Trades

Forged in the white-hot garbage fire of 2020, Trades began as what might be best described as an exercise in group therapy. Four friends, disconnected from the world by quarantine and separated by 2500 miles, decided to see if we could make some songs together over the internet. Writing songs was the familiar part; we’d all been in plenty of bands together over the years. Would you have heard of any of them? Maybe! Who cares!

Written, recorded, and mixed remotely via a pastiche of task management and file hosting software, the songs reflect feelings of disconnection, frustration, anxiety, and deep gratefulness for the people sharing this historical nightmare with us. We thoroughly intended not to write songs about politics and the pandemic, so, naturally, every song thus far is about politics and the pandemic.

Like most bands, we’re not great at describing ourselves musically. We all grew up playing indie rock in San Diego in the early 2000s, and we like a good hook, so take from that what you will. Honestly though, if you’re reading this bio in order to decide whether or not to listen to the music, we’d prefer that you just move along, because you’re 100% a serial killer.

We’re not sure if we’ll ever get to play these songs live, but—even stuck in these little boxes with all these wires—we can still make something, and that’s not nothing. We sincerely hope you enjoy the not-nothing we’ve put together.

-Trades