Zack
Zack is Elijah’s twin brother, and together they formed the band.
He sings and plays electric guitar, because
an acoustic guitar just isn’t loud enough.
He has written all the music and lyrics for The Trash Patrol with his brother, but Elijah says that he did most of the work in writing their songs. Who can say? It’s sort of a Lennon/McCartney thing if you ask Zack.
His primary interests are hard and classic rock music, punk, emo, and hardcore. His favorite songs are to write are fun, fast, hard and loud. Any moments of tenderness or pianissimo are either because of Elijah’s influence, or purely by mistake.
The two brothers constantly butt heads, and the band has almost broken up multiple times due to the friction between them. Their mutual love of music and their aspirations of greatness have kept the band in tact, even after years of hardship and struggle. The fact that they managed to finish their debut album “Underestimated” is a miracle. Honestly, everyone expected them to kill each other before it was done.
Zack’s confidence and fun-loving attitude is infectious, and he’s the only one who can pull Elijah out of a bad mood (usually). Even though he can be a little loud and wild during inappropriate moments, no one has the heart to tell him to knock it off, since he’s just so darn positive all the time, y’know?
If anyone else in the band is feeling uninspired, afraid, or unable to perform, all they need to do is look to Zack to pick them up and lead them. He believes in himself, but more than that, believes in his brother and his bandmates with unwavering loyalty.
Birthday: February 28th
Species: Raccoon
Favorite food: Hot wings
Reason to play music: Having fun, impressing girls
Always kept in pockets: A guitar pick and self-made business card
(It doesn’t look great)
elijah
Elijah is Zack’s twin brother, and together they formed the band.
He sings and plays acoustic guitar, and sometimes plays electric guitar when the music requires a more nuanced touch.
He writes almost all the lyrics and some of the music for the band, although Zack would claim that he actually adds the most to the band’s sound and vibe. Neither can really agree on who contributes more, but Elijah’s lyrics are the backbone of all their songs. That’s got to count for something, right?
His favorite kinds of music are more on the alternative, pop, progressive and folk side. He cares deeply about the integrity of his art, and is a perfectionist at heart. Elijah is a quiet and relatively subdued musician, who prefers to spend most of his time in his room or studio working on his next song. Public speaking is not his strength, and when he does it, things can get real awkward real fast. I mean, really awkward, really fast.
Elijah is intensely curious about all kinds of music, and says that every genre has great songs in them. One of his biggest strengths is his ability to find something to love in everything and everyone, although he can get rather moody and judgmental towards himself. In fact the only person he regularly criticizes is Zack, whose goofy, laid-back approach to recording and writing songs constantly seems to annoy Elijah. Paulie thinks Elijah is just jealous of Zack’s ability to be confident and productive without beating himself up in the process. He might be right about that. Maybe.
His sincerity is both a strength and a weakness, and his inability to read social cues is legendary. He is his own greatest critic and often gets lost in daydreams, but when he needs to work, he is more focused than a super-computer. Although he argues with his brother, he readily admits he’d never have found the courage to perform a song in front of anyone if it wasn’t for Zack’s encouragement and belief in him. It isn’t easy to break through Elijah’s shell, but if you do, he’ll be a sweet and caring friend who will always listen when you need him.
Just be prepared for him to steal your stories and use them in his lyrics. Everything is fair game when it comes to writing lyrics, after all.
Birthday: February 28th
Species: Raccoon
Favorite food: Mushroom risotto
Reason to play music: Self-expression, mastering difficult hobbies
Always kept in pockets: Breath mints, a notepad
lynn
Lynn was raised as a good old fashion country mouse on a farm by a respectable family who’d hoped she’d grow up to be happy as a farmer like them.
However, at a young age, she showed an intense interest in making loud noises while laughing to herself. This was the beginning of the end. Her mother and father did everything they could to try to encourage her in a more positive direction—enrolling her in choirs, community theater programs, even ballet. Nothing really stuck, and Lynn lacked direction and focus.
No one knew she’d been secretly practicing the drums after school in an old abandoned warehouse at the edge of town. She’d found the magical music of the west coast thanks to the radio: Punk, ska, and funk. It thoroughly infected her soul, and she wanted nothing more than to join that scene while banging away on the drums on stage. Although she practiced in private, she was getting very good, very quickly.
A friend of hers found her drumming one day, and made the mistake of telling her parents about it. They did not approve, and in a fit of rage and misery, she ran away to the west coast with nothing but her drumsticks, the clothes on her back, and the hopes of joining a band.
It didn’t go well. After a few weeks of struggling on her own working as a waitress in a diner, she happened to meet a retired rock bassist named Paulie, his wife, and 3 kids. They were the only ones to treat her like a person instead of a servant. They tipped well, chatted about music, and became friends. When Paulie’s wife found out that she was on the verge of being homeless, she insisted that she come live with them in their spare bedroom.
Overwhelmed with emotions of gratitude, she took the family up on their offer and did everything she could around the house to repay them for their generosity. Of course, in a musical house like that, jam sessions with Paulie were inevitable, and after encouragement from the whole family, the two decided they needed to actually perform together. They searched around town and found Zack and Elijah, who were eager to work with the talented duo. The rest is history.
After finding success with the boys and finding real joy for the first time in her life, her family came looking for her and eventually found their estranged daughter performing at a concert sounding like a genuine rock star. The family was so impressed and so relieved that she was safe and happy, that they reconnected and mended their broken relationship with her. She may not have grown up to be a farmer like them, but she was happier than they’d ever seen her before, and they’d never been more proud.
To this day, she still enjoys making loud noises while laughing.
Birthday: October 6th
Species: Mouse
Favorite food: Grilled cheese sandwiches
Reason to play music: Loud noises are cool, dude
Always kept in pockets: A picture of her and her 2 younger sisters, kiwi-flavored lip-balm
paulie
Paulie is the bassist and unofficial papa of the band. His unshakable demeanor and unbreakable calm is exactly what the younger members of the band have come to rely on during times of stress and uncertainty.
In his younger days, he was a member of his own band, and enjoyed moderate success touring around the country. However, after getting married to his high-school sweetheart and starting a family, his fellow bandmates weren’t thrilled with his life choices. He started pulling away from them, preferring to spend time with his family instead of partying or constantly rehearsing. He tried as hard as he could to maintain a good work and family balance, but ultimately his band started to shun him and exclude him from creative decisions. He stopped being valued as the hardworking and talented musician he was, even poking fun at him and his family life. Enough was enough, and instead of continuing to be disrespected and forgotten, he left the band.
Not long after he left, the band replaced him with a younger, less talented bassist, and they lucked into a major record deal. Their massive success was a hard pill for Paulie to swallow. He wondered if he really was holding the band back, or if he’d missed out on an amazing opportunity by leaving the band. But, every time he glanced at his wife and kids, he knew he made the right decision.
After settling down and putting the music industry behind him, he decided to open up a record store. He quickly curated an impressive collection of popular and underground music, which he was always happy to recommend to youngsters looking for cool unknown bands that would quickly become their next obsession. The hours were long, the money wasn’t great, and the customers were often annoying, but Paulie took it all in stride and stayed grateful for his family as he worked to provide for them.
You could find him and his family at their favorite local diner every Thursday night, where they found Lynn working as a struggling waitress. After becoming friends with her, and realizing that she was a great musician herself, and realizing she was going to be homeless soon, Paulie and his wife became her second set of parents. After lots of jam sessions and the realization that he wanted to give music one more try, they found Zack and Elijah and began performing together.
The young members of The Trash Patrol love Paulie and his entire family, and always respect his time with them. Rehearsals are often family affairs as Paulie’s kids run around wherever they’re practicing, causing mischief as they go. They wouldn’t have it any other way.
Birthday: August 13th
Species: Opossum
Favorite food: Breakfast burritos (as dinner)
Reason to play music: Providing for his family, recapturing the glory days
Always kept in pockets: Car keys, sugar-free candy-bar wrappers
