Being young and famous is a beautiful disaster: living out your prime in a bubble of sex, drugs, stale cigarettes and, well, rock 'n' roll. When "Headstrong" took to the charts of mainstream radio dials across the nation last year, something clicked, and Trapt's quartet was sucked into the vacuum of celebrity.
But nothing comes without a price. One platinum record does not mean security in an industry where fallen warriors don't go to Valhalla; they go to the Crazy Girls strip club in Los Angeles for booze and girls. Yet optimism is still the moniker of everyone who has ever dreamed of being a superstar.
It's sophomore album time for Trapt and this is make-or-break time.
"We had 19 or 20 years to write the last record," said Peter Charell, Trapt's soft-spoken bassist.
But now, for Trapt, that time has quickly faded and has been replaced by the pressure of an industry dealing with change.
"You don't exactly have all of the time in the world to pick the best 11 songs for the next record," Charell continued.
And aside from three songs that the band has finished, a track on the soundtrack for the "Punisher" movie, and the b-sides from its first effort, Trapt is, well, trapped, on tour through the end of the summer.
Nonetheless, the attitude in its camp is nothing but positive. And why not? The band members are living a dream.
"I always knew I wanted to do this [play in a band]," Charell said. "You don't really think it's going to happen. It's always been like a dream."
Thankfully for Trapt, the pitfalls major labels have faced as of late have had little effect on them.
"A lot of labels are going through some problems right now. A lot of people are getting fired. But all of the people we have working with us seem to be pretty solid," said Charell, of Trapt's label, Warner Bros. Records.
Warner Bros. Records has been in the news recently after its purchase by the Ed Bronfman group, leading to nearly 1,000 job cuts and catalyzing the condensing of Atlantic and Elektra records into one label.
"Echoes," the band's third single, is receiving solid airplay and is currently charting at No. 16 on Billboard's Top 25 Mainstream Rock Tracks. Trapt's future, though it is dependent upon a solid sophomore record, looks very promising. Though they may never jump beyond being identified as that "'Headstrong' band," a label Charell despises, the dream looks as if it will continue for now.
