Those with class drive fiberglass. DANNY CLINCH
Ten albums later, and the three-piece known as Trans Am is still barreling through layers of earth crust and rock. Post rock, prog rock, hard rock, electro rock—their drill bits have seen it all. Bassist Nathan Means, guitarist Phil Manley, and drummer Sebastian Thomson stroke their instruments with well-developed finesse. Signature portions of their sound ooze with slathering, pulsating synthesizers. Thomson is the Muhammad Ali of drummers—sharp as an unused razor and heavy as a tank. Means sings like a cyborg deity, running his vocals through a vocoder effect.
Trans Am’s self-produced 10th album, Volume X, was recorded in stints over three years, mostly at San Francisco’s LCR Studios, where Manley often works as an engineer…
