Trampled Under Foot keeps it all in the family

by webmaster | Aug 15, 2013 | Press

Trampled Under Foot is more than just a Kansas City, Mo., blues-rock band. The three musicians are also family members – two brothers and a sister.

Danielle Schnebelen sings lead and plays bass, while her older brothers are guitarist and singer Nick Schnebelen and drummer Kris Schnebelen. The threesome are touring to promote a debut major label album, Badlands, released July 9 on Concord/ Telarc Records.

“We grew up in a family of musicians,” Danielle Schnebelen says. “Our dad was a great blues guitarist and played in bar bands, and our mother, Lisa Swedelund, was a singer. Plus our grandmother, Evelyn Skinner, was a big-band singer. We three kids played in different bands for years and finally decided to see if we could work together, and in 2008, we were ready to see how we measured up.

“So we went to Memphis for the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge, and we not only won first place, but Nick won their Albert King Award for best guitarist. That got us motivated, for sure.”

The band self-released several albums before the Concord/Telarc deal and headed to California to record it with producer Tony Braunagel, the drummer in the Phantom Blues Band. Badlands features guest spots by noted keyboardist Mike Finnegan, whose resume includes work with Jimi Hendrix, Bonnie Raitt and Etta James. Acoustic guitarist Johnny Lee Schell (Raitt) plays on one track and Swedelund supplies some backing vocals.

The band chose their new album’s name after their drive to the West Coast, when they checked out portions of former Route 66.

“It was too cold in April to go see the Badlands in South Dakota, so we went through Arizona’s, and saw some very desolate places around Winslow and Flagstaff and the Petrified Forest,” Danielle Schnebelen said. “The album includes a dozen original songs plus one cover song, which we had not intended to include, until our fans sort of insisted on it.”

She refers to the closing song on the album, James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” which she chose after hearing it by James, one of her idols.

“We had never recorded a cover song before, but after we had decided to learn it and sing it, we saw that fans who would come to our shows would go to the merchandise folks and ask for something with that song on it, and then walk away when they were told there wasn’t any such recording,” she says, “so we thought maybe we had better give the fans what they wanted.”

One of the peculiar parts of the family trio is that two thirds of them are left-handed, which sometimes causes talk among fans, some of whom might draw comparisons with what a band might have looked like if such prominent southpaws as Hendrix and Paul McCartney had been together in a band – and, of course, if one of them had been a woman.

Schnebelen said it took a while for her brother to get his hands on a left-handed Gibson ES-335. For years he was rebuffed when he asked the company to make him one, she says.

“When he won the Albert King Award, suddenly they were presenting him with one,” she says with a laugh.

Trampled Under Foot

Opening act: Bryant Carter 9 p.m. Friday, Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 107 River Market Ave., Little Rock Admission: $10 (501) 372-7707 stickyz.com

Weekend, Pages 34 on 08/15/2013

Print Headline: Trampled Under Foot keeps it all in the family

Music Review: Trampled Under Foot – ‘Badlands’

by webmaster | Jun 26, 2013 | Press

Echoes of blues and R&B greats like Freddie King, Buddy Guy, Etta James, The Temptations, and The Allman Brothers ring through the accomplished new album from three-sibling Kansas City band Trampled Under Foot. Unexpected chord changes put some extra sophistication into some of the songs, but without uprooting the sound from its blues-rock foundation, with Danielle Schnebelen’s powerful pipes and her brother Nick Schnebelen’s world-class guitar playing leading the way.

Danielle sings her heart out convincingly on many of the tracks, starting with the fine opener “Bad Bad Feeling,” and overdoing it only on the record’s sole cover, an overblown take on James Brown’s classic “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” where she proves you just can’t out-Janis Janis.

But this band hasn’t any need to try too hard. The male lead vocals are excellent as well, even if the album credits don’t say which brother, guitarist Nick or drummer Kris, sings on the powerful “Don’t Want No Woman” or on the title track, which, speaking of the Pearl, takes its main melodic riff from the Janis Joplin hit “Move Over.” (YouTube research suggests it’s Nick singing, but you know what happens when you assume…)

Danielle, also the rock-solid bassist, slams down the vocal emotion on the blues-power ballad “You Never Really Loved Me,” and displays a lighter but equally convincing touch on the gospel-charged “Dark of the Night” and the smooth “Pain in My Mind,” which pays dividends with its tasteful keyboard contribution from eminent guest Mike Finnigan (Jimi Hendrix, Etta James, Taj Mahal).

A few songs on the second half of the CD lack the fire and inspiration of the album’s best tracks. But it’s a huge challenge, rarely met today, to put out a whole record in this style of music and write all the songs yourself, as (save one) they’ve done here. There are nods to country blues (“Down to the River”) and a variety of other flavors, but in essence this is a powerhouse rocking blues band well worth a listen.

‘Badlands’ is out July 9. It can be pre-ordered at Amazon.

Painted Axe Sounds Off with Trampled Under Foot Guitar

by webmaster | Jun 3, 2013 | Press

In conjunction with the band’s successful Kickstarter campaign, Painted Axe will unveil the guitar during a private listening party June 16 in suburban Kansas City at the Trouser Mouse (http://www.trousermousebar.com). Kickstarter assisted TUF is raising funds for the soon-to-be-released CD, “Badlands.” TUF is the 2008 winner of the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge. Guitarist Nick Schnebelen also won the Foundation’s Albert King award for best guitarist that year.

“This is an incredible opportunity for Painted Axe. A project coinciding with a CD release is a marketing and promotional coup we have been pursuing for quite a while,” said Michael Gauf. “Branded guitars for musicians and bands provide an instantaneous marketing hit as well as red-hot collectible. They can be used to reward a lucky fan for purchasing the new CD or simply to collect detailed customer information.”

Some also commission guitars for fundraising efforts. Signed and branded Painted Axe guitars have netted as much as $1,500 for the cause.

The guitar, a white Washburn HB-35, captures the band’s uniqueness as well as its Kansas City roots. “Tramped Under Foot is an incredibly soulful and powerful trio and a rising Blues star. Along with the new CD name, we depicted the band’s personality through a stylized logo and its great promise with a shooting star theme.”

The Trampled Under Foot CD, “Badlands”, will be available July 9.

Trampled Under Foot
Based in Kansas City, Trampled Under Foot is a nationally touring Blues band and can be found at http://www.tufkc.com.

Painted Axe
Painted Axe, based in Indianapolis, custom paints guitars and gear for special events and festivals to musicians and autograph collectors.The company can be reached at 217-273-8030. Visit Painted Axe at http://www.PaintedAxe.com.