Grownup Trouble: Local Hoons who Play as Hard as they Drink
NadaMucho.com Interview – Grownup Trouble
Q&A with Aaron Andrews, Jed Callarman and Brent Lorang
By Garth Highsmith, the Godfather of Seattle Twang
Grownup Trouble is a homegrown Seattle country phenomenon that rocks out country and western tunes with an attitude that recalls Hank Williams Jr., Waylon Jennings, and the broken dreams of Nashville’s latest crop of tepid “outlaw” country bands. The band features Aaron Andrews on bass, songwriter Jed Callarman on guitar, Brent Lorang on vocals, and Rob Sin on the drums.
Using 21st-Century technology, I spoke with the band over email. Topics ranged from public urination to their upcoming full-length album to the demise of the Stanwood Tavern. Curiously, I forgot to ask them about their September 1 appearance on NadaMucho.com’s monthly “See it First” showcase at Neumos.
NadaMucho.com: So, what’s a “Hoon?”
Aaron Andrews: The complete definition is in our EP release of the same name. But for the sake of readers, if you should become snot-flyin’ drunk, inevitably talking over everyone and making a complete ass of yourself, people might call you Hoon.
Jed Callarman: What Aaron said, but also, if you bring a half-rack of PBR, we’ll call you Hoon, too.
NM: How would you sum up the band to folks who’ve never seen or heard of y’all before?
Band: Rocked up honky tonk rough-and-ready country with AC/DC attitude.
Brent Lorang: It ain’t pop country, it’s what you’d hear at an old time honky-tonk somewhere, with peanut shells on the floor and a mechanical bull. But we play as hard as we drink, and you’ll see guys in mohawks rockin’ out to GUT as likely as you’d see a cowboy trying to do a two-step.
NM: Word on the street has it that the band is recording in the fair city of Renton. Is there a new album in the works and can we expect a new word to shout during shows?
AA: Yes, a full length is on the way. It wasn’t intentional to coin a term in the first place–we’re not exactly smart enough for that–so don’t look for another.
JC: But you never know.
BL: Shitchyeah! If someone knocks over a beer on stage again, it might happen!
NM: Also, Renton? Is it because of the western wear store?
AA: Nah, cause we can piss in the bushes.
BL: Actually, it’s in Kent … where we can piss in the bushes!
JC: We can piss in the bushes? I have been going over the fence.
NM: Do you think that the publicity surrounding the new Dukes of Hazzard movie will spur interest in the original show and thus interest in Waylon Jennings and thus interest in outlaw country in general and thus massive popular interest in present-day outlaw country bands and thus lead Grownup Trouble on to international superstardom and fat, fat checks from the record companies?
JC: Yes.
BL: Definitely.
AA: Hoons! It’s no secret Waylon is a favorite of ours, but people should appreciate him anyway. Likewise, we hope folks enjoy us for what we do, but if Jessica Simpson wants to be in our first video, we can work with that!http://www.radionationals.com/main.html
NM: Who are your dream bands to share a bill with? Deceased or imaginary musicians are acceptable.
Band: Waylon, for damn sure. AC/DC with Bon Scott, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Carpenters.
JC: Willie, Waylon, Hank, Merle, Steve Earle, the list goes on …
NM: More realistically, who are your favorite local bands?
AA: There are lots of great local bands . Do you mean just country bands? We saw Knut Bell in Edison and he puts on a great show. So do Chuckanut Drive, The Swains, Souvenirs … oh, and go see Radio Nationals before their last show. Also look out for Diesel Truckers, West Valley Highway, Dry County Crooks, and Hard Money Saints … too many to name, really!
NM: What will the band be doing to mark the final show at the Stanwood Hotel? (The Stanwood hosted its last show August 27).
AA: We’re real unhappy that there has to be a final show, and we’re none too happy that we have to miss it because of being in the studio, but we’ll hold a moment of silence and then shotgun a PBR.
JC: Recording special songs for (longtime local punk bookers and Stanwood Hotel owners) Trash and Tami! And one of us will actually make it up there; we can’t let it go by without paying proper respect to the Stanwood. It’s been one of the mainstays of support for great local bands.
Grownup Trouble Live
NM: Anything else?
AA: It’s been a great year for us already, and we’re looking forward to getting our full-length out and playing more shows.
JC: Yeah, it’s been great, and we’ve been having a shitload of fun, especially meeting new folks at shows and really feeling the support of people like Trash and Tami, Don Slack at KEXP, Kurt Reighley at the Stranger, Matt at NadaMucho, and all the folks at the venues we’ve played. We’ve made some great friends being up at Stanwood and being able to share the stage with other great bands.
BL: We play because it’s fun and it’s what we love to do. And being in a band with some of your best friends just makes it so much more satisfying when good things start to happen. We may be Hoons, but we work hard, drink hard, play hard, and put on a kickass show.
AA: And we have a shitload of fun doing it.