This week’s “Hello My Name Is” features indie rockers Blitzen Trapper, as well as two favorite BTR All Access bands, The Defenders and Ducky.
Blitzen Trapper, an alt-country indie band, hails from Portland, Oregon. The sextet’s 2007 release and BTR favorite, Wild Mountain Nation propelled them into the spotlight as it garnered acclaim from many major music blogs and publications. It even earned them the number 98 spot on Rolling Stone’s “Best 100 Songs of 2007.” Wild Mountain Nation’s genre-crossing song-writing makes the band truly stand out. On September 23rd the band will release a new album, Furr, on Sub Pop records. Make sure to keep your ears open for the new tracks on BTR.
While Blitzen Trapper’s eccentric band name might recall memories of a Ramones song or a quintessential grade-school organizer, its origins are actually a lot more simple. Eric Earley, singer and guitarist, explains the real story behind the name. While he says that, “I’ve read that I’ve said in interviews that I took the name from my grandfather who was a junk dealer in East LA. He possessed an extensive collection of hanging fur garnered from various junkyards,” the name actually came from less obscure origins. Earley explains, “I think I saw it on the side of a Winnebago, or actually I think it was graffitied on an old refrigerator by the river in Salem.”
The Defenders, an All Access favorite here on BTR, formed when they were in only 7th and 8th grade and played mostly in basements. Since then, they’ve gone through many permutations (and even a band name), but have perfected their sound in the four years they’ve been playing together. The New York band, who plays well-crafted pop-punk tunes, actually started out with a different band name altogether, but with a shuffle of members and style this spring, they chose The Defenders.
Bassist Ben Chrobot explains, “Back when it was started, people were kicking around ideas, and the verb defenestrate came up. it sounded cool, and what’s not to like about a word that means to throw out of a window?” Unfortunately, The Defenestrators proved too unwieldy. “Our singer would stumble over it at shows, and people could never get the spelling right. So last spring when the band was making some major changes, a name change seemed fitting as well. The Defenders was similar and somewhat indie, which was the direction it looked like the band would be taking.”
Ducky, another All Access regular, hails from San Francisco. Only fifteen years old, Morgan Neiman is a solo artist who’s enchanting electronic tunes definitely take a page out of the Postal Service’s book. When it comes to her moniker, Neiman didn’t choose it so much as it chose her. In fact, Ducky is more of a nickname than a band name. “I actually got the name Ducky while taking my 8th grade yearbook photo. All of my friends and I had decided to put silly things in our pictures just for the hell of it and mine ended up being a little stuffed duck. Everybody called me ducky that day, and it just stuck.” Make sure to check out The Defenders and Ducky on All Access every Tuesday and Friday.
-Madalyn
