HIGH PRAISE: John Dante and The Inferno Show Us Why It’s Fun Being Hipster “Trash”

John Dante and the Inferno are one of my favorite new discoveries. First and foremost, this feels like something that Vice would’ve championed a decade ago.. but the twist is that it’s rural, not faux-urban/Williamsburg/gentrified fluff. John Dante’s newest single “Trash” comes from the heart of rural Ohio, in a forgotten town, in an overlooked scene.. the perfect conditions for something culturally important to be born.

John’s music was recommended to me on Facebook, and boy am I pleasantly surprised and thankful that it was. Because this is loose, drunken, fun party music, but rooted in an absolutely stellar base of influences (think Lou Reed if he was really into beer instead of heroin, and much better for it). The quacky blues guitar, the popcorn drumming, nasal fuzz, and the amazing chemistry of a band who’s sound is constantly yet consistently so loose and free that it’s falling apart and pulling back together (or maybe just falling over drunk mid-take). This is an incredibly refreshing sound.. in fact it’s SO unpretentious I’m not even sure the band is aware of how good it is (or at least I hope they aren’t, it would be more pure that way).

The video really sold the whole “Trash” experience for me. It’s almost a celebration of a stereotypically rural, backwoods existence, untouched by the stresses of modern life. I’ve heard through word of mouth that these dudes are a part of the jam scene, a forgotten scene that has been gaining some major under-the-radar traction in recent years, and that they’re even playing festivals in the COVID-era. How they haven’t been chided yet, or even shown up on someone’s radar to get tattled on is just a testament to how disconnected “hipster” culture has become from actual underground music scenes. I mean, damn, John Dante has more swag than most front men I’ve seen in “indie rock” in the past half decade. It’s not the fact that he wears an Adidas track suit and a ring on every finger (like a hipster Jonathan Davis), it’s the fact that doing so isn’t a put-on. Clearly this is who he really is, untouched by hipster-ism, he is somehow making the most refreshingly hip music I’ve heard in a minute.

Lyrically “Trash” absolutely shines; “Just a trash pile baby, you’re such a dumpster queen”, “Just a trash can baby, I’ll pick you up like litter off the streets”, “Trash can be such a treasure, baby it’d be my pleasure to pick you up from the dump”.

But let’s hear about it from John himself, below is our exclusive LSPR interview with the TRA$H K1NG himself: