Don’t throw away your old slides from a vacation, or family function. Give them to Jason Trachtenburg. He’ll write lyrics and music about them and perform them live with his wife and daughter.
That’s what the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players does. It sounds weird, but it’s true. With an incredibly unique sound meshing garage rock with alternative grunge and Ben Folds Five, Trachtenburg accomplished his decade-long goal of finding his own sound. Before singing about slides, he joined a band and toured the nation with a bunch of strung-out musicians whom he said didn’t go far. The band he was looking for was right in his home; it only took him a while to notice.
Pre-adolescent daughter Rachel plays the drums and the harmonica. Wife Tina arranges the slides, and Jason plays piano, keyboards, guitar, in addition to singing and writing the music for the performances.
Finding old slides is easy. Trachtenburg claims to find them at almost every garage and yard sale he visits. The Current discussed music and slides with Trachtenburg in a recent interview.
EM – How long has the group been together?
JT – The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players has been together for three years.
EM – Who are your musical influences?
JT – Our musical influences are The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Jimi Hendrix.
EM – Where are you from?
JT – We currently live in the East Village in Manhattan.
EM – Why do you perform?
JT – We do our act because it is our only marketable skill and we feel like we put on an entertaining show. We are a family band, and this act allows us to always be together. Most kids would love to be in a rock band.
EM – Where are you performing?
JT – We will be performing at Maxwell’s in Hoboken on Jan. 26, Feb. 2, and Feb. 9. These shows all start at 3 p.m.
EM – How would you describe your music?
JT – Our music is political pop rock. We’ve been described as Indie-Vaudville. The lyrical content of our songs is based on the contents of discarded slide collections that we’ve acquired from estate sales and thrift shops.
EM – What albums have you released?
JT – We’ve released two CDs. The first was Jason Trachtenburg’s Revolutions per Minute on Orange Recordings. The second is a self-released compilation titled Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players Volume 1.
EM – What are your plans for the future?
JT – The future looks busy with scheduled appearances on WFMU and WNYC. We’re going to be on "Breakfast with the Arts" on A&E, and composing musical interludes for American Movie Classics. We’d like to put out a record on Bar None Records.
EM – Do you expect national exposure soon?
JT – We received our first dose of national exposure on Jan. 3 on Late Nite with Conan O’Brien. We just wrapped up a three-week tour with They Might Be Giants, and we’ll be doing a national tour this spring.
The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players perform at Maxwell’s at 1039 Washington St. in Hoboken on Jan. 26 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $15. For more information call (201) 653-1703 or visit www.slideshowplayers.com. q