The Trash Can Sinatras

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The Trash Can Sinatras, now generally known as Trashcan Sinatras, are a Scottish band that was formed in Irvine, Scotland in 1986. The band's music makes frequent use of wordplay and pop harmonies.

History

Formation

The Trashcan Sinatras were founded as a covers band. The band members knew each other from school or met through the club/pub music scene in Irvine. The band name was derived from a school music class, where students improvised on various 'instruments'. After banging on some trash cans, someone mentioned Frank Sinatra and the band name was born. The original band members included Frank Reader (bass), Davy Hughes (guitar and vocals), George McDaid (guitar) and Paul Forde (drums). By late 1986/early 1987, the line-up had changed to include Paul Livingston (guitar), John Douglas (guitar) and Stephen Douglas (drums), along with Frank Reader moving to vocals and Davy Hughes to bass. While the band has included other members for short periods of time over the years, this is the line-up that would record the bulk of the Trashcan Sinatras' music to date.

Cake era

The band was spotted performing in a pub by Simon Dine in 1987 and quickly signed to Go! Discs. Using their signing advance, the band purchased a recording studio in Kilmarnock, naming it Shabby Road. Work began on their debut album, which was eventually released in 1990. Cake featured the band's largest worldwide hit single, "Obscurity Knocks" as well as a couple other alternative music hits ("Only Tongue Can Tell" and "Circling the Circumference"). The band were often compared to The Smiths and the success of Cake in the United States, where it spent three months in the Billboard 200, led to extensive touring in both the UK and North America in support of the album.^[1]

I've Seen Everything era

The follow-up record, I've Seen Everything was released in 1993. The song "Hayfever" made an appearance on the MTV animated series, Beavis and Butt-head. The band released two singles ("Hayfever" and "I've Seen Everything") and toured the UK, North America and Japan in support of the album.

A Happy Pocket era

The band's third album A Happy Pocket followed in 1996. AHP was released in the UK and Japan, but was unavailable in the U.S. after the band's American distributor declined to release the record. The band released four singles from AHP ("The Main Attraction", "Twisted and Bent", "How Can I Apply...?" and "To Sir, With Love", a cover of the 1967 Lulu #1 hit). The Trashcans did not tour in North America, only the UK and Japan.

After their record company Go! Discs was acquired by Universal in 1996, the band was dropped from the label, and subsequently forced to sell their Shabby Road recording studio and declare bankruptcy. The Trashcans kept a low profile in the following years, not playing any concerts until early 1999 (in Japan and Ireland). The Japanese concerts occurred at the same time the band was recording a new single, "Snow" (a cover of the Randy Newman song), which was released by Sony Japan in December 1999.

Weightlifting era

In March 2000, the band set up camp in Hartford, Connecticut to record their fourth album. Between March and June, the band recorded around a dozen songs and played a handful of shows in the northeastern United States, their first shows in America since 1993. After returning to Scotland, the band decided to scrap the album as too dark and somber (a reflection of their struggles over the past few years), also feeling that the song writing was not really finished.^{[citation needed]}

The band only performed four concerts in in the UK in 2001, instead focusing on writing additional songs and recording demos for their fourth album. In March 2002, recording began at Riverside Studios in Glasgow. The band recorded a dozen songs on and off over the course of a year. In 2003, the band started to raise its profile by playing concerts and festivals in Scotland. They hired New York based record producer and musician Andy Chase (of the band Ivy) to mix the new album tracks, which was completed by the end of the year.

With a new album ready for release, the Trashcans stepped up their activity in 2004. The band played in Spain and London, before heading to the United States in March. They appeared on the Morning Becomes Eclectic radio show with Nic Harcourt in March, the day of their sold out show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles California (their first appearance on the west coast of the U.S. in 11 years). From there, the band headed off to Austin, Texas for five appearances at the South by Southwest music festival. The Trashcans garnered quite a bit of press (Billboard staffers named the Trashcans one of the top 10 acts at SXSW^{[citation needed]}) and record label attention, which led to a licensing deal with New York based spinART Records.

The Trashcan Sinatras finally released their fourth album in August, 2004. Weightlifting was warmly received by critics and the band completed a 25 date U.S. and Canada tour in September and October 2004. They had follow up U.S. tours in December 2004 and in April and May 2005, while also extensively touring Scotland, England, Ireland, Japan and Australia during 2004-2006. The Weightlifting album included the song "All the Dark Horses", which was featured prominently in the premier episode of the ABC Family Channel series Wildfire.

In The Music era

The band recently completed their upcoming fifth album, titled In the Music. Fourteen songs were recorded between 15 November 2007 and 8 December 2007 with producer Andy Chase at Stratosphere Sound in New York. This was followed up with recording sessions in Martha's Vineyard in January and February 2008, and Stratosphere Sound in New York in March and May 2008. In July 2008, Carly Simon recorded backing vocals for the song "Should I Pray?". The album was released in the UK in the fall of 2009, and is expected to be released in the US in the spring of 2010. A single, "Oranges and Apples", was released as a download-only single on 13 October 2008. The song was inspired by Syd Barrett, one of the founding members of Pink Floyd. The single was released in connection with The City Wakes, a festival taking place in Cambridge and London in October 2008. The festival is a tribute to Barrett and intended to raise funds and awareness for mental health issues and the arts. The band is donating proceeds from the download to the Syd Barrett charitable trust.

Universal Records is planning a re-release of the band's back catalogue for early 2009. This release will include the band's first three albums, b-sides, and Weightlifting.

Other activity

In 1998, the band recorded a song "Duty Free" under the pseudonym The Cat Protection League. The song was included on a compilation of local Kilmarnock/Irvine-area artists as part of a university music class project.

John Douglas wrote "Wild Mountainside", which was recorded by Eddi Reader for her 2003 album Eddi Reader Sings the Songs of Robert Burns. This song was later recorded by the Trashcans and released as an EP in 2005. John Douglas wrote two songs, "Should I Pray?" and "Prisons", which appear on Eddi Reader's 2007 album Peacetime. The Trashcans have also recorded these songs for their upcoming fifth album.

In 2006, Francis Reader sang a cover of the The Beatles' "Got To Get You Into My Life", which was featured in an advertisement campaign for the U.S. telecommunications company Qwest Communications.

The band collaborated with writer Ali Smith on the song "Half an Apple", for the album Ballads of the Book, released in March 2007.

Reader also contributed vocals in 2007 to Kevin Ayers' album The Unfairground.

Members

• Stephen Douglas (drums, vocals)
• Francis Reader (vocals, acoustic guitar)
• Paul Livingston (lead guitar)
• John Douglas (rhythm guitar, vocals)
• Davy Hughes (bass) - 1986, 1992-1996, 2001-2005

Session/touring members

• Roddy Hart (keyboards, acoustic guitar) - 2003-2005
• Stevie Mulhearn (keyboards) - 1998-2000, 2006-2008
• Jody Stoddard (guitar) - 2007
• Grant Wilson (bass) - 1998-2000, 2002-2003, 2006-2008

Former members

• George McDaid (bass) 1986, 1989-1991. Now an English teacher at Largs Academy in Scotland.

Discography

Albums

• Cake (1990)
• I've Seen Everything (1993)
• A Happy Pocket (1996)
• Zebra of the Family (demos/alternate takes/unreleased songs) (2003)
• Weightlifting (2004)
• Fez (live - unplugged) (2005)
• Midnight at the Troubadour (DVD) (2006)
• in the music (2009)

EPs

• Obscurity Knocks (EP) (1990)
• Only Tongue Can Tell (EP) (1990)
• Circling the Circumference (EP) (1990)
• Hayfever (EP) (1993)
• I've Seen Everything (EP) (1993)
• The Main Attraction (EP) (1996)
• Twisted and Bent (EP) (1996)
• How Can I Apply (EP) (1996)
• To Sir with Love (EP) (1996)
• Snow (EP) (Trash Can Sinatras) (1999)
• Weightlifting (EP) (2004)
• Wild Mountainside (EP) (2005)
• Snow (EP) re-release with DVD (2006)
• "Oranges and Apples" (download single) (2008)

Singles

Albums

References

External links

• Trashcan Sinatras official site
• Trashcan Sinatras at MySpace
• 2005 interview with The Trashcan Sinatras
• Trashcan Sinatras collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
• Streaming MP3/Video of the 12/9/04 live set on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic