"Riotous reptiles grazing in the grass"
Trampled by Turtles is an acoustic quintet from Duluth, MN. Based on their instrumentation (guitar, bass, mandolin, fiddle, banjo) the initial instinct is to view the band as a bluegrass or new-grass outfit, but spend more than a cursory moment with their music and it's clear this tag doesn't really fit. Trampled by Turtles exist beyond the box of categorization. They take pieces of it all and play from the heart. Call it alt-bluegrass, nontraditional string, indi-folk, rock-grass, punk-grass or anything else, they don't care what name you put on it, just show up with an open mind. Here's the key to understanding Trampled by Turtles: This is their first string band. "The instrumentation was different. None of us had played in an acoustic group before" says lead vocalist/guitarist Dave Simonett. And that's why this isn't a bluegrass band, all those other groups they came from were rock bands and they still play with that plugged-in intensity, only now they're doing it with acoustic instruments and beautiful, high-lonesome vocal harmonies.