Though Trophy Lungs is a relatively new band, people might recognize you guys from Wolfie Burns, The Tin Thistles, and 3TV’s. Is the sound of Trophy Lungs a result of mashing up those three bands? Or did you want to take a different approach? I can hear a bit of Tin Thistles in the sound (I’m most familiar with them) but this is way more polished.
McGuire: All those bands were crazy different as far as style was concerned, but all rooted in punk rock, which I think is what brought us together. TL really just sounds like all of us at 14 because we are all still, basically, 14-year-old boys.
Bogart: All of us grew up with the same roots so that will come out in our music no matter what we’re playing. The Tin Thistles played with 3TV’s all the time because we both had a deep love of fuzz. All musical styling aside it really just came down to drinking.
Guerin: Our old bands definitely come through just in the sense that each of us contribute our own personal style to how we play and write songs. I don’t really think that the sound of Trophy Lungs is particularly similar to those other bands, but all of us are friends and have a lot of the same tastes in music so it’s all related.
A lot of the Trophy Lungs songs have a familiar feel, but somehow sound fresh. How do you keep pop-punk evolving in 2013 without it getting stale?
McGuire: Again I think we’re crazy lucky to get to play with so many awesome bands that really push us to try and be creative. You walk away from seeing the New Warden and just wanna go home and write the greatest song ever. Our buds in Wringer from Indiana put out a record this year that I can’t stop listening to and has really inspired me to try to write the best full length we can.
Bogart: I was unaware our songs sound fresh… I think we’re just a perfect cocktail of the Punk-O-Rama comps, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1, and a healthy amount of alcohol.
Guerin: Everyone in the band has a pretty diverse taste in music, so I think it helps to approach every song as being something completely brand new instead of trying to make it sound exactly like our other songs or like this or that band. We just kind of let our influences come out naturally while we’re writing and try not to force anything.
Trophy Lungs were featured on the excellent This is New England benefit comp for the One Fund a few months ago. How’d that come about, and what are your favorite bands or tracks off it?
McGuire: That was a total bonus for us. We’ve become really close friends with Jeff and the other Yo! Ti guys which has made that whole experience even cooler. I’m super proud we got to be a part of it and feel like its such a good example of how the scene should work. I personally love the Mr. Fahrenheit track as much as I love any song that came out this year.
Bogart: That was such a great thing to be a part of. Just seeing a local scene come together to help out one of our own, along with the victims of the marathon bombing was something that we’re incredibly proud to be a part of. I don’t want to get too far into details just for privacy sake but we had a friend whose mother had passed away due to brain cancer so Dave Dufault reached out to us with the idea of putting together a compilation and having the proceeds going to brain cancer research. In the wake of the marathon bombings the decision was made to split the proceeds between a brain cancer charity and the victims of the bombings. I believe after the benefit show we threw in collaboration with the comp we raised just over $600. A huge thanks has to go out to Dave Dufault to putting the whole thing together.
Guerin: Every band on the comp is awesome, and we’re good buds with several of them. Some highlights for me are definitely the tracks by The New Warden, Mr. Fahrenheit and Yo Ticonderoga.
Lastly, and most importantly, what was the greatest Punk-O-Rama compilation of all time. And why?
Guerin: Punk-O-Rama Volume 3 is the best, because YOU try getting “Gotta Go” by Agnostic Front out of your head after hearing it one time! Also “You” by Bad Religion is on there, and that may be the greatest song ever written.
McGuire: I listened to Punk-O-Rama 5 every day for like three years on my way to middle school. That Bouncing Souls song was my fucking jam.
Guerin: Punk-O-Rama 2, no question. That had Pulley, Descendents, Millencolin, and Voodoo Glow Skulls. Essential background music to young Kevin’s terrible skate tapes.
TROPHY LUNGS + THE OFFSEASON + REBUILDER + WEAK WEEK :: Saturday, November 30 @ O’Brien’s Pub, 3 Harvard Ave., Allston :: 8pm, 21+, $8 :: facebook event page :: o’brien’s event page
