Meet Truman Sinclair of Frat Mouse in San Fernando Valley

Today we’d like to introduce you to Truman Sinclair.

So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I’ve always loved sound, especially rhythm, ever since I was a little kid. Fascinated by music, I would drum on anything I could get my hands on, and sing along with the ever-present music playing throughout my childhood home outside of Chicago. Once my brother got guitar lessons, I instantly knew I wanted them. I begged my parents to play for months, and finally, It was indeed my turn. Then I quit. At the time, I wanted to be in the NBA, just like every other eight years old, and guitar didn’t fit into my 10-year plan. Soon, however, It came crawling back into my head and I began to pick it up again. This was around the time I made other friends who were into music, and we started forming the precious childhood bands that consist of playing Greenday songs and barely holding it together. These sorts of bands are truly where I cut my teeth and also decided this was it for me. I loved the whole thing, the comradery, the performance, the practicing, the craft, all of it. I had a solid group of friends and bandmates who all loved the same music, and then I moved. The summer before my freshman year of high school, I moved 2000 miles away into Los Angeles, knowing nobody.

This part of my life was bittersweet. I knew nobody, and almost in an act of rebellion, I decided I wasn’t ever going to. Self-isolated in my room, I did nothing but play guitar and learn to produce music. This, I believe, Is where I truly began to realize I was pretty alright at the music thing. Before I only did it for fun, now I was on a mission.

The sort of crazy masochistic grinding through the imaginary ranks of music I was so fascinated with only lasted about two years before I remembered I was in high school. I needed to fix my grades, make friends, and do other high school kid things.

I had always made songs in my room, fully fleshed out tunes made by just me, as sort of practice for the real thing called “recording”. It had never dawned on me to invite someone else in on the process, but for some reason, while talking to Chloe Villamayor, another student at my school, I decided it would cool to have her sing on some songs. Thats how Alive.Multicolored was started. Singing over admitted self-indulgent guitar-heavy tracks, she helped me remember what it was like in the Chicago basements playing Green Day. We continued to make music, releasing an EP called “Bluebird” and a self-titled full length later that year.

My thirst for real-life music-making with real-life people only grew, and soon I found myself forming another band, Frat Mouse, with a friend named Griffin Meehan. We did it purely for the fun of it, not thinking anything of our creation. We named our songs after video games we liked and jokes that only we got, and somehow someway our work actually got some attention online. Suddenly with a small, but to me, huge fanbase, we kept cranking the music out, and now we are anticipating our third album release. Funnily enough, the music I make now in Frat Mouse sounds similar to Green Day, and all the other simple two-chord songs played loud and out of tune in every middle school battle of the bands. Some things never change. (I love Green Day)

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I would say that obviously aside from keeping my mental health in check which is a struggle for most people I think. It has been smooth. I am still at the start of my journey, and I know it’s only going to get harder, but I think those challenges are what create opportunity for creativity. I think being able to bounce off your bad days and come out with something new to think about or something new to say is a valuable skill that I hope I can continue to develop.

Please tell us about Frat Mouse.
Frat Mouse in specific has always been about having fun. We don’t use the best mic placement or the correct EQ curve for the snare but we are always having fun while making music and I think it really comes through in the songs. You can hear us yelling in the background of the guitar takes or vocal takes, you can hear us just hanging out as friends. Every Frat Mouse song is written and recorded in my bedroom, it’s just where we’ve always done it and where we feel the most comfortable. Every session is just a hangout and hopefully, we end up with a cool tune by the end of it. The idea is the more fun we have making the song, the more fun people can get out of it. At least I hope so.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I would say being featured on Alfo Media’s YouTube channel. For those not familiar with his channel, he makes videos about music and music culture and I have been watching his stuff for years. When I saw Frat Mouse pop up on his video about great songs, people might not know it was surreal. I never thought Frat Mouse would get any attention aside from local shows and such, and seeing myself on a platform that I frequent? That was about the coolest I’ve felt in a long time.

Contact Info:

• Website: mousehousemusic.com
• Phone: 2242168996
• Email: fratmousemusic@gmail.com
• Instagram: @fratmouse
• Twitter: @frat_mouse

Image Credit:
Sam Sherman @schoocr, Chika Ma @Chikawinston

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