UN: Trauma are a fairly new band starting sometime in 2003. Can you go through a history for the band? Were any of you guys in bands prior to Trauma?

Bob: Johnny and I were in a band called Your Blood My Tears. We were playing a battle of the bands that Danny and Tom were judges for. They were in a band called A*D*D and when we met them, they were known as Silent Scream. They gave us second to last place, and then asked us to start a side project. Ha Ha The four of us practiced a couple times and we showed them some songs that we didn’t show YBMT. Danny knew Jay from his previous band, The Scrimmage Heroes, and thought he would be the perfect fit for the new project. Jay came to one practice to see if he’d be interested and the rest is history.

UN: Did you know from the start what you’d be exploring musically with Trauma? There seems to be an almost anything goes approach to the band. You guys explore quite a few genres and never fall victim to any of the clichés. Was it apparent from the start that you’d be playing hard to classify music?

Bob: In almost all of our previous projects, Johnny and I had tried to do the same thing, the whole genre blending approach. We were happy to find out that the rest of the guys in this band were even more open armed about the idea.

UN: Would you say that dynamics play a huge part in the Trauma sound? I liked how the band uses a lot clean guitars and also the combination of clean vocals and screaming produced a lot of dynamics.

Bob: Yes, if the dynamics never change the song can get really boring.

UN: When did Strike First come into the picture? Do you think that once you get the ball rolling with the band, the bands next release will be on Facedown Records? Strike First seems to be where they get the bands name out there.

Bob: Once we start touring more and develop a larger fan base, we hope to graduate to Facedown. We still have to prove our worthiness and that’s exactly what we plan to do.

UN: I found that the MCD has a very unique cover. How does the cover art fit in with the title of the CD, Solidarity? Is there a concept behind the album name?

Bob: There really isn’t actually. We just told the graphic designer what we were looking for, and after a while he came up with what we have now. I will, however, let you in on a little secret. When we write a second full-length album, we want it to be a concept album, like Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”.

UN: I found that the female vocals on the closing track really added a lot to the song. Who contributed the vocals to the song? How did the idea come about? You hear the odd band try to incorporate something like that, but it rarely works as well as it did on this particular track.

Bob: Carol Heller from Get The Girl did the vocals on that song. Jay actually came up with that idea, but we didn’t want it to sound like Evanescence. Though some may argue that it does, I don’t think Carol sounds anything like Amy Lee, I don’t mean that in a bad way. We are very pleased with how the track turned out. THANK YOU CAROL!!!! Trauma loves you!!!

UN: Would you say that the crowd at Facedown Fest was the biggest crowd that you’ve ever played in front of? Do you think this was an awesome opportunity to expose the band to a lot of people that might not have heard the band? Would you say this was the best show you’ve played so far?

Bob: Yes as of now, that is the biggest crowed we’ve ever played in front of and of course it was a great opportunity. That many people that have yet to hear us in one room, come on, I almost wet my Depends. I wouldn’t say that it was the best show we’ve ever played, but it was one of the greatest experiences.

UN: Do you think that being from Southern California might be a big help for the band? It seems like California is a breeding ground for interesting heavy music combining hardcore and metal music.

Bob: Regardless if So Cal is or is not considered a breeding ground for the metal core combo, its really hard to get anywhere out here. It’s mainly due to the amount of bands around here. It’s so hard to have a show because there are about 500 others on the same day. So I wouldn’t exactly say that we benefit from where we live. But I would say that it makes us work that much harder.

UN: Since the EP was written and recorded a while ago; does the band have any new material together yet? Has the band grown at all in the past little while? Can we expect anything new?

Bob: We have been writing new songs. We are scrutinizing them though, mainly cause we know we’re not gonna have a new CD out for a while. So, we take the time that we have and make sure that the songs will be as best as we possibly can make them. We do play some of the new songs live. We’re still supporting the E.P. so we have to keep playing those songs.

UN: Trauma is still a young band with a long career ahead of them. Is this something that you guys would want to do full time? Is the band willing to commit and put in the time on the road that is needed for a young band to become known in the scene?

Bob: Of course, this is all we are and this is all we want to do. It’s a little bit harder for us because at our ages and Jay being married. We have to take secured steps so we don’t end up out on tour broke or broke when we get home. It’s a bit harder for all of us, but we look forward to everything God has in store for this band.