Taking Aim With TRIGGER POINT

Once upon a time there was a young Tuba player from Cass City Michigan who picked up an electric blue Ibanez guitar and headed west to Hollywood California. That is where Mike Bashur met Taylor Wallace, a unique vocalist who hails from San Antonio Texas. To complete the mix, Dave Gentry from Valencia California threw his pounding drumbeats into the trio to form the aggressive rock band known as Trigger Point, who’s been hitting the heart of Los Angeles ever since their inception at Musicians Institute in 2001.

Adding the steady bass lines of Paul Kelly in 2004, Trigger Point caught the attention of an up and coming LA record company, Corporate Punishment and signed a one year/one album deal. Teaming up with producer Logan Mader (Machine Head, Soulfly), Trigger Point released their debut album in 2005, A Silent Protest.

Even though A Silent Protest was their debut release, a lot of the material on it is dated. The songs spread over a four-year period and represent the different stages of evolution of this modern rock band trying to make it in LA. Taylor Wallace explains that it is like a soundtrack in the sense there was never one frame of consciousness to write all the songs. In short, the record is all over the place.

The release of their debut album sparked the explosive Crazyfists tour around the United States that included Shooters of Saginaw, where I saw their intense show last winter. Their wide variety of influences and musical tastes is really evident in their music, especially on stage. You can tell these guys listen to everything from Kansas to Slayer. When talking to the band members they explained that they try not to stick too much to one musical influence or another. They want everyone who enjoys music to find something they can appreciate in their albums and performances.

Their expressive movements around the stage, all while being aware of each other’s space and interacting with it, add to the quality of showmanship. Their style and good looks appeal to the young while their respect and talent appeals to the older generations.

The amount of self-promotion that this band does is what sets it apart from other national acts. Pounding the pavement and getting their sound out there has resulted in a very large fan base. When they’re not on stage, they are in the crowd with the rest of us moshing, promoting, and signing autographs. No matter where they have been, they always go back to their hometowns and play the old stomping grounds. They have generated their own photography, logo, and advertising.

Trigger Point does almost all of their own booking which results in a wide variety of venues. The national release of their album, A Silent Protest, also helped push their sound out there. You can go into pretty much any music store and buy their album, but don’t forget to look for them under the local section.

Unfortunately, near the end of the tour in 2005, the bass player Paul Kelly, decided to leave the band and the tour had to be cut short. The guys took an early Christmas break and went home to their family and friends.

I had a chance to get together with Mike Bashur in Cass City during this visit and we talked about the direction of the band and their future. He explained that they were going to work on a new album that would blow everything they have done so far out of the water.

“We don’t mind being a 3 piece for the writing process. We’ve always been the main writers in the band. We’re not planning on continuing as a 3 piece, but we’re waiting for the right bass player, someone driven and committed.”

Mike will play all of the guitar parts including bass and they will stay a three piece for the duration of the recording. They feel that their sound and techniques have evolved into new material for this record and he couldn’t wait to get it down on disc.

Trigger Point since then has returned to LA. They finished their one-year deal with Corporate Punishment and are now in preproduction of recording a demo for the new album without a label.

After hearing “Jerome,” a song already released on their website, fans are waiting with anticipation for the rest of the album. Trigger Point is hoping to have it all done by the summer of 2007. Lyrics have been pouring out of all three of band members since their return to LA and they want to make sure that the music is 100 % satisfactory before recording it permanently.

When asked what to expect from their next album, Trigger Point replied, “I think the three of us have taken in quite a bit over the past few years, in every aspect of our lives. It’s been a great adventure for us putting together the first record in the short amount of time that we did, and then Leaving LA indefinitely to tour. We spent some time living in Pittsburgh and Cleveland, and we spent a lot of time living in our van while touring. So I think that the music we’re writing now reflects what we’ve experienced over the past 2 years.

When you listen to this record it’s going to create an atmosphere for you, we’ve really focused on dynamics. Most importantly, we’re making a sincere record... playing to our full potential and making sure that all of our diverse influences are accounted for.”

For the first time, the band is trying to get some live Hollywood venue recordings to add to their next album. This is unique in such a young band and I believe this will be beneficial to the recording process.

Personally, I love the idea of live recording best of all because every time I play the new album it will be like Mike is home in Cass City playing up in the barn.

The best news from Trigger Point is that Michigan is always the state they look forward to playing the most. The family and friend support here is phenomenal and all three-band members feel right at home. You can expect to see them at venues in Saginaw, Grand Rapids, and Detroit as soon as the new album is released sometime in the summer of 2007.

Trigger Point would like to get back into the swing of playing live possibly in February locally around LA. No matter what your musical preference you will enjoy yourself when you check out this local tuba player turned rock star and the rest of the guys of Trigger Point at www.myspace.com/triggerpoint or triggerpointmusic.com.