Song Of The Day: Got Trash? — “Johnny, Do You Play Baseball?”

Check Out The Alluring, Mountain Goats-Like Third Track Off The Upstart DIY Denton Band Got Trash?’s Home-Recorded Debut Release.

Welcome to Song of the Day, where we hip you to all the new local releases you should be caring about. By highlighting one new North Texas-sprung tune every week day, our hope is that you’ll find something new to love about the rich and abundant DFW music scene five days a week.

Got Trash? — “Johnny, Do You Play Baseball?”
RIYL: throwing a rock and hitting a great DIY band in Denton.
What else you should know: Denton’s Got Trash? describes its music as what you’d get if you tried to “imagine the Mountain Goats but with more daddy issues.” It’s actually a pretty spot-on and humorous take on the band’s sound, which also has a Front Bottoms sort of feel.

The acoustic-guitar-and-drums duo of Dade Robison and Tristan Strickland released its home-recorded debut album, Church of the Trash Day Saints, on Halloween. As we wrap up 2019, let’s take a look at “Johnny, Do You Play Baseball?”

Over the course of its less-than-three-minute run, the song jumps around to three different tempos. It starts off with a desolate country feel in the beginning, then develops an upbeat train beat and finishes things off with a slower, mid-tempo beat. With a banjo and a beautiful harmony mixed in to the chorus, the tune is quite the ear-grabber.

Lyrically, it absolutely nails the aforementioned “Mountain Goats but with more daddy issues” vibe. The first verse alone features the following lines: “Teach me how to walk / Tell me where I stand / Teach me how to talk / Tell me who I am / Show me how to break / How to be a man / Changing for the worst / Losing all my friends.”

Got Trash? is a pretty new band, having formed in 2018, and they definitely have an admirable DIY punk work ethic in its aesthetic. But it’s not rehashing a punk rock sound here; its songs are tuneful, and its lyrics are frank and honest.

The Denton house show scene has produced many wonderful sounds throughout the years. Got Trash? appears a worthy successor to that lineage.

Cover photo via Got Trash?’s Facebook page.