From Laramie, the band is part of an underground, folk-ish scene that includes several bands and songwriters. Most of the band is composed of members from locations across the country and their stories come through while they play.
Q: How did the band get its name?
Michelle Cook: Our friend, Fuzzy, named us.
Dillon Ruland: You gotta have an “and the.”
Cook: Trash Canyon’s kinda like a state of mind that’s quite reckless and free and not really caring about what other people think so much. It’s more like the fun element, the wild part. Honey Bees is the sweet element. It kind of tries to balance the self-destruction.
Q: What are some of your influences?
Cook: We like Johnny Cash because he’s the man in black. Townes Van Zandt.
Joseph Graly: Gogol Bordello, um, just leave it at that. There are probably other influences you haven’t heard of.
Cook: We like Hank III.
Q: What is the band’s goal?
Angela Wiltse: We mostly just like having fun.
Cook: We wanna record some of our original stuff, make a video for it. The goal is for us to create entertainment for ourselves here in Laramie, to progress as musicians individually but also to just have something to do here in Laramie. It’s Laramie and there’s not a lot to do so you have to make your own fun and entertainment. We’re going to try and have a recording and a video, hopefully by April.
Q: When did the band form?
Cook: Everybody got together in October. That’s when we fully formed, I suppose.
Q: Where is everybody from?
Wiltse: Me and Dillon, I think, are the only ones from Laramie.
Blair White: I’m from Louisville, Ky.
Cook: I’m from Appalachia. You don’t need to know where in Appalachia.
Graly: I’ve lived multiple places, but most recently Vermont.
Cook: Our bass player is from Sheridan.
Q: How would you describe the band’s sound?
Graly: What I wrote for this gig in April, I said Trash Canyon and the Honey Bees is a Laramie-based, back-porch band, with roots in old-time and country music. We play what we like.
Cook: I’d say, like, freak-folk, man. We have like a lot of different influences but it’s kinda like old-time folk.
Q: Do you have any upcoming shows?
Cook: We’re playing April 7 at the Laramie Civic Center. We’re opening up for a band called the StereoFidelics.