Chad Walston
Audio By Carbonatix
For many musicians, the opportunity to create the music they want to create in the manner they want to create it is a very difficult goal to realize. There’s always something (or someone) that pops up, it seems, that changes or hinders the recording process, even just a little bit. Recently, though, a new album by longtime Arizona artists, Anger Trade Inc. came to our attention and holy hammers, Batman, this one totally nails it.
“Anger Is a Gift” makes its debut on Saturday, July 29, and to hear Anger Trade Inc.’s main man, Tim Taylor (a.k.a. Timmy Rasta), talk about it, the record is truly the one he’s always wanted to make.
Taylor is no stranger to the local music scene. A long time ago in a music scene that now seems far, far away, Taylor was a member of heavy hitters H8 Inc. and is still technically a member of Valley legends, Zig Zag Black. As Zig Zag’s bass player, Taylor says he knew his role, but needed another outlet. Thus, Anger Trade Inc. was born.
“I was always a heavy [music] guy and in Zig Zag [Black] I didn’t really get a chance to show that a lot. I took on a lot of the business side, you know, T-shirts, booking, management, but I didn’t get to write that much in that band. I didn’t have an outlet, so I started a side project in 2000 and it became Anger Trade Inc.,” Taylor says.
Taylor started Anger Trade Inc. with his friend Mike Shannon, who like Taylor, was also known by another moniker: Mike Hunt.
“[Anger Trade Inc.] came out of our two heads. [Shannon, who died by suicide in 2008] was a great drummer and a great singer. I played guitar and sang, too, so we recorded everything together. Eventually we wanted to play live so we sought some friends to play the parts and [Anger Trade Inc.] turned into a real band,” he explains.
The band’s first effort, “Equal Opportunity Destroyer,” came out in 2002. While that record is quite heavy and worth revisiting, it pales in comparison to the more refined “Anger Is a Gift.” Metal fans from across multiple genres will appreciate this total headbanger for the riffs, killer drums and thought-provoking lyrics. From the get-go, Taylor drives the point home that anger is more than a gift – it’s fuel, too.
On the first track, “ALPHA (Survival of the Sickest),” Taylor uses his gift for brutal yet nuanced lyrics to set the tone for a sonic slugfest that, in many ways, pays homage to the vocals of other great local acts like Pelvic Meatloaf (Rich Fourmy on lead vocals) and Soulfly (Max Cavalera).
Taylor sings: “Build me up / Tear me down / Deep in my heart / This ugly sound / If I fall / Would you lend a hand? / Would you turn your back? / Would you take a stand?”
While the tone of “Anger Is a Gift” often seems pessimistic and, well, angry, it’s also permeated with loss, though there are no overt references to specific people or places. Taylor uses both broad and narrow strokes to tell the story of his life, especially his despair over losing friends and former bandmates like Shannon and, more recently, Tucson resident and bassist Damon Mariscal, who died in 2021.
“I like to write metaphorically. Metaphorically, [Shannon and Mariscal] are all over the record. There’s not a song that they are not ([part of], and the whole album is really a tribute to them. This is the first record we have done in a long time. It wasn’t for lack of material, though. When Mike died, it shook me to my core. Then I met Damon and it lit a fire under my ass, but when he died, it almost broke me,” Taylor says.
Mariscal and Taylor both got COVID in 2021 while working on Anger Trade Inc. music. While both were hospitalized, Mariscal succumbed to the virus.
“I almost felt guilty, in a way, for surviving. I love those guys and think about them every day. It’s rough. I had such a connection with Damon and Mike. These guys were my bandmates, but they were also my brothers. We as humans, we’re selfish in nature, so it bums you out when people die because you want to spend more time with them,” he says.
It is undoubtedly because of this pain that there is no lack of heavy, killer riffs on “Anger Is a Gift.” Taylor, who got his start playing bass, wrote the entire record and as he puts it, “It’s the record I always wanted to make.”
He did have some help from another friend, Thomas Beny, who is not part of the current band lineup but performs as Broken Level. Beny pushed Taylor to take Anger Trade Inc. to deeper levels and helped Taylor expand his skillset by trusting his vocal talent.
“The songs were written already when I took them to [Beny,] but he was helpful. He sprinkled glitter on like five of the songs by changing them ever so slightly, but still so much that they really made the songs that much better,” says Taylor.
Anger Trade Inc.’s current lineup includes Taylor on lead vocals and guitar, bass player Tim Hunsucker, drummer Wyatt Henderson (also in Sleep Signals), and Brooks Rivera on guitar. Even though Taylor is the only original member, he’s excited about what the new lineup can accomplish.
“We’re definitely a band. For a long time, it was just me and all these songs. I thought it would be easy to bring on guys, but it turns out it’s not so easy. I’ve got 20 more songs done, at least in pre-production, and I wanted to bring in my friends, first and foremost, and someone I can spend hours upon hours in a band with, and I wanted them to have something to love. I think we have that,” Taylor says.
With the digital release of the record, Taylor looks forward to getting out and playing more shows in the Valley and across the state. The band will play Friday, July 28, at a secret show here in Phoenix and then again on Saturday, July 29 in Tucson at 191 Toole. Both shows are dedicated to the memory of Mariscal.
