We had quite a few people at different times including just about everyone of our friends tried out on vocals . On the songs currently on the site Pat Grindstaff is doing the vocals (for one reason or another the few times we did record on a 4 track, Shane wasn't in the band or something...). But the main line up was:
Shane "Skeeno" Larson - Vocals
Pat "OC" Grindstaff - Guitar/Vocals
Jody "Z Dog" Elzey - Bass
Pat "Shout" Lampo - Drums
Former members: Dennis Merritt, Jim Lund, Paul Mittlestead, Skeeter and others at various times.
Eron Daniels: the official keeper of Death Trap songs and other history! He had songs that most of us didn't even have anymore!!
Influences
We were influenced by the 80's: Repoman, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, New Wave, Skateboarding, Ronald Reagan, he made hardcore punk what it was in the USA during the 80's, just one more thing to hate!!! Punk Rock from the 70's we loved but it was the hardcore punk of the 80's that made bored kids from the middle of nowhere feel we found something that spoke to us.
All 80's American Hardcore:
Nardcore/L.A/O.C/S.F/Bay Area/D.C/NYC/Mid West/Texas.
M.A.D/BL'AST!, CIRCLE JERKS, BLACK FLAG, WASTED YOUTH, ADOLESCENTS, SOCIAL DISTORTION, AGENT ORANGE, YOUTH BRIGADE, D.I, AGRESSION, DR. KNOW, ILL REPUTE, STALAG 13, A.H.C, CRUCIFIX, SOCIAL UNREST, DEAD KENNEDY'S, BAD POSTURE, URBAN ASSAULT S.F., CODE OF HONOR, BATTALION OF SAINTS, MINOR THREAT, GOVERNMENT ISSUE, S.O.A, BAD BRAINS, FAITH, VOID, SCREAM, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, DRI, VERBAL ABUSE, SICK PLEASURE, URBAN ASSAULT/TAHOE, CAPITOL PUNSHIMENT, OFFENDERS, ROACH MOTEL, AGNOSTIC FRONT, URBAN WASTE, ANTIDOTE, NEGATIVE APPROACH, TOXIC REASONS, NECROS, N.O.T.A as well as Canadian and some UK hardcore and many many more!
Sounds Like
3 chord hardcore punk rock!! RAMONES meets CIRCLE JERKS!
Wanna play in DEATH TRAP? Musicians Wanted!! If you enjoy 70's Punk Rock and early 80's hardcore punk get in touch!!! Ramones to Circle Jerks, Regulations to Government Warning is the style I'm going for. If you're in the Bay Area/Santa Cruz send me a message!
Maximum Rock n Roll number 32 DEATH TRAP interview, pretty funny, not sure what the hell I was talking about half the time!
Death Trap was around from 1983-1986 in King City California, we started out as DISTORTED YOUTH (82/83) for about a year before changing the name to Death Trap. King City is a small agriculture town in the south end of Monterey County or basically in the middle of fucking no where! Death Trap was the first hardcore/punk band in King City and probably the surrounding area. We were very sloppy 3 chord punk and we played it the way we thought it was meant to be played. At first we mainly just practiced and played a few local parties. The local following was pretty much the band and 6 or so close friends. King City had a high school rodeo team and plenty of shit kickers to go a long with it so they didn't take to kindly to our music or us. So we wrote a song just for them called "NO HICKS". Eventually I made contact with a promoter from San Jose and a few other contacts and we played shows in Fresno, San Jose and Santa Cruz a few times. We never put anything out or were never on any compilations or anything. We were in Maximum Rock n Roll issue ..32 and a small piece in a earlier issue. The nearest town with any punk rock was at least 1.5 hours away from us.
Later on Death Trap turned into Second Chance for less then a year but in that time played the famous GILMAN STREET PROJECT in late 1987 or early 88, can't remember exactly, it was with the HICKOIDS from Texas and a show with AGRESSION and D.I in San Luis Obispo
Here's a list of some of the bands DEATH TRAP played with: Harsh Reality, Vicious Bunnies, Caustic Notions, Social Distortion, Vandals, Dr. Know, Capitol Punishment, Mistaken Idenity, Insurgency, Legion Of Doom, Ribzy, MIA, Doggy Style, Subterfuge, Justice League, Social Unrest, Battalion Of Saints, RKL, A.O.D, BL'AST!, D.O.A, Death Sentence, Pariah, Possessed, Death Angel (yep thrash metal!!)and a few I can't remember.
thanx for the add! I really like this early 80s American Punk-Sound you do! I drove my parents insane playing that stuff when I was a kid :) Greetings from Berlin. Jens
The new issue of Juice Magazine - Issue 66 - featuring ANDY KESSLER (R.I.P.) skating the streets of NYC on the cover (Photo by Ivory Serra) is available now. www.juicemagazine.com.
JUICE MAGAZINE ISSUE 66 features:
ANDY KESSLER interview by STEVE OLSON BEBE BUELL interview by STEVE OLSON BOOTSY COLLINS interview by STEVE OLSON CRAIG JOHNSON interview by JIM MURPHY FRITZ MEAD interview by JIM MURPHY KALANI DAVID interview by JAY ADAMS MIKE WEED interview by STEVE OLSON NATAS KAUPAS interview by STEVE OLSON OMAR SALAZAR interview by STEVE OLSON PAUL SCHMITT interview by STEVE OLSON PETER GUNN interview by MARK "RED" SCOTT and THE CONFESSOR ROB PALMER interview by JIM MURPHY SCOTT CAAN interview by STEVE OLSON JACK GRISHAM of T.S.O.L. interview by STEVE OLSON TIM JACKSON interview by AARON MURRAY WADE SPEYER interview by JIM MURPHY YANIV EVAN interview by STEVE OLSON VENICE SK8 WALL OF FAME features interviews with AARON “FINGERS” MURRAY, BART SARIC, BOB "THE BULLET" BINIAK, C.R. STEYCK III, CESARIO “BLOCK” MONTANO, CHRISTIAN HOSOI, CHUCK KATZ, CRIS DAWSON, DANNY BEARER, DOUG SMITH, ERIC “TUMA” BRITTON, ERIC DRESSEN, GEORGE WILSON, GER-I LEWIS, JAMES "RED DOG" MUIR, JEFF HO, JOEY TRAN, JOSH “BAGEL” KLASSMAN, LANCE LEMOND, MARK MUNSKI, JAY ADAMS, JEF HARTSEL, JESSE MARTINEZ, KELLY JACKSON, PAT BAREIS, PAUL CONSTANTINEAU, PAUL HOFFMAN, PEGGY OKI, RAY FLORES, SKIP ENGBLOM, SUSANNE MELANIE BERRY, TIM JACKSON, WENTZLE RUML IV, WES HUMPSTON.
Wanna play in DEATH TRAP? Musicians Wanted!! If you enjoy 70's Punk Rock and early 80's hardcore punk get in touch!!! Ramones to Circle Jerks, Regulations to Government Warning is the style I'm going for. If you're in the Bay Area/Santa Cruz send me a message!
