Interview: Trauma
Trauma is back with a killer new record, As The World Dies, recently released on May 11th. With the lineup of Donny Hillier (Vocals), Joe Fraulob (Guitar), Steve Robello (Guitar), Greg Christian (Bass), and Kris Gustofson (Drums), Trauma recently hit the road for a brief pre-release tour from West Coast to East and back again – and I sat down with the band in Brooklyn for a great chat about As The World Dies, the music videos set to accompany the record, how the current lineup of Trauma came together, plus plenty of stories from past 70,000 Tons of Metal Cruises (which, after this interview, we all expect to see Trauma on in 2019!).
Starting right off, first thing I really want to talk about is, of course, the new record. We were just talking about it, I’m excited about it, I think every track on it is killer. It’s coming out pretty soon and after being separated for a long time, it’s great that Trauma has been so active these days, between Rapture and Wrath a couple years back, now you’re on this record, As The World Dies, so let’s start by talking a bit about what went into the album.
Donny Hillier: The person that put the most work into the album is Joe, because he also produced it, wrote the music on the majority of the songs, so…Joe, have at it.
Let’s hear it, Joe.
Joe Fraulob: Well, I don’t know, I first got in the band about a year ago, these guys had the gig for 70,000 Tons of Metal Cruise and were looking to kind of revamp the lineup, so we got together and the first song we wrote, even before we played on that, “The Rage”, we just wrote it right away and the chemistry was good right from the gate. So, after we did that show, the plan was right from then, “Let’s make a record”, and we ended up, as the record was getting started, getting Greg Christian on bass, and just went from there. I mean, the chemistry was good, we wrote up the songs really quick, but the goal was just to make the best album we possibly could that sonically sounded the best. And like you said, we tried to make it so every track was good, you know? No filler, just like an old-school record, like the original Trauma records! 45 minutes long, ten songs, you sit down and listen to it, and hopefully once it’s done, you’re like, “That’s it? Let me turn it on again”, you know? One of those types of records. So we’re really proud of it, I’m really proud of it, it’s the best thing I’ve ever done, and it came out great.
Awesome.
Donny: It is the best, it’s the best thing.
Joe: We’re really excited about it, we’re playing like 5 songs off of it right now and a bunch of the old stuff, we really like it.
Greg Christian: For me, and I’ve been on a lot of records, this is my favorite record that I’ve done. I just can’t wait ’til this comes out so people can hear it.
Donny: The record’s kind of leaking out to people, and that’s really good because we’re getting some really nice thoughts on it. You know, and it makes us feel like we’re on the right track.
Kris Gustofson: You know, it’s really hard to do after the band had been on a hiatus like it’s been, and the last record that we did, it was good but it doesn’t compare to this one at all. And also, we didn’t have this lineup.
Donny: We didn’t have two guitarists.
Kris: True!
Donny: And that’s a must.
Yeah, I was going to ask you guys about that, because it is a new lineup, but Donny and Kris, you have been in Trauma for the longest time. Do you see this as following up on Rapture and Wrath, or something just completely all new and separate?
Kris: Something completely different. You know, the Rapture and Wrath thing, that came about – we worked on the tunes and everything for that quite a bit, but…we felt after we recorded it, when we heard the playback of it and everything, it felt like it wasn’t the record we needed to do yet. It was okay, but I just felt that it wasn’t up to par yet at all. And it had a lot to do with, we didn’t have the songs, and we didn’t have the right lineup. That’s what I think.
Donny: I agree. Because we were gone for so long, really what we did is we worked with what we had and just kept pushing for the right people, and just kept going. We kept moving, and we had challenges here and there, but we just believed that we could rebuild a kickass heavy Trauma. And I think we’ve done that.
I think you’ve done it too.
Donny: Great!
Kris: Actually, one thing I would like to say too is, being a drummer in this band, the one I’ve got to say is I’m really proud of the guys in this band. It took us a long time to really find the right guys, and thank God we were able to pull it off.
And the current lineup that you have, how did it all come together and come about?
Steve Robello: I think it started with me. They called me, and because they had done the Rapture and Wrath record, but their bass player at the time had trouble with his passport, and so I was asked to come in to play bass. Just as a favor, to go out, they had some Europe dates, and I said, “Yeah, cool, okay”, and I went out and did it, it was fun, I came home and said, “Hey, thanks a lot”. Then, they called me a year later and said, “Hey, we’re kind of looking for a guitar player”. We were working with various other guitar players and it was going pretty good, but I don’t think we really had the chemistry. I made a phone call to some friends in Sacramento and Joe Fraulob’s name came up…and when Joe Fraulob came onto the scene, it was amazing for me personally as a guitarist, because we have really similar styles. Not only our influences, but I think our stage thing, everything about it, has been very very seamless, and it’s been great. Then, you know, I’ve got connections with the Bay Area – you know, Testament and all that stuff – so, we were again looking for a bass player, and it took a little coaxing to get Greggy in the band, but…last piece of the puzzle, man, it’s…
Kris: Absolutely.
Steve: That was it.
Nice, the most recent addition, right?
Steve: Yeah.
Greg: Well, because I was really just set on doing the Trinity Fallen thing and it just didn’t really pan out. Basically, the guitarist that I had for a long time ended up leaving and we got another guitarist in, and the whole style of it kind of changed, and it ended up being really different from what it first started out with. And when all that kind of fell apart all around me, you know, I’d been talking to these guys about Trauma and I just went for it 100% at that point.
Joe: You know, I remember you kind of came in just to do that one song originally…
Donny: “The Rage”.
Joe: …and it just came out so awesome, dude. Like, it is a really good chemistry, it all matched together, and actually on the recording, all of our styles go together well. I’ve always played in like, one guitar bands, and so that’s why, like Steve was saying, when we hooked up, it was sort of amazing that our styles came together so good, you know?
Steve: I knew within…literally, I don’t think I ever told you this…but I knew within a half hour, “Yeah, this is the guy that I want to be in whatever band with, that I want to write songs and play with”.
Donny: But you know what was a funny twist of fate though, was Steve was going to be the other guitarist in the lineup that did Rapture and Wrath, but he had to leave the band shortly after joining, because he started a brewery: Cool Beer Works, Cool, California.
Steve: *laughs*
*laughs* Throwing in a subtle advertisement.
Donny: And he started a brewery/restaurant/nightclub, and as an entrepreneur, that took all his time, so he had to drop out. But if he had been there that whole lineup, that album would have sounded different.
Kris: Oh, heck yeah.
Steve: And for me, I always told myself if I ever get in another band, I’ll never play in another two-guitar band…but yet here I am.
There you are again. And you guys were talking about the setlist earlier – kind of a mixture of classic and the new record, so I did just want to ask a little more about that – you’re got the tour run going on right now, so what is going into this Trauma setlist? How much of the new record are we going to hear?
Donny: Five songs from the new album, two songs from Rapture and Wrath, and the rest, Scratch and Scream.
Good balance, I like that.
Joe: Yeah, that sort of varies too, depending on how crazy people are getting, we’re playing a few extra, or…maybe one less. *laughs* No, it’s been going pretty good actually, we’ve been having some really good crowds and a lot of old-school fans bringing their Scratch and Scream records, tickets, and all that, so it’s really fun.
Donny: I signed like, three Metal Massacre II albums in Chicago, which was a real surprise. It always surprises me when people whip that out.
That’s pretty cool. I also heard mention just now of the 70,000 Tons of Metal Cruise, so you two (Donny and Kris) were on it, were the rest of you part of Trauma yet?
Donny: The four of us, without Greg.
Kris: Greg did it with Testament.
Joe: Yeah, that’s what sealed that “This band is awesome, but the bass player isn’t the right guy”.
Steve: We had just one missing piece, and…
Joe: …And I remember Steve even said, “You know who would be the perfect guy would be Greg Christian”, and we were like, “Yeah”, and then he’s like, “But…that probably isn’t going to happen”.
Ha – well, it happened!
Donny: So we would like to do 70,000 Tons of Metal again, with Greg Christian.
Joe, Steve, Kris: Yeah!
Yeah, there you go! Go for 2019.
Greg: I would like to do it again with Trauma this time. We were on the very first one, Testament and I. And I guess they did it since then, after I left the band, but that was the only time I was on 70,000 Tons.
Donny: Yeah, he was on the one where the beer ran out.
Greg: Yes. They were a couple of hours late pulling out of port because there was a big funeral procession for some police officers that had gotten killed in Miami that day, and one of the production trucks got caught up in the traffic, so it was a couple hours late leaving port, and by the time we rolled out of port, they had sold as much booze as they normally do on a four-day trip.
Kris: *laughs*
Steve: Wow!
Greg: They had drank the ship completely dry, by the time we got to Cozumel, Mexico like halfway through the trip, there was not a drop of alcohol left on the ship. And then they restocked like four times the normal amount. It was kind of funny because we went to a little private get-together at the guy who puts it all together’s apartment or hotel after that first cruise, and he was telling us what the Royal Caribbean people told him – first off, that yes, it went really well and they were going to do it again, you know, that was kind of a test run – and a couple things that they brought up was one, they sold like four times as much booze as normal, and the other thing that was real interesting was that compared to a normal Royal Caribbean cruise, there was not a single complaint from anyone on the 70,000 Tons when there was normally like…however many people complaining about, you know, the food or somebody being rude to them, like that, but there was not a single complaint.
Because Metalheads are the best, that’s why.
Steve: That’s the metal.
Joe: Yeah, it’s incredible too, it’s just all packed with Metalheads that are crazy, and everybody just stays up all night, bands running ‘round the clock, four different stages, every kind of metal, yeah, it is awesome. It’s the most hardcore Metalheads in the world.
Steve: Over 70 countries.
Joe: And everybody gets along.
Kris: The guy that puts that on, he’s got it dialed. The sound in every room is, like, perfect.
Joe: It’s a great time though, if you’re into metal, you have to go on that.
Kris: I mean, people from around the world, you know, the thing sells out every year, something anybody that’s into this kind of music should check out.
It must be interesting for you guys, because I’m sure the concept of a cruise just for metal music is not something anybody would have thought of in the Bay Area Thrash formative years there.
Greg: Especially like a Royal Caribbean cruise. There were a couple fights on the first one, but nobody wanted to press charges or anything, and the only damages were, I think one railing got kind of knocked over…
Not bad, not bad.
Greg: …and there were a couple cigarette burns in the carpeting. Considering the amount of booze they sold, and everything else, the Royal Caribbean people were totally down to do it again.
Well, that’s not the worst things to come out with, sounds like it went pretty smoothly.
Donny: The staff consistently told us it’s their favorite cruise of the year, they really look forward to it because the people are so cool.
Greg: ‘Cause normally, the staff are not allowed to fraternize with the guests, but on the metal cruise, everyone was always trying to talk to people on the staff, “Hey, come on, have a drink with us”, you know like, at first the people who work there were all nervous about it, but by the end of the cruise there were all lightened up a little bit. They all thought, “Oh, we’re all going to get in trouble here with our bosses” or whatever, but nobody cared. It’s a different mentality than the old rich people who usually go on a cruise.
So getting back to As The World Dies, any plans for music videos alongside the album?
Joe: Actually, we’ve got a really cool artist guy right now that’s doing a lyric video, but his videos are insane, there’s a lot of really insane art that he puts out. So we’re doing a lyric video for “The Rage”, should hopefully be out almost right away, but then we’re probably going to do a regular video.
Steve: I think the one that I see the most is the second one we’re going to promote heavily, it’s called “Savage”. And it’s about, you know, an abused woman getting back, and when I see the imagery of that video, it’s basically like the movie, I Spit On Your Grave. Brutal. You know, “You messed with the wrong chick”. So I think that’s going to be a really good one to do the actual video to.
Joe: And hopefully we do videos for a lot of it. I mean, we want to really work the heck out of this record, because like you were saying and like we were saying, we really believe in it. So hopefully there will be quite a few videos coming down there.
It’s kind of a shorter but very solid touring run that you’re on right now, so what are the plans for the near future with Trauma?
Greg: Hopefully to get on tour with a national act, a proper tour. I think that once the record comes out and if it builds a little bit of hype, that’ll put us in a much better position to do that.
Joe: Yeah. Getting the record done was our priority, we even had some other opportunities to tour that we were just set and we were adamant that, “We’ve got to finish this record”, and we’re not going to rush it and we’re not going to do any of that. We wanted to do something perfect, or as close as we could make it. So it’s coming out, going to radio here pretty quick, and then we’ll see once we start selling it what happens, but yeah – like Greg said, I think we’ll be able to go out and do some bigger tours, and just keep building it.
Sounds awesome. Well, thank you guys all so much for sitting down with me, this was really fun talking with you.
*Assorted “thank you’s” from the band*
As The World Dies is out now via The Orchard/Sony. Visit: https://www.facebook.com/TraumaThrash/ for more on the band and all the details on the record.