SCOTTISH EXPOSURE | BOX OF TRASH | INTERVIEW

They may have only released their first single last November but this Scottish quartet, they are far from amateurs. With years of established experience between them, Box of Trash are racing towards something special. They released their incredible debut album Candlewood 230 earlier this year are already securing support slots with no other than the Rev himself – Reverend and the Makers.

This weekend, Box of Trash have taken a road trip down south to perform at Sheffield’s Tramlines Fringe festival alongside some of the best up and coming bands in the country. Of course, we couldn’t resist the opportunity for a quick chat so over to them.

For those who don’t know you, can you tell us who are Box of Trash?

Box of Trash consists of 4 members who are Barry Fisher-Lead Guitarist, Lyle Kennedy- Lead Vocalist, Jordan McKee- Drummer and Aiden Davidson- Bassist.

Can you fill us in a bit of your musical background? You have all played in other bands before, is that right?

We have all played in different bands before, Barry and Jordan most notably were members of Ayrshire band The Tripps and Savalas, Lyle was in Ranzas and Aiden was in The Shengies. Box Of Trash was initially a side project for Lyle and Barry whilst they were in their respective bands at the time but became more serious after the bands had split.

Congratulations on your debut album Candlewood 230 release in March, how has the reception been so far?

Thank you, it has been a surreal experience to be honest. To put your heart, soul, time, blood sweat and tears into something and receive a positive response from people across the world is incredible. We’ve got a handful of CD’s of the album left that we’ve been selling online and at gigs and we’re looking to get more in the near future. We’re also running campaign for to get the album on Vinyl which we need 100 presaves for it before 26th August 23, so if anyone is in a position to purchase a vinyl then go presave now! The link is on our socials.

How did you come to recording your debut album at this early stage in the bands career? Why did you feel it was the right time?

There was a point after lockdown where Barry was session bassist for a band down south who happened to be signed with a Chicago based label ‘Thirdfire Records’ who came across to the UK to record their album. Barry stayed in the same accommodation as Joan from the label where they shared their music interests and Joan heard some demos of Box Of Trash from Barry’s phone. After the recording week, Joan asked Barry to send him the full list of demos which included our song ‘Spaceman’, this is when things changed for us as Joan really liked this song and from there decided that he wanted to sign us to his record label. It went from side project to very serious in just a few weeks which was exciting but nerve racking at the same time. This was the perfect time for us as we’d built up a vast backlog of songs and we were well practiced on so it was a case of picking the right songs that fitted the album structure which aligned with our vision and also the labels vision. We flew out to Chicago in September 2022 for 10 days and recorded the album there at the ‘Thirdfire Records’ studio in Elgin. The album name was born here, ‘Candlewood’ which was the hotel we stayed in and the room number ‘230’.

Are you still writing right now for future projects? What’s that process like just now?

Our creativeness sort of took a break in order for us to focus on the album being released but now that it’s out there we have certainly got back on to the right track of writing. We’ve managed to put 3 new songs into our set for upcoming gigs. We’ve got a backlog too of old songs and fresher newer ones for either and EP or the 2nd album.

If you were to be compared to another band around right now, where do you think Box of Trash would fit in?

This is a very good question and one we’ve discussed many times and find it difficult to place us or compare us to a genre or other band. We kind of touch on psychedelic rock and roll but it’s not a very insightful description, I think there’s that many influences in our music that you can pick sections out and say that’s similar to for example Arctic Monkeys and this bit is Stone Roses and this intro is Black Sabbath and here’s a bit of Redwalls, our music is a concoction of what inspires us as musicians and songwriters.

What are you looking forward to achieving this year? What’s on the horizon?

Definitely new music and gigging. We play Sheffields Tramlines Fringe festival on Saturday 22nd July which is free then we support The Shed Project in Glasgow at Audio on 29th July which is £8, there’s still tickets available at the moment, we’re hoping that it’s a sell out. We have a list of songs that we want to record and release as an EP so I think once the gigging has simmered then we will get stuck straight into recording that.

You’re playing alongside some great up and coming bands this weekend at Sheffield’s the Tramlines Fringe, are there any artists you’re keen to check out?

The line up is class, we’re only down on the Saturday and back up to Scotland on the Sunday so we’re hoping to catch as many bands posisble in that time frame.

7. Finally, something light heartened. Most likely to…

Show up late to band practice? Aiden

Cry at a sad movie? Aiden

Run up the highest bar tab? Aiden

Go on Love Island? Aiden

Cheat at Monopoly? Aiden

Leave the band to raise sheep? Lyle

Box of Trash will play the Away Days Radio stage takeover at Network Sheffield’s Tramlines Fringe on Saturday 22nd July 3.20pm (indoor stage) and return to support The Shed Project in Glasgow 29th July at Audio.

Stream here

CD here

Pre-order Vinyl here