{"id":115336,"date":"2026-01-08T09:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T09:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/115336\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T09:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T09:48:08","slug":"join-the-team-trust-the-austin-chronicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/115336\/","title":{"rendered":"Join the Team (Trust)\u00a0 \u2022 The Austin Chronicle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bass was never Dan Mabray\u2019s chosen instrument. JD Brunson III teaches drums, but he doesn\u2019t play them with rambunctious garage rockers Friday Boys. Guitarist Elday Kornberg had only ever written music solo. In forming staunchly collaborative project Team Trust<\/a> in 2023, the latter surmises, \u201cwe all became beginners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thus arrives the playful, kaleidoscopic art-punk of the trio\u2019s November debut, Treat Box. Written by all three members from the ground up, the LP\u2019s eight multi-movement tracks meld off-kilter bass and spoken word vocals, fuzzy noise interludes and delicate arpeggios, into a collage of their makers\u2019 disparate histories and personalities. Mabray, Brunson, and Kornberg all sing on the record, but you can rarely tell them apart, just as you might think one song has ended when it\u2019s really only shifted gears.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Treading into unfamiliar territory yields unique musical results, but it\u2019s also an exercise in team building. As Kornberg utters in Treat Box centerpiece \u201cBeside the Tree,\u201d \u201cTrust is when we extend the assumption of goodwill and care to others. And in doing so, we make ourselves vulnerable to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone [is] just showing up and giving our best and being honest about what we can and can\u2019t do,\u201d Mabray explains. \u201cThe support and the lack of expectation that our band is founded on is why it\u2019s fun and interesting for us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it is hard,\u201d the bassist admits. In more conventional projects, one primary songwriter dictates ideas to the rest of the band. \u201cGiving everyone\u2019s opinion real consideration creates conflict, [but] conflict doesn\u2019t need to diminish a sense of togetherness. Oftentimes it\u2019ll bring you together more.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The trio extends their titular twin pillars to their audience. A Team Trust live show often features literal crowd-band trust exercises, from the classic trust fall and the human knot to the writing and burning of intentions (\u201cI definitely directly pulled that one from youth group,\u201d Mabray shrugs).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[We] encourage other people to try things that maybe they\u2019re not super good at, or maybe they\u2019re not super comfortable with, because I think that\u2019s also where the magic happens,\u201d Kornberg says \u2013 even if their earnest approach is jarring to the occasional cool guy scenester.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGiving everyone\u2019s opinion real consideration creates conflict, [but] conflict doesn\u2019t need to diminish a sense of togetherness. Oftentimes it\u2019ll bring you together more.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dan Mabray<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a work context or a school context it might be a little bit corny, but it acknowledges the fact that everybody is showing up because they care about the scene for whatever reason,\u201d the guitarist says. \u201cMaybe they\u2019re here because their friends are here, or maybe they\u2019re coming out to a show because they like music, or maybe they work at the venue next door and they\u2019re just popping over. But it acknowledges and creates and opens up that space where often people don\u2019t really have a reason to engage with each other in that way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think, especially in the Austin music scene, because there\u2019s so much music, and so many people make music in this town, it can feel a little bit like a popularity contest,\u201d Kornberg continues. \u201cOr you go out to a show and you see people that you kind of know, but they don\u2019t say hi to you, so then you don\u2019t say hi to them, and it feels hard to engage because you don\u2019t want to be seen as uncool or you don\u2019t want to make yourself vulnerable. And we try and do something to shake people out of that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, Free Week attendees, beware: Come to Team Trust\u2019s Free Week set, this Thursday at Mohawk, but you can\u2019t just stand there, arms crossed, and nod your head. You need to participate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You need to trust each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nTeam Trust\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thursday 8, 8pm, Mohawk\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Little\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tExperimental folk trio plays the Chronicle\u2019s Free Week showcase on Jan. 10\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Life\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tLifelong pianist opens up on funky new material\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

This article appears in January 9 \u2022 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A note to readers:\u00a0Bold and uncensored,\u00a0The Austin Chronicle\u00a0has been Austin\u2019s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community\u2019s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bass was never Dan Mabray\u2019s chosen instrument. JD Brunson III teaches drums, but he doesn\u2019t play them with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,39199,50720],"class_list":["post-115336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-free-week-2026","tag-team-trust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}