“Where Dreams Cum True” by Ryan Avery
My first time at The Trunk Space was May 28th, 2004, roughly a month after the space first opened. My “band”, Locking Your Car Doors, was playing this show.
I vaguely remember JRC. He was upset about how many “members of the band” there were. We played a mix CD and danced around the room in front of 5-10 people. Back then, there wasnt a stage or much of a PA system. It was a lot like playing in a living room. We didnt stick around for any of the other bands, because everyone hated us at that show and there was a better show happening at The Brickhouse.
Maybe about a month later, my best friend Emily and I found out about a Quintron & Miss Pussycat show that was happening at The Trunk Space, that had been moved there from Modified. We were so excited, we showed up an hour early and dressed as nicely as possible to try and impress our heroes. Turns out the show was moved AGAIN to the Arizona Puppet Theater. Steph, JRC and all their puppet/improv/geeky friends were having a fun, pre-Quintron party, puppet show at The Trunk Space, then they were caravaning to the puppet theater. They were amazed that someone they didnt know was there, let alone knew who Quintron was and said we could get in two for the price of one. So we paid $5, watched a few minutes of a puppet show and then left. I remember JRC was wearing a Cure t-shirt and I thought Steph was really cute and weird. I was no longer intimidated by them or their weird venue/gallery.
I attended 2-3 more shows at The Trunk Space before booking my first show there, which was for the ska band, The Debonaires.
If I remember correctly, this show did really well. Or at least, Steph and JRC thought it was, because after this show they let me do shows there whenever I wanted to and for whoever I wanted. And in the next two years, I spent over 130 nights there.
Some of the most memorable and life changing and inspiring shows and performances/experiences have been at this wonderful place. One of which was the first Hammered Dr. Desctructo New Years Reunion Show!
Hammered Dr. Destructo was a surprise, that wasnt announced until a couple days before the show. Only 30 or so people attended and it was mostly noise bands. Emily organized this show and I remember Steph and JRC being so incredibly impressed she could get 30 paying customers to a “noise show”. Afterwords they would say to us, over and over again, “What was the Galactic Federation of Love doing on that show again?” This was the first show I can think of where I saw Treasure Mammal perform sober, Ex-Jesus was pretty terrible, Oscillating Innards and Rainbow Blanket where so mesmerizing, The Galactic Federation of Love was incredible as always and it felt so, so, so, so good to see H.D.D. again.
There has been so many artists that i have seen grow so much over the years, through shows at the trunk space and it is a lot of fun to remember their first time playing there (or in phoenix in general). For Example; Nobunny (back when he was “Nobunny and the Fabulous Flys”), Dan Deacon, Thanksgiving, French Quarter, Tent City, Soft Shoulder, Red Pony Clock, Whitman, Uggamugga, Parts & Labor, MC Merv, Baby Dee, JJCNV (back when they were known as “Janis Joplin Crap’n'Vomit”), Mika Miko, Parentheatical Girls, Porches,YACHT, The blow, Wildman Fischer, Abe Vigoda, Kimya Dawson, They Shoot Horses Don’t They?, Peelander-Z, Captain Ahab, The Dada Swing, The Mai Shi, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, ZS, Foot Village… the list goes on! And so many of these artists’ first shows at The Trunk Space (or in Phoenix between 2004-2006ish.) had less than 20 people there or even 10 people there!
And then there were a bunch of shows that no one would still probably be at, but were still so amazing. Like the Portland Bike Ensemble, The Radioactive Chickenheads, Quem Quaeritis, Neo-Mantra (aka Piush Prakash), Dogme 95, Coughs, The Fatal Flying Guilloteens, Boogdish, Hardy Harr, The Sandman, Mad Happy, Spires That In the Sunset Rise, Blue Shift, Byron House, Noumena, The Nourishment, Dr. Octopus, El Paso Hot Button, My Little Red Toe, Esmerelda Strange, Realicide, Assacre… holy shit! How could I almost forget about Assacre!?
Then in 2006, I went to portland for two years and when i came back, I saw Skinwalkers, Ray Reeves and Bolt! for the first time and it was pretty amazing and wasnt too long ago.
And so concludes our week of memories! Stick with us til next year and we’ll make even more! -tk