music.

19:05 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's cool.

19:09 Speaker 2: So they're going to be opening for you. That's awesome.

19:10 Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, man, I can't mate. Oh wow, I have be standing in the back like, yeah, oh that.

19:17 Speaker 2: Is so cool. Yeah, you must be very proud. That's amazing.

19:20 Speaker 3: I feel like I'm too young for it to be happening.

19:22 Speaker 2: To Yeah, well there's that, there's that part, all right. No, that's cool though. That's that's extremely cool. Yea cool, very good. So the EP is that going to be all new? Are any of those? Are any of the songs from Kennel Wood two thirty going to be on that? Or is it all new stuff?

19:42 Speaker 3: For all new stuff?

19:44 Speaker 4: Oh?

19:44 Speaker 2: Wow?

19:45 Speaker 3: Three new originals like well nightmarees on it. We've got dB Cooper and we've actually got coveredable doing of If you heard.

19:54 Speaker 2: Of Nolan Porter, I'm not familiar.

19:57 Speaker 4: It's like a kind of no them soul, like a soul I know, he's got a song called if I Could.

20:03 Speaker 3: Only Be Sure? Okay, really man, So we do a kind of a rockier cover of it. Okay, so that's going to be on it as well. Oh excellent, it's one of the four songs.

20:14 Speaker 4: But we've got loads of songs there, and we're trying to kind of space it out throughout the year and with the thought of recording another album, so we're trying to keep songs back for this album and trying to get songs.

20:28 Speaker 3: And you know what I mean, trying to kind of spin plates basically right right.

20:34 Speaker 2: Yeah, that that can be that can be a challenge.

20:36 Speaker 1: I mean, it's a good problem, having a sense, but when you've got more material than is necessarily practical to release in a compressed period of time and you have to kind of space it out, and you know, timing is everything in this business, but that that can be a challenge too, when you've got a you know, I mean, when you when you're creating. You know, I've been in bands and I'm a songwriter, and I know that when you when you create something and you're proud of it, you want to share it with the world, and so much of this of just doing this is having the discipline to be able to hold it back, and that can be very hard.

21:09 Speaker 4: Definitely. That the other problem as well as like your newest song that you write that everybody in the band loves, is your favorite song of all time, Yes, and then like see, maybe six months down the line, you've maybe wrote two or three more songs after that, which you've got the exact same feeling about. Yeah, and then the song that you originally wrote is then just coming out, so you don't have the same feeling towards it.

21:29 Speaker 3: It's trying to kind of balance that as well.

21:32 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's challenging.

21:35 Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely, but we've kind of got it's all written down the plans there. I wish one of the other boys was here to help me because Leo the singer, he knows a lot more of the details.

21:47 Speaker 1: And a yeah, well that's okay, Now you're doing great. We've learned a lot this morning, actually absolutely absolutely Bass. Well, we will have to and we'll definitely have to have you back for the when the is coming out, because we want to we want to get you back on for that talk about that and well and we'll you know, we'll we'll play you know whatever the first single is from that, we'd love to play it on the show. Where where's the best place for people to go to keep up with everything that you guys are doing that the Box of Trash is doing.

22:16 Speaker 3: I think.

22:18 Speaker 4: I mean, I'm not on Instagram, but I think a lot of the stuff is on Instagram, okay.

22:22 Speaker 3: And Instagram and Twitter. It's basically the two main ones.

22:25 Speaker 2: Okay.

22:27 Speaker 4: I think Lyle does like tiktoks as well. We've got a YouTube channel that's got like live videos from our gigs and stuff as well.

22:35 Speaker 3: Excellent, So YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Twitter.

22:40 Speaker 2: Yeah, all the all the sis. Yeah, I know, I still call it Twitter too. It's hard to I'm not gonna.

22:48 Speaker 3: I can't not call it Twitter now.

22:50 Speaker 1: Well, the problem is if if if you say Twitter, everyone knows what you're talking about. But if you say X, sometimes people don't know what you mean. You know, depending on the context, it's like X. Yeah, well, very good, So I want to so we'll let you go in a moment, Baz.

23:04 Speaker 2: It's been wonderful to speak with you. I do.

23:08 Speaker 1: I am going to close out the segment with another track from Candlewood two.

23:13 Speaker 3: Thirty.

23:13 Speaker 1: Obviously we played nightmare, but what would you like us to play to end the segment, I'll let you pick him, kind of putting you on the spot, but.

23:21 Speaker 3: Up in the clouds. There's a cool story behind that as well. That that's the reason why okay is all right to tell it? Oh?

23:28 Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely?

23:30 Speaker 4: Up in the clouds is I wrote the music and then Lyle was going on holiday and he was at the airport and I sent him the music. He's right, send it to me and I'll write the song on holiday. I was like writing no bother and he wrote it well in the sky like on the plane.

23:48 Speaker 3: Oh.

23:48 Speaker 4: So like the first line is like we're up in the clouds for holiday bound oh the pubulence in the sky. So I it's basically about him going on holiday and it's kind of.

24:01 Speaker 3: A cool groove as well, the groove to.

24:03 Speaker 2: Yeah, oh, very cool, very cool.

24:04 Speaker 3: Yeah.

24:04 Speaker 1: I listened to the whole album and I really, I really like everything on it. So, uh that's a that's a great choice. Uh So, Okay, bas so we're gonna hit that track in a moment. We will let you go. But again, thank you so much for joining us, and uh we will uh we will talk again in the future, definitely with the EP and I'll reach out to you too about the podcast.

24:21 Speaker 2: We can get you on that too.

24:23 Speaker 3: Oh I love it, man, I'd love it would be great.

24:26 Speaker 2: Very cool.

24:26 Speaker 1: All right, bas from Christmas, Oh, Merry Christmas to you. Absolutely all right, Bas from Box of Trash. Thank you so much, my friend. We'll talk to you soon, okay, all right, take care, bye bye bye, all.

24:38 Speaker 2: Right, wonderful.

24:39 Speaker 1: That is Baz from the band Box of Trash and we will close out the segment with this. And if you are listening live on Saturday, stick around. We've got plenty more to come. But Uh here it is. This is uh from the album Candlewood two thirty. The band is Box of Trash and the track is up in the clouds.