Local Newswire Trapper Schoepp And The Shades sign to SideOneDummy Records

It’s been a whirlwind year for Milwaukee roots-rockers Trapper Schoepp And The Shades. The group released its third album—the excellent Run, Engine, Run—back in November 2011, and has spent the first half of 2012 playing Summerfest, the Summer Soulstice block party, dozens of club shows, and even a Michigan gig with special guest Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum. Not bad for a young band that has only been around since 2009. Now, the 22-year-old Schoepp and his trusty Shades are adding another feather to their collective cap: the band has signed to L.A.-based indie label SideOneDummy Records, home to such diverse acts as The Gaslight Anthem, Flogging Molly, Gogol Bordello, and 7 Seconds.

“SideOneDummy’s roster represents so many different aspects of American music, which is why I think it’s a good fit for the Shades,” Schoepp tells The A.V. Club. “The label has consistently released records from bands that don’t neatly fit into one genre categorization. Folks who have listened to our records or come to our shows know that we don’t really, either.”

The group came to the attention of SideOne thanks to a longstanding friendship—and a mutual admiration of a musical icon. “Our drummer Jonny [Phillip] from the band Limbeck has an old friend there that had always wanted to work with one of his bands, and finally it worked out,” explains Schoepp, who also counts his brother Tanner among his bandmates. “After a long, spirited conversation I had with owner Bill Armstrong about our love of Bruce Springsteen, I was convinced that these were the right people to work with.”

Along with the newly inked deal comes the re-release of Run, Engine, Run. The album has been remixed by Grammy award-winning engineer Geoff Sanoff (Fountains Of Wayne, Green Day, Nada Surf), and will be available internationally on CD, vinyl, and digital Sept. 25. “Remixing the record with Geoff in New York City reassured me that this record shouldn’t be limited to the 1,000-something copies we released locally,” says Schoepp. “We just ran out.”

As for the future, Schoepp is clearly enthusiastic about his band’s good fortune, though he remains cautiously realistic. “We aren’t so naive to think that great success will come to us overnight. The record industry has evolved in such a way that makes that sort of ‘overnight success’ for a rock ’n’ roll band nearly impossible.”

“It will certainly be nice, though, to put that SideOneDummy Records sticker on my guitar case that I’ve had lying around since we started talking to them in January. I guess I was in a bit of denial that something this rad would ever become of a band I started for fun in my parent’s basement. It hasn’t really set in yet.”

Trapper Schoepp And The Shades will launch a national tour in support of Run, Engine, Run this fall. The band’s next Milwaukee appearances are Aug. 8 at the River Rhythms music series; and Aug. 22 at Miller Park, where the boys will sing the national anthem before the Brewers-Cubs game.