Skylar Funk, a master’s student at USC’s Thornton School of Music, is the lead singer for Trapdoor Social, an alternative rock band that just released a new album, “Echobloom.”
For their West Coast album tour, the band visited Vancouver, Seattle, Portland and San Francisco before returning to Los Angeles. Their Saturday night concert took place at Harvard and Stone, a venue on Hollywood Boulevard.
Funk not only sings for Trapdoor Social, but plays the saxophone and guitar. In addition to music, he’s also a part of the USC student sustainability committee.
“I have really been loving the [sustainability] community here…there’s a lot of structure for students to get enabled and empowered to carry out sustainability projects,” he shared.
One of Funk’s major sustainability projects before attending USC combined music and renewable energy.
After starting Trapdoor Social in 2011, Funk and his bandmates performed solar-powered shows across the U.S. before creating their very own 100% solar-powered music and arts festival in 2016 called Sunstock Solar Festival.
“We put a ton of work and energy and effort into creating this space that we thought was necessary for the world to right itself out,” Funk said. “Where we could celebrate sustainability and use clean energy and gather with community, and celebrate music and life and good times, and do it in a zero-waste, solar-powered music festival format.”
Funk has always had an interest in environmentalism. He and a friend, Merritt Graves, started the band while Funk was studying environmental analysis at Pomona College. “We were excited to try to save the world, and interested in songs and writing songs, and so we eventually started this band together,” he added.
Funk said Trapdoor Social’s solar generator was stolen this past summer, along with $20,000 worth of equipment. Although Saturday’s performance wasn’t solar-powered, the band’s history of environmental activism still had an impact on fans.
Attendee Adam Long shared, “I think what I really appreciate about this band, and what resonates so much with me, is that they’re doing it for the music, but there’s also the kind of social commentary around environmentalism that is just really ingrained in what they do.”
Some fans, like Heather Royalty-Sofka, have watched the band’s journey with environmentalism throughout the years. “[They] are really fighting the good fight, I think, to save our planet in the choices that they’re making and the message that they’re spreading,” she said.
Opening the show, Top Shelf Brass Band energized the crowd with brass covers of “Crazy in Love” by Beyoncé and present-day hits like Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso.” Soon after, Princess Afrodyete Love graced the stage with a shimmering purple outfit and tantalizing vocals to iconic songs like Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.”
The Trapdoor Social songs “Control” and “Loneliness” also feature brass instrumentals. Rocky Fox, another USC Thornton alum, plays the trombone for Trapdoor Social. “[Being] able to play with all these other people and getting out of my comfort zone has been super, super fun,” Fox said.
At the end of the show, Funk sang a cover of Michael Bublé's “Feeling Good” with Top Shelf Brass Band back on stage. With trombone, saxophone and trumpets playing all at once, the entire building crescendoed into a brass celebration.
Royalty-Sofka said she appreciated the combination of instruments.
“It’s not just a brass band, and it’s not just rock or pop or alt-rock or whatever. It’s this whole hybrid of something new and exciting,” she said.
“Funk’s a man of many talents,” said an audience member. In addition to music and environmental activism, Funk also plays on USC’s frisbee team. Similar to bringing solar power to music, Funk carries his environmentalism into other aspects of his life. When the team planned to get custom practice jerseys, Funk said he had a different idea.
“It’s cute, it’s fun, but those shirts never get worn again, and they just are becoming waste,” Funk said. “We could also just wear [our own clothing], and then in the spring season, get our real jerseys that we’re going to get anyway.”
Funk shouted out the USC Frisbee team during the band’s performance, earning raised fists and cheers from the crowd in response.
John Conant, who plays pick-up frisbee games with Funk outside of USC, said he was excited to see the band bring Echobloom to life on stage. “The production on the new album was bigger and grander in a way that I wasn’t expecting…I love Echobloom. I love the direction it’s going.” he said.
Echobloom is Trapdoor Social’s first album part of a record deal with Pasadena Records. Although it may take a while for Trapdoor Social to bring their solar-powered concerts back, there was no shortage of energy during their West Coast tour.