Trashy And The Kid

Many in the front row are splattered with blood. A young woman with hot pink hair got overly enthusiastic and tripped, falling on a broken beer bottle. She sang through most of Trashy And The Kid's quirky set of outlandishly catchy pop metal songs with gore streaming down her chest. She one of the earliest fans of the three-year-old band of punk misfits. Guitarist Brian Delano described it as “pretty hardcore.”

Meanwhile, onstage, Sterling Riding’s equally blood-spattered Les Paul guitar has about thirty minutes to live. The bearded, punishing guitarist makes a habit of ending shows by tossing the guitar brutally to the ground. The band will exit the stage, leaving the guitar to squeal feedback like a flatlining cardiogram. Tonight, however, his luck will be out. He will pitch it near the feet of bassist Shannon Deane, whose broad biker’s gait lends irony to her sizzling red dress. The headstock of the battle-hardened guitar will snap off.

Meanwhile, frontman Paul Tylar doffs a creepy Mardi Gras mask, gnashes vampire fangs, strips out of his home-made “Fly, Colt, Fly!” t-shirt, wears a sports bra backwards, smashes tomatoes on his body, douses himself with beer from a doughboy war helmet … and still laments that he didn’t take it far enough, because he couldn’t find a way to integrate pig viscera into his costumery.

Behind the drum kit is a 15-year-old kid.


Stubb’s, we regret to inform you that your stage is no longer on planet Earth. You have entered the topsy-turvy twilight zone of Trashy And The Kid.


A420: Paul, you did the mask, the tomatoes, the fangs, the helmet. Why do you not think the show was outrageous enough?

PAUL TYLAR: "I've wanted to play Stubbs forever. It's an amazing venue and makes people go 'Wow!' when you tell them -- people finally realize you aren't bullshit. But outside of town, people are like 'Stubb's BBQ? You're playing at a BBQ??' like it's the Sizzler or something. So I wanted to comment on that by eating a shit ton of ribs and duct taping them to my torso. But it just didn't look good, and the ribs were too gooey to stay taped. So I tried to just cover myself with duct tape, but then I worried about having a chemical reaction and having welts all over my body. It was fun to bring back old stunts, but I feel like death is always at my heels -- I constantly need to top myself or the show will get stale."


A420: "People always ask who's Trashy and who's the Kid ... but at this show it was obvious! Who was the kid on the drums?"

SHANNON DEANE: "After auditioning a small handful of 'professional' drummers of ten-plus years, I realized that there were at least three kids I could think of that were fucking better than those guys, and Mikey [Shereen] was one of them."

PAUL: "We basically went to our favorite place to pick up chicks -- Cedar Point High School. And we asked the kids there if there was anyone they knew who was both badass on the drums, and passed enough classes that they wouldn't have summer school to eat up rehearsal time. Mikey turned out to be the only one in the state."

A420: "Any thoughts of hiring him full-time?"

PAUL: "We love him, he's amazing, but I can't imagine parents being too thrilled about their kid being in our band."

A420: "Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll?"

SHANNON: "Well, as Mikey reminded me at the school the other day, 'Weren't you guys talking about doing your next show at a strip club?'"

A420: "Speaking of debauchery, Lada Gaga said it's no longer cool to be promiscuous. Thoughts?"

PAUL: "She hasn't been to high school lately."

A420: "Are you proud that parents worry about their kids buying your records? You guys sing about drugs, sex, and drinking a lot."


PAUL: "I think that debauchery isn't going out of style regardless of what we sing about, and the success of people like Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers only serves to whitewash that fact. It's like how abstinence pledges don't reduce the level of teen sex, it reduces the level of condom use. But parents absolve themselves because their kids took the pledge. What we sing about may be ugly to some, but it's the fuckin' truth. And if parents don't like what we sing about and think their kids are learning bad things from it, maybe they'll talk to them about it, instead of relying on the Jonas Brothers to do it. And in that way I think our music is actually more productive."

BRIAN DELANO: "Part of being a good parent is supporting what your children find artistically inspirational. They should question them about what they find inspirational about the music to get in touch with what's going on in their kids' mind. And then buy them lots of merch!"

A420: "Sterling, what happened with the guitar?"

STERLING RIDINGS: "We has just finished playing "Cult [Next Door," the closing number]. I'm usually pretty abusive to that guitar and have for awhile, but I guess that was the straw. I dropped it on the ground, not nearly as hard as I usually do, and the guitar just popped in half."

A420: "Going to get it fixed?"

STERLING: "Definitely."

A420: "Is the blood spatter all yours?"

BRIAN: "Mostly."

STERLING: "Yes. On our tour of the east coast, that was just the product of raking my hands against it, a lot of really drunken nights playing shows. Sometimes I wouldn't know until after the show. Other times I would notice that my picks were pretty sticky and I'd look down and everything would be covered in blood."

Trashy And The Kid headlines Emo's on October 22. Their full-length album, "Songs In The Key of Blow Me," is available off iTunes and other online retailers.
- Austin 420, October 2010

"I'm so fucking fortunate to have discovered these guys ... If you don't check them out, you're just a fucking idiot." - The Mad Dr. S, KAOS Radio

Unapologetic, somewhat vulgar, angry, and self-deprecating… these are a few words that would describe the Austin-based punk band Trashy and the Kid (TATK). But that should be pretty apparent when considering the name of the album… Songs in the Key of Blow Me.

For those who know the band… you’re aware above description is actually a compliment. With their first full-length album, TATK presents eleven tracks of Alice Cooper meets Guns and Roses meets Iggy Pop punk rock and roll. Five of the songs on this album are revamped versions of songs from their Run For Your Life EP. I’m glad they included them because the band members are vastly different then those on the EP and a quality studio production really fleshes out the songs well.

The album kicks off with “Poledancer’s Circus” where they welcome their “wicked children.” Other titles which have titles as interesting as the songs are “Rampant Sex on the Hell Train” and “Little Dirty Daughter,” both improved tracks from their first EP. The other three from the EP that appear here are “Kid,” “Dar Al Harb,” and “Run For Your Life.”

The funny-to-me “Cult Next Door” reminds that no matter how bad you think someone is… they’re likely better than someone else’s neighbor. If you’ve ever wondered what serial killers may be thinking perhaps “Lara” is the song for you. “Hands are Tied” explores an S&M relationship. “I Don’t Give A F@#$” sounds oddly like Golden Earring’s “Radar Love.” They also do a rocked-out Dresden Dolls cover with “Half Jack.”

Although “Cult Next Door” is pretty fantastic, my favorite track on this album (and live for that matter) remains “Dar Al Harb.” It begins with Winston Churchill’s words of hope from December 24, 1941. But the sing-along worthy lyrics are what captured me from the beginning.

“General Custard was a hell of a man.
He walked into the bar with his soul in his hand
And sure I believe that it will all go to plan
I built this house why make me burn it down?”

For me, “Dar Al Harb” took special meaning when, at their CD release party, a fan dressed in his military uniform was screaming word for word and ended up on stage with the band.

TATK’s bio on MySpace mentions they conceived this band after hearing just how bad “Cold” by Crossfade was. Trashy and the Kid is coming to save rock and roll… or perhaps keep it from being “saved” and making sure it continues to survive in the hearts of the fans and fears of the parents.

You can catch them live at Stubb’s this Saturday with Waiting for August, Full Stride, and Radio Fallout ( You can win tickets here) . Find out more about Trashy and the Kid on their Website. - INsite Magazine, Austin TX, 7/15/10