1.) The five members of Papertrigger all live together in a house in Roxborough, “up on Ridge” as the locals say. This makes me imagine all of my nephews shacked up together, which in turn kind of makes me want to stop over with a tray of ziti and, like, fold their laundry or something. Actually, they all have day jobs and “it’s less like the Monkees crazy happy funtime house you imagine it to be and more like a really long, heavy episode of ‘Full House,'” says singer/drummer Brian Dwyer.
2.) Vital stats on Papertrigger: Guitarist/sax player Joshua Taylor, 22, is the one with all the hair, and once ate six Wawa Breakfast Sizzli sammiches in under two minutes. (Now that’s talent, folks.) Dwyer, 23, describes himself as a rhythmic hunk o’ man but alas, “a violent eunuch.” Pianist/singer Chris Manglos, 23, recently expanded his pant size from 33″ to 34.” Impressed? You should be! (No word on any Wawa Sizzlis are to blame.) Adam Smith, 24, handles bass guitars, bass drums and other low tones, is possessed of a jawline so chiseled you could slice lunch meat on that sumbitch. And Andrew Honess, 23 (codename: Young Whitebread City) is a part-time carpenter who once lopped off a fingertip on a table saw but, being a full-time rockstar, slapped on a Band-Aid and played that night with a bloody stump. Hardcore!
3.) The songs like “We Are Nations Now” and “The Late Roman Republic,” from their current five-song EP, Riot Lovers, are those kind of head-swingy, epic rock joints you want to try to sing along with even if you don’t — yet — know the words so you just join in on the “woooaaaaaaahhhhh oohhhhhhhhh” parts and it’s all good. But fret not, because after a spot on this year’s CMJ roster, a nod from Spin.com and some YRock/XPN exposure, within a few weeks you will know all the words.
4.) I asked Dwyer about why Papertrigger sounds the way it does (it’s been described as “immense,” “ghostly, strange and beautiful,” and my personal fave, as what would be playing “if we were on a boat with a bunch of Vikings looking for some giant squid to kill”). He told me the band’s music “is starting to sound the way we’ve always imagined it to — sort of like a soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t exist.”
5.) While the members of Papertrigger hail from the Syracuse, New York area, they all moved to Philly in the summer of ’06 and ended up in Roxborough through the sheer magic of Craigslist. For this, and for their patronage of the Parker Pub, they meet any reasonable person’s criteria for being considered a “Philly band.”
TEXT BY AMY Z. QUINN