Carhartt WIP Radio: Trent Evans - PASS~PORT Special
Click here to listen to the Pass~Port radio show.
For Spring/Summer 2019, Carhartt WIP has partnered with Australian skate brand PASS~PORT on an exclusive collection, comprised of twelve co-branded pieces as well as three skate decks. To coincide with this, we asked the brand’s founder, Trent Evans, to conduct a Carhartt WIP Radio special.
Much like the collaborative collection, which took inspiration from Australia’s Northern Territory, Evans’ approach to this mix drew heavily from the music of his homeland. The resulting selection is diverse in its sound, with music by the likes of tropical drum machine wizard Document Swell, twisted house seducer Andras, Neo-New-Waver Kirkis from Melbourne, and industrial darkwaver Buzz Kull from Sydney. Their music is intermingled with rock and post-punk infused songs by bands like Display Homes and Low Life.
To accompany the Carhartt WIP Radio PASS~PORT special by Trent Evans, we called him up Down Under and had a little chat with him about the tunes he selected and how sound in general influences his creative output.
What part does music play in your work?
Trent Evans: It’s so important, I listen to music ideally from the time I get up, till the time I go to bed if I am working or creating all day at home or in the studio. So, it literally just goes hand in hand. That feeling of finding a new song or artist or an entire new movement in music is literally the best.
Tell us about the show you’ve created.
Trent Evans: The only guidelines we’re that it had to be Australian, so that kept it nice and simple for me. I wanted to get the Melbourne based punk-slash-rock 'n' roll band GOD and their song MY PAL on the playlist (please check that track out), but I didn’t get a 100% yes from Joel from the band sadly.
What makes the Australian music scene special?
Trent Evans: I think artist in Australia work a lot hard then others, as it’s so limiting where we are located. At the same time, I think that really pushes artists to be insanely experimental and forward-thinking with their sounds and direction – not just the “same old shit.” There’s so many talented artists really trying to create new styles, new sounds, new directions.
What’s your favorite skate video of all time?
Trent Evans: Hmm, hard one. I’d probably have to say Foundation – Art Bars Subtitles and Seagulls. Something about that video changed my idea of skateboarding, skateboarding videos, animations, music – it all just clicked after I watched that.
Does the music in the mix reflect the Carhartt WIP PASS~PORT collection and your work at large? If so, how?
Trent Evans: I guess it does in some ways. I think this collection and PASS~PORT as a brand has a lot of diversity in terms of of mood, textures, subject matter and so on. So, to me, the playlist is a fist full of different genres, sounds, and ideas.
Can you name us your five favourite Australian songs that are perfect to skate too?
Trent Evans: I don’t really skate with headphones in – too sketchy.
But some really nice Australian tracks would be:
Icehouse: Hey Little Girl (Chrysalis, 1982)
Blekbala Mujik: Mibala Yubala (CAAMA Music, 1995)
The Reels: Return (K-Tel, 1982)
Mental as Anything: Live it up! (Regular Records, 1984)
And any tracks from Jackson Briggs & the Heaters.
What’s your favorite music video of all time?
Trent Evans: Maybe not my favorite, but an absolute classic track and video is David Bowie's Let’s Dance. It was filmed in a town with one pub in Australia, in the middle of nowhere.
