Conversations with The Corduroy Job

Today we’d like to introduce you to The Corduroy Job. 

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Craigslist. 

Childhood friends Trevor Whitehead (drums) and Alex Weberman (guitar, vocals) never played music together until they both completed college when Trevor acquired a $20 drum kit and to satisfy his itch to play breakdowns. Don’t let the looks of the shoddy drum set fool you, it sounded just as bad. The two would (three pots of coffee deep) plug in a USB mic, jam out for over an hour, listen back to the entire jam, and then go play football. Every day, four days a week, for the entire summer. 

After a fourth pot of coffee, Alex and Trevor decided to expand the scope of the band by taking to Craigslist. Ben Harmsen (guitar) responded to the ad and enjoyed the creative chemistry. To join the band, Ben had to learn from poorly written tabs from images Alex emailed to him. After playing with them for a few weeks, Ben convinced Alex and Trevor to add a bassist to the group, so he reached out to Nelson. 

After performing and releasing their self-titled EP as an instrumental ensemble, Ben, Nelson, and Trevor then ganged up on Alex to force him to sing for the band. They then collaborated to self-produce their first album, Rust Easy, which they now perform around the Detroit area. Who would’ve thought some dudes that met on Craigslist would become close friends in a band?… Certainly not Trevor, that’s for sure. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road? 

We struggled to maintain momentum with the lack of live performances due to the pandemic but took the time to work on new material. Although there were some challenges along the way, it’s been an opportunity to focus on the next album. We’re feeling more confident exploring some new avenues, and feel overall that this time spent has been time growing. The new project incorporates some new instruments and roles. We have Trev jumping on the microphone and Alex throwing in a bit of piano, and Nelson throwing in some violin. We’re really trying to break the molds of our past work. We’re pretty pumped. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Trevor Whitehead: Let me start by saying I am the smartest member of this band. Okay, maybe not… but I’m definitely smarter than Ben. Anyway, enough about Ben. After some time thinking I wanted to be a substance abuse therapist, a math teacher, or just clueless, I decided that I wanted to work in the field of research in social work. I graduated from Wayne State in 2019 with my Master’s degree, and they didn’t let me escape, so I work there now at a research center as a data analyst. I feel super proud of recently being published. The study is about how Michigan jails responded to the pandemic and what impact that had on people in incarceration with mental illness. I lucked out and I fuckin love my job… But you can bet your ass I’d jump at the chance to make musical fusion with these guys for a living. 

Alex Weberman: Trevor said he’s the smartest member of the band, didn’t he? Well, he’s not. Ben is. But don’t tell Ben that shit. It goes straight to his head, and he’ll become insufferable. Well, my name is Alex, the most common name given to white males from 1989-1998, but I think I’m pretty special all the same. I am a middle school ESL teacher in Southwest Detroit. I love that I get to work on my Spanish fluency every day, and living and working in the city is very important to me. It’s not always easy. Some days I wish I had more time for music, but there are other days I feel I’ve found what I was meant to do. 

Ben Harmsen: 

In addition to my music work, I have been working at the University of Michigan doing research for the Astrophysics department as a continuation of my undergraduate studies, and for a time I had a larger audience for my academic work than my music. When I realized that a life in academia wasn’t for me, I began working on making the career shift that would allow me to dedicate all my time to music. This includes approaching music from multiple angles: teaching guitar, working as a freelance guitar player, in addition to playing gigs with both original and cover bands. Managing the responsibilities of two very different career paths at the same time hasn’t been easy, but I’m proud of the fact that I’ve contributed to the field of Astronomy and to the local music scene, and I am lucky to have had the opportunity to do both. 

Nelson Gast: 

I’ve been lucky enough to have the entirety of my career path centered around music. I graduated years ago with a degree in music composition from the University of Michigan and have since then made a living for myself as a producer. Whether it’s wind ensembles, jazz bands, hip-hop artists, or original groups like ours; I’m constantly on the move to be a part of helping musicians bring their music to life. I absolutely love what I do and my professional work provides ample opportunities to experiment with new ways of producing a quality sonic experience for listeners in my free time. So, along with a bassist, these fellas found themselves a producer as well 😉 

Who else deserves credit in your story?
Kanye, Oprah, Dick Cheney, and Joey Habberdash who used to chill down at the 711… my dude. Also, we would like to throw a shoutout to all the haters for keepin’ it real with us. Trevor’s cat lil J has been a huge supporter of the band, as well as a basketball team’s worth of Alex’s ex-girlfriends. Admittedly, he sucks at dating. But at least his music doesn’t suck. 

Also, Nelson said it’s not cool to joke about Dick Cheney being anything other than evil. So… just the other three then. 

Also, we like… haven’t succeeded yet… so, kind of a loaded question if we’re being honest? While we’re on the topic, any further compliments, subliminal or otherwise, can be forwarded to Ben’s email… he’s by far the sexiest. 

In reality though, a lot of people deserve credit for getting us to where we’re at. Our parents let us run wild making obscene amounts of noise in the hopes that someday it would sound even remotely pleasant. Our friends who encouraged us at the beginning despite listening to shitty demos of us experimenting relentlessly. The small but growing following of folks we see regularly at shows or snapchat us while jamming to our songs on their car speakers, or DM us to shoot the shit, share music and keep up. Every moment of that shared enthusiasm is another reason to keep doing this. It would also be remiss not to mention other bands that we’ve performed and formed relationships with. Interest in our style of music and what we do on the other artists whose work we hold in high regards has been extremely rewarding. 

Finally, everyone in this band deserves a ton of credit. 

Trevor and Alex have and continue to supply an unrelenting drive for creating music. The band started originally as a pure outlet for their passion and enjoyment of making art that they loved, and these two powerhouses of energy still haven’t lost any steam in keeping the band’s creative juices flowing. They’ve worked hard to constantly refine the band’s sound, churn out new ideas; and blend ever-growing technical precision with their unique, often unorthodox style of composition. Their love for performing, embrace of creative challenges, and hunger to learn have been a power plant for the band. 

Ben and Nelson are both without a doubt the backbone of professionalism in this band. They’re two of the most intuitive, disciplined, technically sound, and dedicated individuals anyone could have the pleasure of making music with. Ben is a visionary with god-like guitar skills who’s able to harness the multitude of ideas Trevor and Alex bring to the table, transforming rough ideas into polished tracks like a sculptor. His sheer skill blended with an enthusiasm for experimenting and innovating have pushed everyone to dedicate themselves to our craft in ways that cannot be overstated. Nelson is a master of his craft when it comes to prowess for sound engineering and seeing a creative vision to its final state. His role as a leader in many senses has been instrumental in getting us to where we are. From orchestrating social media campaigns to managing the recording and production processes, to writing the perfect baselines for every track… Nelson is the mad scientist that we can’t live without. 

Pricing:

• Free – up until this point. If you got a crowd for us to rock with… We’ll be there!
• $15 – What we’re willing to pay folks to come to our shows.
• $600- Biweekly vocal lessons for Trevor’s cat
• $5 One, and we mean one, kick at Nelson (Must be a Roundhouse)

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://corduroyjob.com/
• Instagram: instagram.com/thecorduroyjob
• Facebook: facebook.com/TheCorduroyJob
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMgySsfhy4-0bPNS4NR73Tw/featured