December 28, 2001

Makin' Noise

The Trigger Locks' New Album

Blasts Country Convention

By Joshua Kors

St. George, UT — Classify the Trigger Locks at your own risk.

Recently the readers of the Salt Lake City Weekly dared to do just that, labeling the quintet "Utah's Best Country Band." Nate Torgerson, the group's guitarist and singer, couldn't help but chuckle at that distinction: Sure, he and his bandmates wear boots. But Torgerson has always insisted the Locks stand for rock jams, not hoe downs.

Now he has an album to prove it.

"Gold @ Anything," the Trigger Locks' sophomore release, provides a string of tunes so diverse, it plays like a compilation CD from a host of rock talents. While songs like "Messenger" stroll along with the folk-country feel of their first album, "Broken Halo," other tracks like "Show a Little Leg" march to a thrash-influenced drummer. The album even sports the ditty "Loaded Gun," which — far from sounding country-esque — plays like a title from a lost Beatles record.

Which is just the way Torgerson likes it. "The only thing I care about," he said, "is not making the same record twice. Cause if you repeat yourself, what's the point?"

It's that adventurous spirit that drives the band, said Sean Taylor, who strokes the black and white keys on the Trigger Locks' new album. Especially in concert, he said, the band members play without a destination in mind. They go where the music takes them, and the result, in Taylor's words, is "raw, unpolished."

"In Utah there aren't really many 'let go and have fun' bands, but that's what we do," Taylor said. "We're no frills and no gimmicks. We're makin' noise. None of us goes out there pretending to be somebody they're not."

That means you'll never find Taylor donning the zebra-print pants and designer gold chains of the common rock star. Which is just as well: He would hardly be able to afford them anyway. Like his four bandmates, Taylor keeps a day job to pay the rent. Actually, the pianist keeps two -- one as a welder, the other as a trucker for Kings Trucking in St. George. The trucking company gives Taylor cargo to haul from gig to gig, including stops to the stages of Odgen, Logan and Sacramento, Calif.

Along that route, the band has picked up its share of devoted Trigger-heads. Ryan Sevy liked the band so much, he moved in with two of its members.

"They're the Rolling Stones, but more modern — rock 'n' roll, but danceable. I've watched them go from a 'just mediocre' band to something really awesome," said Sevy, who estimates he's been to 10 Locks concerts in the last year. "Their harmonies are really tight and their lyrics are catchy. I listen to their album all the time."

Apparently he isn't the only one. At their concerts down in Dixie, Sevy said, he notices a lot of "girl groupies," all of whom know all the songs.

But Torgerson knows that making it in the music business will take more than a clutch of fans — it'll take sales, too. And as an independent band without the name recognition of MTV's stars, the Trigger Locks have an uphill climb in that category. The band has struggled to turn "Gold @ Anything" into anything resembling gold.

At the CD Warehouse in St. George, the store has sold only one copy of the Locks' latest album. Jacob Smith, a retailer at the Warehouse, said sales are always slow for Dixie-based bands. Smith placed "Gold @ Anything" in a prominent rack by the cash register — alongside "Home Grown 2," a compilation by local artists — but his efforts, he said, have been for naught.

"I try hard to support local music, but it's hard. All people care about are the Britney Spearses and 'N Syncs of the world," Smith said. "Local music just doesn't fly out the door like other albums."

Torgerson has a theory why that's so: His band hasn't penetrated the radio like the top commercial bands. "It doesn't matter if the music's good," he said. "If it gets played on the radio, people are going to buy it."

Torgerson has been working, then, to stake his band's claim to the FM dial. Already the Trigger Locks have secured some airplay on Salt Lake's KRCL 90.9. They are also getting their sound out there by performing twice a week.

"St. George needs some culture, some tradition," Taylor said. And the Trigger Locks, it seems, will do anything to provide their share of it. Last New Year's Eve, when there were no venues left open, the band built their own stage in Washington Fields, along Old Dam Road. "We built it out of lumber, then pulled a trailer in and a flat bed truck and told people to come," Taylor said. "It was word of mouth, basically. And it was my first show with the band. We probably had about a 100 people out there."

This New Year's Eve the Trigger Locks won't have to work nearly as hard: They're already slated to play St. George's Homegrown Stage on Tabernacle Street, part of the official First Night festivities.