The members of local rock band Water Trash have been playing together for nearly a decade, but its current lineup is only around two years old.
The group — featuring Ryan Hartman (guitar/vocals), Ryan Killen (keyboard), Carter Vannoy (lead vocals/guitar), Cheyenne Raithel (drums), and Victor Tonti (bass) — met through the youth music education group For Those About to Rock Academy. The organization is based out of Ambridge, and run by local musician and producer David Granati, of The Granati Brothers.
“I’ve been playing bands with Victor since I was probably eight or nine,” says Vannoy, who is now 19.
In the past two years, the band has released one EP, Jazz Feet, two full-lengths, Water Trash and No Dice, and performed all over the city, from house venues in Oakland to the Mr. Roboto Project. In mid-June, Water Trash hit the road for a tour spanning Michigan to Washington, D.C. Since each member of the band is working full-time, they planned out tour dates for weekends throughout June and July.
The driving is up to Hartman, who has an internship in Akron, Ohio during the week. “It’s just the five of us, sweating, driving around in my 2011 Honda Odyssey. I’ve got a mom car that I drive my kids, or bandmates, around in,” he says.
Thus far, they have played Detroit, Cleveland, Long Branch, N.J., Lancaster, Pa., Columbus, Ohio, and Huntington and Martinsburg, W.Va. This week, the fivesome plays a show in their hometown, at Spirit. After that they’ll make a couple more stops before finishing the tour back home in Pittsburgh with a set at Verdetto’s for the Deutschtown Music Festival.
“There’s a lot more space to fill [at the shows on tour],” says Vannoy. “At a house show, if 30 or 50 people show up, you’re playing for a packed house, and you’re like ‘this is awesome, I’m like a rock star!”
After the tour wraps up, Water Trash is making plans to record a new album this fall. Killen teased the record, saying the style will change from alt-pop-rock to a more psychedelic sound. The group has plenty of other releases planned for the future as well, with seven more records already partially written.
But for the near future, Water Trash is looking forward to finishing out the summer tour, and continuing to perform in the fall, particularly a Sept. 6 gig at Mr. Smalls, where the band will join Brittney Chantele, Isaiah Small, Jack Swing, and DJ Aunt Buck for the Back to School 2019 festival.
