Todd Trainer - Rifle Sport/Shellac Interview
Are you originally from Minneapolis, MN? When did you first begin to fall in love with music, more specifically the drums? Was this something that was relevant around your household growing up? Do you have any siblings? What ultimately inspired you to pursue a life in music? Who were some of your earliest influences in your more formative years?
Yes. My earliest memories are listening to music and loving everything about it. Drums are the most insticntive and instantly gratifying instruments. Without them rock music doesn’t rock. Indeed, it was. I have an older brother and an older sister both of whom were gigantic music fans and responsible for me hearing a lot of music as a kid. I will always appreciate them for that and for encouraging my musical endeavors. The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Isaac Hayes, The Rolling Stones, Sly and the Family Stone, The Sweet and The Who. As a kid I was a massive Aerosmith fan and saw them at The Met Stadium in the early 70’s. I think I was 12, or 13.
Prior to Shellac you played in the post-punk outfit Rifle Sport. How did you initially meet your bandmate and what led to you guys forming the band back in the early 80s?
The first band I was in was Rifle Sport which already existed and had been through a few drummers prior to me joining. I was a gigantic fan and attended all of their local shows. The Minneapolis scene was small at the time and you’d see the same 50, or so people at every show. It was a musical landscape to rival any other in the world at the time, but nobody realized it. It was only in retrospect we were able to look back and recognize how incredible it was. One night after a show someone invited me to an afterparty where the lead singer of Rifle Sport, Chris Johnson, introduced himself to me saying “your that kid who’s up front at all of our shows”. I instantly felt part of the scene. A few months later on my way to a Rifle Sport show a friend told me that he read in the paper that it would be the drummers final show. I approached Chris after the show and asked him about it and he told me they were searching for a new drummer and asked me to come audition. I did and they gave me the throne.
Tell me about those early days in the band as well as recording the band’s debut album, “Voice of Reason” on Reflex Records in ‘83. You were also in the Chicago based post-punk band Breaking Circus. Can you tell me about this project and what your fondest memories of those times were like?
I did not play on “Voice of Reason”, although I did play on every release thereafter. Rifle Sport went through a few drummers prior to me. Joining Rifle Sport was a massive deal for me. I was in that band for 13 years and it was a critical part of my musical development. It completely transformed my life from music fan to band member. This was the band I had idolized and suddenly I was in it. It was extremely exciting. Breaking Circus was founded by Steve Bjorklund and bassist Bruce Lange in Chicago. Steve moved to Minneapolis and replaced Bruce with Flour the bassist from Rifle Sport and added Tony Pucci on drums along with the drum machine, yes the same drum machine from Chicago. At some point Tony was injured and unable to drum so Steve asked me to join. Shortly after I joined we decide to go without the drum machine which made rehearsing, performing and songwriting easier. Rifle Sport and Breaking Circus shared a rehearsal space and we both rehearsed 5 nights a week. My schedule was over the top. I worked 8:30am to 5:00pm then Rifle Sport, 6:00pm to 8:00pm and then Breaking Circus from 8:00pm to 10:00pm. After rehearsals we’d all go to the 7th Street entry and see bands. It was a blast. Breaking Circus records were recorded at CRC, “Chicago Recording Company” by Ian Burgess and Rifle Sport at CRC and Pachyderm in Minnesota by Ian Burgess.
How did you end up in Chicago in the early 90s and later meeting the great Steve Albini? What was that initial connection like between the two of you and what led to forming the mighty Shellac?
I wasn’t living in Chicago at the time and only lived there from 2000 to 2003. For the majority of Shellac’s existence I’ve lived in Minneapolis. I met Steve Albini in Minneapolis at the 7th Street Entry the first time Big Black played there. I introduced myself to him after the show to tell him how much I liked the band. Then the first time I played in Chicago with Rifle Sport we stayed at Steve’s place and started to get to know each other. There was a tremendous amount of support between Chicago and Minneapolis bands at the time. Chicago bands would attend shows of Minneapolis bands and we would crash on their floors and vice versa. We all had a tremendous mutual respect for each other and did whatever we could could to entertain each other when we were hosting. It was a magnificent time. Flour from Breaking Circus and Rifle Sport had recorded a couple of solo records, which are fantastic, and asked Steve and I to be in the touring band along with Brian Paulson and David Sims. It was a 3 band tour. The opener was my solo project Brick Layer Cake then The Jesus Lizard followed by Flour. Steve and I were the only two who didn’t drink alcohol at the time so after soundcheck we would walk around and explore whatever city we were in. That’s how we developed our connection. A year, or two after that tour Steve’s band had broken up and he called and asked me to come to Chicago to start a new band. It was only Steve and I for the first year, or two so I would fly to Chicago on weekends and we would write and rehearse all weekend. Now we’ve been friends for over 40 years and bandmates for 32 years so we have a pretty tight connection. We can essentially look at each other and know what each of us are thinking.
The band recorded its legendary debut “At Action Park” in ‘94 on Touch and Go. Tell me about this album and what you guys ultimately wanted to achieve and express with this record. This was a huge year for the band following up with its live sophomore album from a run in Japan. What was that tour like for you?
Steve and I had a relatively extensive past in the indie rock world so we based Shellac on all of the positive and negative things we’d learned in our previous bands. Ultimately we continued to make whatever kind of music we wanted to on our own terms much like our previous bands. We weren’t really hoping to achieve anything other than continuing to make uncompromising music and have fun being in a band. Our first tour was New Zealand, Australia and Japan. The flight was exhausting. It was Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Tokyo, Sydney and Auckland. It took 38 hours. I had never performed in another country so it was a gigantic eye-opener. The culture, cuisine and currency alone was overwhelming. Each country had so many interesting aspects that were exclusive to itself. The audiences were also drastically different from a typical US type audience. New Zealanders were similar to American audiences, Australians were intoxicated and obnoxious and Japanese were attentive and polite. The whole experience was overwhelming and fascinating.
The band would go on to record two more records in the 90s, “Futurist”/”Terraform”, before recording 2000’s “1000 Hurts”. Tell me about the overall process and approach to bringing this record to life. I would love to know some of the backstory to tracks such as the mighty opener “Prayer to God”, “Ghosts”, “Song Against Itself”, “Mama Gina” and “New Number Order”.
“Prayer to God” Steve wrote this and it’s self explanatory. “Ghosts” is about a young girl who imagines ghost. “Song Against Itself” was written by Bob and was inspired by a a bicycle “rodeo” we played in San Francisco,. It was absolutely insane and goes down as one of the craziest shows we’ve ever played. They had bicycle jousting, bikes on stilts, flaming ramps, a stationary bike with paddles attached to the rear wheel so it would paddle your behind as you peddled, six bikes welded side by side with propane tanks mounted, a cannon that shot flames about 50 feet and a zillion other outrageous competitions with fireworks for added extra excitement. It was all conducted by a extremely intoxicated woman in chaps who, baited, degraded and taunted everyone. It was absolute chaos, totally wild. One of the many outrageous things they created as a bike against itself which had 2 front tires but shared a back tire. The announcer would encourage patrons to get on the bike for a bizarre dual which resulted in everyone crashing inevitably. We could have written an entire record based on the bicycle rodeo, but settled on a song. “Mama Gina” Steve wrote this as an affectionate tribute to his grandmother. “New Number Order” was an idea I had for a Brick Layer Cake song. Shellac had finished a recording session early and all the gear was set-up so Steve asked if I had any ideas for songs. I had told Bob and Steve my idea and we did a quick take, or two. We did it like a demo for kicks because we had the time. We had no intention of it being released as a Shellac song, but those guys liked it and talked me into releasing it. It’s about rearranging numbers so that everyone had a new life. New address, new social security number, new telephone number and new bank account. A real high concept type of song, you get the idea.
Having experimented with a four-track, you eventually produced some records on Touch and Go as well Ruthless Records such as: “Tragedy”, “Whatchmacallit” and “Call it a Day”/Eye for an Eye”. Are you currently working on any projects with any of your groups? What is your 2024 shaping up to be so far? Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
Well the musical world seemed crowded. Everyone was making and releasing records and I didn’t feel like I had anything significant to contribute. Breaking Circus, Brick Layer Cake, Rifle Sport and Shellac had all released quite a few records. I felt creatively exhausted and spread thin so I mostly focused on drumming in Shellac. In the past few years I’ve written quite a few new songs and am hoping to record and release them inevitably. I’ve been dreaming and scheming up new band names and will most likely release something sometime. I’m working some of my own songs. Shellac is taking the winter off from performing while planning tours for the spring and fall of 2024. I conduct drum lessons as “Todd Trainer Drumming Instruction” online and in-person at a fantastic drum shop in Minneapolis called “Twin Cities Drum Collective”. I also have a new batch of songs I intend on recording, hopefully this year. I’m working on improving my drumming and guitar playing. Shellac has a new record finished which will be released soon. Shellac tour dates: 30th of May at the Barcelona Primavera Festival, Barcelona on the first of June then we fly to Leeds on the second, Leeds Brudenell on the third of June Manchester Academy 2 4 June Bristol SWX 5 June London Electric Ballroom 6 June Brighton Concorde2 7 June Fly Gatwick to Porto 8 June Sat: Porto Primavera Festival. Thank you for the interview and thanks to your readers for reading. Treat animals and people with respect and treasure the ones you love.
