This song begins by bringing you to your feet with its disco beat. You imagine your hair swinging side to side, and your hands up under color lights – but slowly, a narrative unfolds and “str8, white TRASH” earns its place as an emerging LGBTQ+ anthem. “Str8, white TRASH” is an ode to the 70’s with a clear modern distinction. “Hang up the phone, and then you’re all alone, but you still show up to get your pay check.” The powerful song has a certain sadness beautifully mosaicing with the music. The lyrics tell a story about a straight white man with a wife, who is secretly gay. The man causes problems with the song’s protagonist and his friends, due to their sexuality. This causes the singer, Joby Bond to respond, “we’re stronger than you think we are. We don’t stand for any straight white trash. If you were not so damning on us, it would be slightly more okay.” The song ends with a dancing electric guitar riff that continues to accentuate the song’s beautiful instrumental while letting the story really sink in. Joby Bond narrates a powerful story in “str8, white trash” in a sonic landscape of nostalgia. “We don’t even need to hear it, we don’t even need to see it, we don’t even need to feel it…”, the track is about confronting what hurts you and laughing in its face: the ultimate “I don’t care anymore”.
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Velvet Noise 