There’s a great deal of fierceness and charisma in Trashy Annie’s latest album, ‘Let it Kill You’. Embracing a wholesome and fuzzy traditional rock’n’roll ethos, the Austin-based outfit also enjoys a wide range of influences, with occasional hints of 80s-leaning glam-rock and old-school punk allure interlaced by playful folk fiddles. Whichever way you look at it, the album feels hard-hitting, chaotic and rowdy, a slice of unapologetic euphoria delivered by the bold vocals of head honcho Annie Davis.
The face of the entire project, and the driving force behind it, Davis has rallied a strong audience around her, tackling the music industry at the venerable age of 40. It turns out that art doesn’t discriminate, and Trashy Annie’s musical output is way more interesting than a large number of teenage outfits out there. Perhaps it’s due to Davis’ lyrical wisdom; she has something real to say, and she sure does know how to entice a fandom. ‘Let it Kill You’ is the perfect evidence of that, and we are confident that Trashy Annie will grow even further in the next few years.
Intrigued by the American group, we caught up with Annie Davis to learn more about her personal journey and her overall artistry. Interview below!
Hey Annie, thanks for chatting with us! I have dived into your online presence and your music a fair bit, and I am now curious: how do you manage to maintain such a positive and euphoric character? What motivates you in bringing healthy rock’n’roll to the masses?
Thank you so much! I started writing for myself. I had a lot of stuff I wanted to get out of my head when I got into songwriting. And originally, I never really intended to put anything out into the world. But as I got deeper into it, I realised I had something to say. I’ll never forget the first message I got from a fan online who said, ‘Your music makes me feel less alone.’ And I knew right then and there that this was the path I wanted to take.
We all have regret and pain and love and joy and fear and a million different emotions in us, but so many of us don’t talk about these things out loud. Music is a great connector of human emotion. And when I started writing, I just couldn’t stop. When people started resonating with the lyrics and the music, and the message behind Trashy Annie, I knew it was what I was put here to do. I want people to feel like they can be themselves, exactly the way they are, no matter what anybody else has to say about it. A lot of my music talks about empowerment, especially when it comes to females, outliers of society, and misfits. Because I’m one of those people, too. Everybody has a place in this world, and I want people to know that through my music.
Is it true that you taught yourself guitar in your 40s? Is that also when you started writing songs?
Yes! I bought my first drum kit in 2019, and started teaching myself to play because I had always wanted to play drums. I played the trumpet as a kid and put myself through college on a trumpet scholarship, but drums are my spirit animal! That being said, nobody (and I mean nobody) wants to play with a new drummer, and when COVID hit, it made it extra hard to get people together. So I picked up a guitar and decided I wanted to learn to play so I could write one song, go to an open mic, sing it, and conquer this fear I’d had my entire life of singing in front of people.
I had never done karaoke or sung a note in front of anyone, so I wanted to do it once and feel like I had conquered something big. I wrote my song, and I went down to an open mic at New World Deli in Austin, Texas, and that was the beginning of the end for me. I fell headfirst right back in love with music in the way I had loved it as a kid, and I realised that all of the poetry I had written when I was young made sense in the context of music as an adult. So I started writing and learning more chords on the guitar just so that I could write music. By the time COVID lifted, I had a lot of content and was able to put a band together and start gigging.
I’d love to know about your preferred musical icons; are there any artists that have particularly inspired you along the way?
This is always a hard question for me because I think I’ve been influenced by a lot of people. I used to listen to Simon & Garfunkel endlessly as a kid, but I also loved Joan Jett, NWA, Eminem and a million singer-songwriter type artists. I really run the gamut when it comes to musical influences, and I think that is reflected in both of my albums…
Whenever I am in a writing rut, I will pull up a playlist in some genre that I’ve never written in before and see what I can do. My new album has a metal song on it called ‘MIGRAINE’, and that was my first attempt at writing metal. I think it came out great. It even has a song with a little bit of hip-hop/rap influence on it called ‘Big Red Bow’ – that is probably my favourite on the album.
Since you just mentioned it, let’s delve deeper into ‘Let it Kill You’, Trashy Annie’s latest album. It’s exactly how we were expecting to be: a relentless, rowdy and rebellious record with a great deal of lyrical intensity. What are some of the common themes in it? Are you proud of how the album turned out?
I’m so proud of this album. I like it at least as much as ‘Sticks and Stones’, if not a little bit more, although I love them both. I think it has a common theme with ‘Sticks and Stones’ in that it is a little bit of a mixtape of an album. It runs the gamut from metal to hip-hop, to country and southern rock, to straight-up rock and roll with a heavy edge. The central theme is always the lyrical content for me, because I’m a lyricist at my core. It’s got some humour, some edge, some sadness, some joy, and a little bit of heartbreak in it.
Can you take us into your songwriting process? Do you usually write alone or with others? Are there any collaborators on the production side?
I typically write alone, although I started collaborating with a dear friend of mine who just passed away a couple of weeks ago, named Thommy Price. He was Joan Jett’s drummer for 40 years and also played with Billy Idol on Rebel Yell and a bunch of other rock legends. He was an amazing human being and an incredible drummer. We got about halfway through writing an album, so I will be finishing that one by myself as a tribute to Thommy.
That’s the first time I’ve really collaborated with anybody on the songwriting process. On the production side, I have an amazing team. I work with P.H. Naffah and Jeff Lusby-Breault out of Arizona, and I work with Chris ‘Frenchie’ Smith out of Austin. They are the ones who really help me bring these songs to life.
You seem to have rallied an enthusiastic crowd around the project. Are you satisfied with people’s reaction to your music?
Yes! The response has been amazing. My favourite thing about this project is the variety of fans we get. We play motorcycle rallies, college bars, art school parties, gay clubs, you name it. And I love that about this music. There is so much heaviness in the world, so much negativity, so many things that everybody is concerned about. I love that we can put a show together where we get people from all walks of life that might not normally interact with each other, singing side by side at the top of their lungs and just enjoying the human experience together.
Looking at your flourishing career and life experience, what’s the one piece of advice you’d give to an up-and-coming artist? Anything important you learnt along the way?
I don’t think there is enough paper in the world to talk through all of the things I’ve learned in the short amount of time I’ve been in this industry. My biggest piece of advice is never write for anybody else. Write for yourself, and you will find your audience. Be authentic and genuine in what you do and what you write about, and don’t compromise because somebody else tells you that you need to do it their way.
Always be open to new ideas and the creative process because the songs are always better when you get other people bringing new perspectives to the mix. But you should never write for other people. That will take the entire soul out of the music and will end up just being a job for you. Be vulnerable. Be yourself. Be fearless.
