Line Traps – Line Traps

British Columbia’s rock ‘n’ roll scene is boiling over with exciting bands – many of them newer, like Vapid, Nervous Talk or the Mants, and a few steadily chugging seasoned acts like Defektors and B-Lines. There’s White Lung too, of course. But while they’ve outgrown smaller local venues and aren’t in Vancouver much to play them anyway, the interconnected web of groups, labels, merch-makers, venues and record shops continues to reinforce itself as it expands.

Line Traps hail from Victoria, the province’s other base camp. For anyone not attune to developments over there, the trio’s eponymous debut LP will come as a gunky, punchy punk surprise. Preceded only by a demo last year, it’s a speedy exorcism of pent-up aggression through garbled shouts and decidedly trashed-out production. “A Spectre is Haunting Texas” recalls the stuttering pace of a Plasmatics cut, while a handful of others, like “Patterns,” “Static Shock” and “In Print,” are rabid proto-hardcore hybrids.

The group willingly presents itself as a messy mash-up: A guy in his “very late 30s” and two early 20s girls. They play a lot of shows, often with the aforementioned acts, and in both cities. But despite living together, they “rarely practice.” Line Traps seem to take not taking themselves seriously quite seriously – they’ve even adopted names. Lots of likeminded bands do this, especially nowadays amid the current rock ‘n’ roll resurgence, but their monikers are so perfect they almost seem stolen from early ’70s LA: Primary singer and self-proclaimed old dude is T. Depression, and the remaining two are bassist Poly Ethylene and drummer S. Pressure.

Line Traps blasts through exceptionally fast; there’s just a single track, “Mannequin,” that reaches two minutes. Each number is so furious, so fueled, as if they need a break to wind back up in between. It’s unlikely they’ve considered any of that, though. They’re running on gritted teeth and irreverence, not strategy.

Line Traps
Line Traps
[Screen Test Studios]