Double Exposure

Trans Am was first exposed to the Champs in 1997 during the drive from Portland to the Champs' hometown of San Francisco. "This sounds like really badly recorded Iron Maiden," Trans Am guitarist Phil Manley remarked. Intrigued, Trans Am contacted the Champs. A few joint tours followed and the bands bonded during late night spent listening to Mehuggah, plotting the overthrow of mediocre rock, and hanging out with Bonham at the Rainbow in L.A.

The idea of a split release between the two bands was conceived by Jeremy Divine in 1998 and was originally intended as a collaborative 12" picture disc. Trans Am and the Champs quickly agreed to the idea. A year later, a reel of half-completed material the Champs had recorded arrived at Trans Am's National Recording Studio with a cryptic note, "If you fuck this up, I'll fucking killm you!" Trans Am got right to work. After another year and a half, they sent their contributions out to the Champs' Louder Studios in San Francisco with Manley as courier. Both National Recording Studio and Louder Studios share very similar equipment, which made the transfer of tape even easier.

The final product of this unholy alliance is a collaboration in the pure sense of the word. No track on Double Exposure features less than one member of each band. This arrangement allowed the members of each band to stretch out and explore new dimensions in sound. A tour this fall is already in the works. As well a second collaboration is scheduled for 2002.