The Wrong Trousers Define Themselves
What can you say about the quirky but talented kids in high school? They’re not confident because they’re not sure where they fit in. They haven’t defined themselves because they don’t have a life-long plan. They don’t know how to express themselves because they have a limited sense of taste. But they want to be amazing artists, have that coolness that transcends their environment. Who pulls that off when they’re in college, much less high school? Okay, Brad Bird. But who else? You’d have to have a lot of confidence, a lot of ability to define yourself, and really good taste.
Anyway, I just had to write this because I just saw a video of The Wrong Trousers, a young San Diego band who have, at least on stage, absolutely nailed it. They pull off a hip adult taste for what’s cool, an artistic sensibility that goes beyond quirkiness and tremendous confidence. And all of them are individually really talented. It’s freaky. They’re like superheroes or something. I really can’t believe they actually exist. Maybe I’m being put on and this is another MySpace hoax.
They play an upright bass, harp and mandolin, which is brilliant. Here they are, The Wrong Trousers:
Check out the rest of their performances on YouTube. By the way, that’s the link to their most popular video and it only has 14,000 views since last November. They’re like these perfectly-drawn characters at the beginning of a very interesting story. I expect to hear them on KCRW any morning and expect them to just grow from there.