Trashed Ambulance took the time out of their busy schedule from posting embarrassing videos. Let’s see what they have to say!
First off, What’s up with your name? Is there a story behind it?
Trashed is arguably one of the greatest records of all time by Lagwagon so why not name a band after it? Ambulances are cool and it’s sad when they get trashed. The name is a metaphor for the fragile human condition or it’s just too words that sounded cool together. The mystery prevails!
Tell us about your musical past, would you tell us about your early years?
My parents bought me a bass when I was about 13 and I had big plans to create the greatest band in the world with my friends. Naturally, we sucked ass and none of us wanted to play drums. Finally, one of us relented and by the time we were in grade 12, we had a band called Gworbachev. Writing dumb punk songs became a passion and when I moved from Saskatchewan to Alberta, I reconnected with the guitar player from our highschool band and we played in such bands as Fridge or Freezer?, Chimp Change, and now Trashed Ambulance. He didn’t last long in Trashed as he wanted to spend more time with his family and less time in smelly punk venues but the band carried on! Jason (Ozone) grew up on the beautiful Island of Edward the Prince and played in Chimp Change with Josh so it’s easy to keep making music together. Riley (Rikey) spent his formative years in Oshawa, Ontario and is a great drummer so who wouldn’t want him in their band?
How would you describe your sound?
We’ve been compared with all the typical heavy hitter skate punk bands like NOFX, Face to Face and Lagwagon and we have no problem with that. We try to take influence from all those classic bands but I also enjoy bands like The Menzingers and The Flatliners, so we try to add some homages to their sound when it makes sense. Lastly, we like poppy punk too like Screeching Weasel and The Copyrights so you’ll hear a bit of them in our songs as well. Ozone loves Blink 182 so I guess we’ll have some of their influence sprayed all over our records too whether I like it or not!
Which artists have the biggest influence on your sound?
Oops! I kind of answered this question in the last one already. We love adding cool, weird parts to make our songs less formulaic and predictable and believe in the power of harmonies – both vocal and instrumentally. You can make a song 100 times cooler with great vocal harmonies. Bands like NOFX and Bad Religion certainly taught us that.
What’s the last song you listened to?
I have been spinning the new Rest Easy record. Great fellas and great song writers. Love the aggressiveness that is still poppy and clean. Coast to Coast is a really nice track!
What’s your source for hearing new music?
Aside from listening to friends’ new tunes, punk rock radar is a deadly resource for keeping up with new releases. Great dudes, too! We also run our own playlist so we have no shortage of tunes sent to us on a weekly, if not daily basis.
Who is your dream producer?
If money was no object, we’d head down to the Blasting Room to record with Bill Stevenson. How cliche!
If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
In the midst of the “stay the heck home” part of the pandemic, we were lucky to collaborate with lots of musicians we respect in the scene. It’s cool how many people will say “yes” if you just ask but it would be rad to work with Zach from PEARS. I think his chaotic energy would compliment our Trashy shit nicely!
What led you to music, and what motivates you to keep making it?
I was bored in rural Saskatchewan and got into my dad’s old cassette collection. When my brother showed me Punk-O-Rama, I was hooked. I have certainly put out my share of music that sounds like shit and nobody cares but it’s been such an amazing thing to meet and share the stage with so many cool people from all over the world. These opportunities would have never happened for us if we hung up the guitar. Even for lower tier bands like Trashed Ambulance, we have so many buds from different towns that we can go play with and have a great time. It’s hard to compare it to anything else in the world. Eventually, we may be too old to do it but until then, we are loving writing, recording and playing new music as much as we can.
Tell us about the songwriting process. How does it all come together?
Josh has a little home studio so he’s able to send the other guys riff ideas. Then we jam them and make them cooler. Ozone also has began bringing riffs to the table since he moved from bass to drums and a couple of his tunes made the last album. We also forced Rikey at gun point to write lyrics for a song on the last record and it’s one of the hot hits from the release. The process has begun for the next one so hopefully, we will have some fresh tunes for you in the near future.
How do you connect with your audience? What is the easiest way for them to connect with you?
We have the most followers on Instagram and consistently post dumb videos and pictures to embarrass our loved ones and make our friends cringe. I’d say it’s our favourite way to interact with people who care about the band. We do have a FB, Twitter, and TikTok page as well but not as actively maintained as the Insta! We are friendly-ish dudes so we like becoming friends with “fans” of our music.
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Spotify
YouTube
What’s next for you?
We are patiently waiting for our vinyl to arrive from the plant. We are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel so we should have them before 2022 concludes! We will play some cold, blustery shows in the Prairies to celebrate this and also have something in the works but it is much to soon to spill the beans about that. 2023 should be a better year without Covid cancellations constantly looming. Hopefully, everyone who is reading this is healthy, happy and in a good place in life.
Anything else you’d like to add or let us know about?
We have some cool stuff planned for 2023 so make sure you’re following us on your platform of choice and if we happen to make our way to your town, please come out and say hello! May the force be with you all forever and always!
Bio:
Formed in 2014, Trashed Ambulance has survived a plethora of member changes and hangovers to continue forging ahead as a reputable option in the Central Alberta punk scene. With a handful of EPs, LPs, CDs, and cassettes already under their belt, the boys hit Echo Base Studio in Calgary to work with Casey Lewis (Belvedere) for their latest album, Future Considerations, which was released on Thousand Islands Records on July 8, 2022. To date, the band has shared the stage with such punk juggernauts as Face to Face, Good Riddance, Ignite, Belvedere, Voodoo Glowskulls, The Real McKenzies, The Murderburgers, and Ten Foot Pole and have even made an appearance at Pouzza Fest – Montreal’s annual premiere punk fest. The guys already have some Western Canadian tour dates lined up and plan on terrorizing as many pubs, curling rinks, and bowling alleys as they can this year!
Josh Hauta – Guitar/Vocals
Jason Ezeard – Bass/Vocals
Riley Bourne – Drums/Vocals
