Earlier this year I caught up with Canadian punk rock band, Trashed Ambulance, on the eve of their latest release ‘Future Considerations’ which boasts some huge 90s punk rock sounds.
Here’s my interview with Josh Hauta from Trashed Ambulance in its entirety.
Interview with Josh Hauta from Trashed Ambulance
: Hi Josh, how are you going right now? How is this chaotic world treating you?
Josh Hauta: Hi. I’m doing great! It has definitely been a chaotic couple of years but I have gotten a lot accomplished and looking forward to upcoming adventures. Trashed Ambulance (the band) is on a bit of a break right now while we do Summer wedding stuff but we’ll be back at it in a couple weeks!
: Where in the world are you from?
Josh Hauta: Our band is based in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada but the 3 of us grew up all over Canada. Riley (drums) was a bit of an army brat who spent his formative years in Oshawa, Ontario. Ozone (bass) grew up on in Charlottetown, PEI, and I was raised in the tiny logging town of Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan. We all met up in Red Deer and this is where Trashed Ambulance HQ is.
: What projects are you currently working on?
Josh Hauta: Trashed Ambulance released a new full length record back in July called Future Considerations so we have been pushing it out there pretty hard. We have CDs in hand and vinyl will show up eventually. In the meantime, we are playing all over Western Canada to try to promote it and can hopefully venture further from home next year.
Ozone and I also run a small DIY punk label called High End Denim Records and had a busy Summer signing bands and helping them get their music out to the masses. We look forward to watching the label grow and of course, continuing to make new fans of Trashed Ambulance so we can travel to far away lands to play our songs.
RELATED: Trashed Ambulance Drops ‘Future Considerations’ (Album Review)
: How did you first get started?
Josh Hauta: Trashed Ambulance was formed in 2014 and has gone through a number of member changes to become the band it is today. My parents got me a bass guitar around the turn of the millennium and I began jamming with an older friend of the family. Thanks to such free recording programs like N-Track Studio, I was able to record some hilarious demos that ignited my passion for writing and recording my own music.
I played in a punk band in the later years of high school and reunited with a member of that band once I moved to Alberta. We began playing shows and I haven’t stopped the madness since. I’m still no Eddie van Halen but I like to think I’ve improved a bit since those olden days.
: What’s your favourite era of creative work by other artists?
Josh Hauta: I am enamored by the 90s. There is just something about that era of art that I just can’t get over. 90’s skate punk, specifically, is my favourite style of music ever and I find myself revisiting the films from that timeframe quite often. Some may say it’s just nostalgia but I truly believe they were making some quality art back then. Don’t get me wrong; there was no shortage of shit created in that decade but all in all, most of it speaks to me and I’m happy to keep carrying the torch here in 2022.
: Are you more of a horror or sci-fi nerd? What are your go to films to check out?
Josh Hauta: I’d say probably sci-fi but I haven’t seen a lot of new films in the genre. The last movie I scoped in theatres was ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ and it was pretty rad. I don’t know what genre that bonkers film would be classified as but if you haven’t seen it, I’d say scarf an edible and throw it on and see what happens to your brain.
I do like some old horror movies too though. ‘The People Under the Stairs’ is one of the greatest movies ever made. That’s my hot take. I’d say fantasy is my favourite genre, whether its good old space fantasy like Star Wars or classic JRPGs that I wish I had more time to play as an adult with a job and family and what not.
: Who are your main creative influences and what aspects of your creative work can we find them in?
Josh Hauta: As far as the sonic influences of my current band, I’d say the 90’s punk darlings like Lagwagon, Pulley, and Face to Face are the bands we are compared to. Maybe not so much the first one as their technical skill level is leap years ahead of ours but I’d be remiss not to consider them an inspiration.
In my early songwriting days, I was influenced heavily by old Modest Mouse (weird chords) and At The Drive-in (nonsensical lyrics). I’ve kind of shed the latter style in current days but still try to write music that’s a little weird. All in all, we try to write songs that are a tribute to the bands we love without just being a sad imitation.
People are going to make whatever comparisons they want but gotta try not to make it blatantly obvious. Since I have a young daughter, I was even accidentally influenced by a song from ‘Moana’ on the new album and no, I will not be elaborating on that statement.
: Who are your go to musical jams to put on while you’re working?
Josh Hauta: I usually listen to punk playlists and podcasts when I’m at my day job (beer salesman) and on tour, I make my bandmates listen to Rob Zombie because figure it out, guys.
: What strengths in previous jobs have helped strengthen your creativity?
Josh Hauta: I was an electrician for a decade, before I went back to school and changed careers, so I being able to untangle cords quickly has served me well as a musician. But if anyone asks me to go into a crawl space or an attic to do electrical work, I am retired and hell no, I won’t do that.
I was always a fairly creative person so my life experience hasn’t really added to that aside from meeting characters who say odd things that I steal for lyrics or song names. Going back to school for marketing and communications has been a positive for the band as it has forced me to step out of my shell and make new connections.
As much as “networking” for your band seems lame, your will never go anywhere if you don’t get out there and let people know what you’re doing!
: What weaknesses have you identified in your current project that you’re going to work on in the future?
Josh Hauta: I will probably never be happy with how my dumb voice sounds but I can probably get away with it more since we are a punk band and our audience is more forgiving. I will keep working on improving but most importantly, we will keep working together to write music we enjoy playing that will hopefully turn a few heads.
We never expect to change the world with our tunes but it sure feels nice getting compliments from people who aren’t our Moms.
: Let’s talk about some memories that you had when you first started getting creative? How has this changed from childhood to adolescence to creating as an adult?
Josh Hauta: I had an older brother and sister so they had me reading and writing at a fairly young age. Watching my older brother playing Maniac Mansion and Dragon Warrior on the NES probably boosted my desire to learn to read and it wasn’t long before I was able to understand such iconic phrases as “Bernard, don’t be a tunahead” and “Thou art dead.”
There is plenty of evidence still in existence of me writing poems and short stories for my family to enjoy as a young kid although I hope they never see the light of day. As I got older and began to listening to punk rock and alternative music, the “lyrics” I wrote were just borderline plagiarism of the bands I loved like Bad Religion and Fugazi. I joined many “bands” back then that would basically just be us hanging out and making up album and song names but never actually writing any music.
As I got older and had my own painful (and occasional joyful) experiences, lyric writing became easier and more authentic. These days, I write about what I know and usually leave the political commentary to the smart people. Trashed Ambulance is full of talented musicians (and me) so we just try to make music that’s not boring and cliché. Time will tell if we accomplished that with our latest record.
: What’s the worst nightmare you’ve ever had?
Josh Hauta: When I was a kid I would have a reoccurring night terror where my little brother and I ran ahead of my parents in a hotel and an evil doppelganger of my mom would try to abduct us. I would wake up screaming and my parents would have to calm me down. Eventually, it stopped happening and these days, I don’t really have any horrific dreams anymore. Let’s hope that trend continues!
: Do you have a favourite soft drink?
Josh Hauta: I don’t drink a lot of pop but Dr. Pepper is pretty damn tasty.
: Who’s your favourite telepath or gifted character in pop culture?
Josh Hauta: I always liked Neo in the Matrix. I still haven’t watched the 3rd or 4th movies though. Am I missing out? I didn’t much care for the 2nd so I didn’t bother with those ones.
: Which creative work would you most like to be remembered for?
Josh Hauta: Hopefully, people feel something when they hear the tunes I’ve had a hand in writing. Like I said earlier in this interview, it’s such a cool feeling when you find out your music means something to someone you’ve never met. The music I make is not for everyone but I just hope it’s for someone!
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