TRAP

RIO/Avant-Prog • United States

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Trap biography
In 1995 Gary Parra's Trap began its fruition after the demise of PFS (Past Future Simultaneous) and Cartoon, both based in San Francisco in the early 80's to Mid 90's. Scott Brazieal's move to Portland, OR and Herb Diamant's to Berkley, CA left Parra in a temporary state of flux, but he maintained the house in SF which had a state of the art rehearsal studio. It seemed natural to continue on with a new musical venture with similar rhetoric. "The concept was to play with different musicians I had met throughout these two decades of performing and had similar tastes in music. I feel this is the axis in releasing truly new music each Trap album. Both albums are testament to this form, as each one is unique." TRAP, 'Beyond the Status Quo', features co-compositions with the aid of the performing musicians and avant-garde guitarist John Civil who was a mutual friend of Cartoon. John attended the SF Conservatory of Music with Scott Brazieal (keyboardist of Cartoon and PFS). A surprising departure from earlier recordings, Gary is joined on TRAP by numerous talented musicians including other members of both the aforementioned lineups. It is an instrumental outing with non-lyrical voices, cello, violin, lush synthesizers, grand piano, guitars, bass, woodwinds, and Gary's unique percussion. 'Beyond the Status Quo' has received enthusiastic reviews from all over the world such as these U.S. ones.

Peter Thelen of Expose issue no. 13: "a strange and shimmering gem that defies easy description and categorization..." Dean Suzuki says in Progression issue Vol. II No.26 and Wired Dec. 97', "As with Gary's other work, Trap's music contains elements recalling the atmospheres and weirdness factor of "Le Mariage"-era Art Zoyd, the complexity and sophistication of Zappa, and the jagged, peculiar textures and idiosyncratic flavor of the Rock-In-Opposition movement...". Alan Freeman of Audion No.40 writes "...a lot of references to Cartoon, that schizophrenic hybrid of Egg and Henry Cow stylisms, with flashes of Univers Zero, Present and King Crimson, topped off by some wickedly complex rhythmic structures... As real progressive music gets rarer and rarer these days in favour of MOR easy-listening waffle masquerading as progressive rock, it's nice to hear that the real thing is still around, and still breaking ground too...!" Igor Trapvinsky - Rolling Trap vol. 69, "...that band really hurt my ears, like a landmine exploding..." reviews like Alan's shows how "progressive" ...In 1995 Gary Parra's Trap began its fruition after the demise of PFS (Past Future Simultaneous) and Cartoon, both based in San Francisco in the early 80's to Mid 90's. Scott Brazieal's move to Portland, OR and Herb Diamant's to Berkley, CA left Parra in a temporary state of flux, but he maintained the house in SF which had a state of the art rehearsal studio. It seemed natural to continue on with a new musical venture with similar rhetoric. "The concept was to play with different musicians I had met throughout these two decades of performing and had similar tastes in music. I feel this is the axis in releasing truly new music each Trap album. Both albums are testament to this form, as each one is unique." TRAP, 'Beyond the Status Quo', features co-compositions with the aid of the performing musicians and avant-garde guitarist John Civil who was a mutual friend of Cartoon. John attended the SF Conservatory of Music with Scott Brazieal (keyboardist of Cartoon and PFS). A surprising departure from earlier recordings, Gary is joined on TRAP by numerous talented musicians including other members of both the aforementioned lineups. It is an instrumental outing with non-lyrical voices, cello, violin, lush synthesizers, grand piano, guitars, bass, woodwinds, and Gary's unique percussion. 'Beyond the Status Quo' has received enthusiastic reviews from all over the world such as these U.S. ones.

Peter Thelen of Expose issue no. 13: "a strange and shimmering gem that defies easy description and categorization..." Dean Suzuki says in Progression issue Vol. II No.26 and Wired Dec. 97', "As with Gary's other work, Trap's music contains elements recalling the atmospheres and weirdness factor of "Le Mariage"-era Art Zoyd, the complexity and sophistication of Zappa, and the jagged, peculiar textures and idiosyncratic flavor of the Rock-In-Opposition movement...". Alan Freeman of Audion No.40 writes "...a lot of references to Cartoon, that schizophrenic hybrid of Egg and Henry Cow stylisms, with flashes of Univers Zero, Present and King Crimson, topped off by some wickedly complex rhythmic structures... As real progressive music gets rarer and rarer these days in favour of MOR easy-listening waffle masquerading as progressive rock, it's nice to hear that the real thing is still around, and still breaking ground too...!" Igor Trapvinsky - Rolling Trap vol. 69, "...that band really hurt my ears, like a landmine exploding..." reviews like Alan's shows how "progressive" is in the ear of the beholder. To quote Alan, "easy-listening waffle masquerading as progressive rock", and if the music has a hint of avant-prog/RIO, the listener becomes jaded and cynical. People open your progressive ears and listen to bands trying to progress past the normality of the premise "progressive".

This well-rehearsed Trap music proceeded into the studio and then to mixing and production with Don Falcone (Spaceship Eyes, Spirits Burning) in his home studio. Don, whom I had met when I first arrived in SF in the early 80's, was a natural choice to work with. Trap 'Beyond the Status Quo' had the pleasure of the first release in 1997 for the Musea label 'Gazul Records' the new sub label meant for the challenging genre from Musea. Thanks to France's Musea records for gracing Trap's first release. Bon!

Trap's second incarnation 'Insurrection' came to fruition in the summer of 1999 after 'Beyond the Status Quo' was released in 1997 and a relocation to San Diego. Soon Trap T2K "von Trap" (yes humor) began co-composing and performing live shows with multi-instrumentalist Warren Dale (Infinity, French TV) playing keyboards, woodwinds (sometimes both at the same time). Warren studied clarinet at SF Conservatory of Music, piano performance, composition and electric music at UC Berkeley, CSU San Jose, and CSU San Diego. He introduced me to Chris Smith who soon became someone I would come to enjoy knowing and performing with on any musical adventure. Chris Smith plays guitars, guitar-synth, viola, violin and co-composition. Chris studied violin/viola at Cal Institute of the Arts, San Diego State and in Europe and Asia. Joined by bass guitar artists such as Enrique Jardines (Absolute Zero) and Mike Sary (French TV) and others contributed their talent to this second Trap CD 'Insurrection'. This special trio was capable of performing 'live' past and future Trap songs, as well as Cartoon arrangements, in live performance before starting the 'Insurrection' recording process. 'Insurrection' became a summation of the magic and spark of performing live together. Trap played various venues prior to recording the compositions on 'Insurrection' in order to hone the balance with fire and humor of the compositions, and allowing the composition to breathe and morph with every show became essential. A few reviews of Trap's performances: "This eclectic-chamber-rock trio von Trap performed live for the first time in 99' up the west coast supporting groups such as French TV, Absolute Zero with drummer Pip Pyle and shared the bill with Cloud Chamber. All shows received favorable response. Peter Thelen of Expose writes, "...they move effortlessly from tight chamber into full blown chaotic madness, having a lot of fun doing it ... a dizzying array of tight compositions...". von Trap continues the tradition of Rock In Opposition's musical cartel exchange, as in the La Paloma show where Mike Sary of French TV played bass for the Trap set and von Warren Dale performed keys & woodwind duties for FTV's set. At the SF performance the members of von Trap joined Absolute Zero for an encore. Both events were something to witness. Live, von Trap performs songs from "Beyond the Status Quo" CD, excerpts from the 1st Cartoon album and songs from their upcoming CD "Insurrection", plus wonderfully comical ethnic-acoustic pieces."

There is frequently an ear shunned by the pre-conceived improvisation tracks placed with purpose in-between the virtuoso compositions on 'Insurrection'. One should enjoy the space with humor. These tracks are perceived as noise by the listener who just doesn't get the depth of humor on Trap's 'Insurrection' CD.

Warren being crowned assistant dean of music at San Diego State the summer of 2001 allowed access where Trap would record and use the massive array of percussion instruments used for 'Insurrection'. Each song has its unique instrumentation and ambience to enhance the individual track. There is a spacious ambience from the hall on the pre-conceived improvisation tracks recorded on 'Insurrection', hence the variety of production ambience throughout the album. Warren digitally recorded, mixed and produced 'Insurrection' on his own mobile system at various locations capturing the co-compositions. He also gave us a feeling of non- constraint with the "ticking clock syndrome" for the ever costly recording studio. The amount of tracks with percussion, strings and keyboards are a testament, staying true to form, of 'real un-sampled instrumentation' on the complete 'Insurrection' album. Every note, sample or noise on 'Insurrection' was a well thought out sound placement from the core trio.

(Biography provided by Gary Parra)read more