Kevin Palmer: Vocals/Guitar

Jason Singleton: Drums

James Fukai: Guitar

Joshua Moates: Bass

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Bio Courtesy of www.trustcompanyband.com!

Band Pic

Trust Company

The strangest stories are always the true ones. Eight years ago, Kevin Palmer (vox, guitar) and Jason Singleton (drums) started making music together in Montgomery, Alabama. Montgomery has no track record whatsoever for cultural productivity in American history, and to hear Trust Company’s music today is to understand the desperate frustration born out of eight years of toiling in abject obscurity. Aching melodies soar over an even mix of chord changes and riffing reminiscent of the Deftones, Tool, Sunny Day Real Estate, and even Led Zeppelin. Backed by a velvet wall of saturated guitars, heavy-handed drumming, and a bottomless low-end, Kevin‘s longing vocals boil from the soft and breathy into the occasionally voracious.

Over the years, Josh Moates joined in on bass and James Fukai was added on guitar. During this time, the band was called 41down, and after years on the road laboring from Houston to Orlando and selling through their first two self-released albums, 41down finally achieved the attention of record label DCide. After witnessing the band and their rabid following during a November, 2000, performance on an opening slot in Birmingham, AL, DCide jumped at the chance to uncover this dusty diamond. The band was hustled into the studio with producers Jeff Blando (guitarist for Slaughter, Saigon Kick) and Will Hunt (drummer for Skrape, Tommy Lee) by the following February, only 2 days after a record deal was reached. The finished album, “True Parallels”, was to be released in January of 2002, but the band’s story began accelerating at a blistering pace.

Radio stations in Florida and Georgia picked up tracks from the band’s unreleased CD and began playing them in August, 2001. Listeners responded, and the band was added to WTKX’s radio festival in Pensacola with the likes of Godsmack. This caught the attention of major labels, and when they got hold of the music the feeding frenzy began. In the meantime, 41down had the meager tour support of an indie label, and collectively pooled their resources and debts to buy a van and trailer so as to tour full time. Kevin sold his home, Josh sold his jeep, and whatever the 4 members couldn’t fit in the van was dropped off in the homes of parents. Whenever opportunity has presented itself, the band has always made every possible sacrifice to move their collective career forward.

By October of 2001, the game was on. In a three week period in the middle of their first national tour, the band made three separate trips to New York and two more to LA in order to showcase for major labels. During this time, they hooked up with manager Jeff Rabhan (Michelle Branch) at The Firm, and Jeff was instrumental in securing a deal with Jordan Schur at Geffen. In keeping with their breakneck speed, the band was in the studio with Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Eve 6, Lit) by the end of November, remaking their debut album for Geffen. As the rough mixes reveal, Don and the band worked together beautifully, and we eagerly await Andy Wallace’s (Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine) mixes.

Reborn under the name Trust Company, the band is already out on tour with Puddle Of Mudd, only a year after signing with DCide and less than 6 months after moving to Geffen. Nothing is supposed to happen this quickly in the music business, but few bands bring a work ethic and a willingness to risk everything in order to succeed. By bringing this attitude to the table, the gracious members of Trust Company inspire the people around them to do the same.

Bio Courtesy of mtv.com!

Trust Company

This Alabama-based quartet consists of frontman Kevin Palmer (guitars/vocals), James Fukai (guitars), Josh Moates (bass) and Jason Singleton (drums). When Palmer and Singleton first joined musical forces nearly a decade ago, they were teenagers tinkering with the crash and grind of heavy-as-Helmet guitars. Moates came into the fold a few years later, and Fukai rounded out the quartet in early 2000. Then called 41 Down, the band performed local shows in Montgomery, Alabama to an ever-widening fan base. With two self-released albums to their credit, they were offered a deal by Washington D.C.-based DCide Records--$1000 a month in tour support. DCide chose Orlando-based guitarist Jeff Blando and drummer Will Hunt to record the band's label debut. The two are best known for their work as musicians--Blando in rock outfits Slaughter and Saigon Kick, and Hunt in Tommy Lee and Skrape--but the duo gave the riff-based, power-driving quartet an accessible air that had breakthrough potential. With their DCide debut, the band criss-crossed the country, showcasing for labels in New York and Los Angeles. Enter Geffen Records President and Flip Records mastermind Jordan Schur. One of the pivotal players in the modern rock scene, Schur is responsible for introducing America to the likes of Limp Bizkit, Puddle Of Mudd, Staind and Cold, and within hours of witnessing Trust Company in Los Angeles, he signed the band to Geffen Records in late 2001. The band found itself in the studio re-recording their release with Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Lit, Eve 6) by early November, and by the end of the year had handed the album over to Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine) for mixing. Little more than six months after signing with DCide, Trust Company were poised to make their mark, and did so by touring America with Puddle of Mudd.


Trust Company


Bio Courtesy of trustcompanyband.com!

No man is an island, and everything seems to take a village these days. In the case of TRUSTcompany, it seemingly took a nation to put together their major-label debut, The Lonely Position of Neutral, one of the most exciting rock debuts of the year (the single TK is already getting TK at radio even before the album's release). Below, a road map to the TRUSTcompany story...

Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama was the original home of Rosa Parks, an African-American woman whose refusal to give up her seat on a public bus to a Caucasian man sparked the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott, which proved to be the beginning of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. As well, some ten years ago in sweet home Alabama, the nucleus of what would become TRUSTcompany formed when singer-guitarist Kevin Palmer and drummer Jason Singleton met as teenagers with a mutual interest in making loud noises. A few years later, bassist Josh Moates joined the fold, and in 2000 second guitarist James Fukai completed the quartet. "We don't really have a 'lead' guitarist, but if we had to peg someone, it would be James," Palmer says. "But we don't call it lead, we call it... texture." FYI--despite the Alabama association, TRUSTcompany sound nothing like Lynyrd Skynyrd....

Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. is our nation's capital, home to our Federal Government, including our President George W. Bush. As well, after TRUSTcompany self-released two indie albums, Washington, D.C.-based DCide Records (DC, DCide--geddit?) signed the band, giving them $1,000 a month in tour support. The loud-soft guitar rifferama and impassioned vocals on tracks like "Falling Apart" also suggest the influence of classic D.C. post-punkers Fugazi....

Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida is the home of the popular tourist destination Walt Disney World. It's also the location where The Lonely Position of Neutral was originally recorded by producers Jeff Blando and Will Hunt, who moonlight, respectively, as guitarist in hair-metal mainstays Slaughter and Saigon Kick, and drummer for Tommy Lee and Skrape. FYI--despite the Florida association, TRUSTcompany sound nothing like Lynyrd Skynyrd....

New York City, New York
New York City was the host of the 1960 World's Fair. It's also the birthplace of one of TRUSTcompany's key influences: the brutally heavy guitar experimentalists Helmet, who tasted alt-rock success in the early '90s grunge explosion with albums like In The Meantime. "We were very Helmet when we had three members, but then the melody started to really come in," Kevin Palmer explains.

Los Angeles, California
One of America's most popular presidents, Ronald Reagan, found success as an actor in Los Angeles before beginning a teflon political career. L.A. was also the home of a successful TRUSTcompany gig in late 2001, which caught the attention of Geffen Records President/Flip Records founder Jordan Schur--the man responsible for discovering the likes of Limp Bizkit, Puddle of Mudd, and Staind. In the hours after the band plays, Schur signs the band, taking over their DCide Records contract. Schur then puts the band in the studio with producer Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Lit, Eve 6) and mixer Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Jeff Buckley, Rage Against The Machine).

"The Road," Anywhereville U.S.A.
More a state of mind than a state per se, "The Road" has proven to be a haven of literary influence, inspiring great works of art ranging from Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home" to the acclaimed film Almost Famous. As well, since early in TRUSTcompanys career "The Road" also proved to be the band's second home. "In Alabama, there aren't any clubs for bands to play in," explains Kevin Palmer. "Actually, the last concert to come here was, like, Cinderella and White Lion," adds Josh Moates. As a result, the band took to playing anywhere but Alabama. "We all worked, so even though we'd play out of town every weekend, we'd only drive as far as we could make it and still get back for our jobs on Monday," says Moates. And they didn't exactly do the drive in style. "We were in this white cargo van with no air conditioning," recalls guitarist James Fukai, "and two of us would sit in the back in a lawn chair and an old antique chair I stole from a roommate. We'd all be in our boxers, sweating like pigs. That's how we'd drive for 12 hours." Since their first record company, DCide Records, began giving them $1,000 a month in tour support, TRUSTcompany has been travelling "The Road" ever since, including opening stints with Puddle of Mudd. "We thought most of their fans were going to be their early, waiting up front to hear 'Blurry' and 'Control,' but we knew we were doing something right when we started seeing bodies rising above the crowd," says Singleton. "Being a new band, we didn't expect a lot of people to be receptive to us, and at the start of every show, they did all look at us like, 'Huh?' But by the end of the set, there were always a few mosh pits here and there."

Heartbreak, U.S.A.
From Elvis Presley to Fred Durst, Heartbreak has found its way into many a popular song. TRUSTcompanys residence in Heartbreak is made clear in Kevin Palmer's emotive vocals and confessional lyrics. "I went through a really, really bad time when we were doing this record, and most of the album is touching on all of that," says Palmer. "The basic picture is pretty obvious, and people who read the lyrics are going to get that."

Rock City, U.S.A.
With their unforgettable blend of alt-guitar crunch and sinuous melody, Rock City is the place that TRUSTcompany truly reside. "We love big riffs, and we're definitely riff-oriented, but we also love good choruses," says Palmer.

Rolling Stone Review of TRUSTcompany!

This hard-rock foursome from the unlikely town of Montgomery, Alabama, looks like Linkin Park but defies expectations by mixing aggressive grunge metal with wispy vocals, inward-looking lyrics and cotton-candy harmonies. Singer-guitarist Kevin Palmer gets as pissed as his wound-baring peers but more often does it with a whisper than with a scream. The instrumental stuff adheres to modern-rock-radio conventions: Linkin Park/Lit/Eve 6 producer Don Gilmore oversees Neutral's eleven catchy but sound-alike tracks. Yet the singing's understatement and harmonic sophistication help the band transcend overblown corporate rock and embrace sensitive emo pop. A little more trust and a lot less company would make a good thing better. BARRY WALTERS (RS 902 - August 8, 2002)