Trash Boat are back with their new single ‘He’s So Good’. The single defends the LGBTQ+ community and it talks about discrimination against them. They are also raising funds from their merchandise sales to donate to AKT, a charity dedicated to helping LGBTQ+ youth at risk of homelessness in the UK.
Trash Boat Discuss an Important Issue
‘He’s So Good’ marks Trash Boat’s first original release since their 2019 single ‘Synthetic Sympathy’. Now that they’re back after over a year, they decided to share a powerful message in their music. Discussing homophobia, the group’s new track explains how there are still some people that are afraid to come out to their parents because they don’t think they’re going to be accepted.
The band’s lead singer, Tobi Duncan, spoke with Kerrang about the song’s meaning. “I met someone on the road who I got to know really intensely over the course of a week. We hung out every night and talked for hours. It was that thing where you skip any pretense and just open up straight away because you get each other. I learned from him that being a gay man where he grew up, he felt like he couldn’t come out to his parents and be himself because he knew he wouldn’t be accepted. He had girlfriends throughout his time in school but felt like he couldn’t show any affection towards them. Emotionally he felt completely alone, to the extent that he didn’t have his first kiss until he was 27.”
The Importance of Acceptance
He continued, “He lived in a rural area of the U.S. where it’s not acceptable to be anything other than the nuclear family norm. It got me thinking about his parents and my own, and how lucky I am. My parents have always been awesome about my sexuality – it’s just a non-issue to them. I never even felt the need to come out to my parents as a non-heterosexual person; my brother is gay, my uncle is gay, my cousin is gay, I’m like half-gay… in fact, I wouldn’t even pigeonhole myself. I’m not straight, put it that way.”
He thought about what his friend went through and what would happen if he ever met his friend’s parents in person. He imagined he would be nice to them and treat them with respect and so would his friend, but after his visit was over, his friend’s parents would probably not treat his friend with the same respect. That situation inspired him, and he decided to speak out about it.
If you’d like to donate, Trash Boat’s merch for the ‘He’s So Good’ collection is available to shop here.
