Interview: Trust Fund

The best indie pop band Bristol has produced in years, Trust Fund have just released their third album in 18 months. Adam Burrows speaks to songwriter Ellis Jones. 

“I guess I write a couple of songs a week,” says Trust Fund’s Ellis Jones, “or finish something rough, and then maybe do more work on the ones that have something about them.” Famously prolific, Trust Fund released two albums in 2015 and have recently followed them with a superb mini-album called We Have Always Lived in The Harolds. “We recorded the album before this (Seems Unfair) in March 2015, so actually twenty minutes of music in the last fifteen months doesn’t seem that great. I’d like to be doing more.”

Trust Fund write songs in the spirit of The Vaselines, The Wedding Present, Weezer and anyone else whose perfect pop arrived crusted with fuzz and twinkling with mischief. Songs like Cut Me Out, Idk and Football are enough to make you fall in love with indie pop again, even in the knowledge that it produces so few acts of this quality it’s likely to be a doomed romance. To get the obvious question out of the way: is Trust Fund a solo project or a band? “It’s both, I think,” says Ellis. “I like having the choice of how we record and what the songs sound like, but I think sometimes it can be a pain for the others. I’m not very good at the admin side of things, like telling people in the band about shows we’re playing.”

Ellis is from Bristol but currently lives in Leeds, where he’s studying for a PHD. Both are cities with proud DIY music traditions. “Leeds has a history going back to post-punk and probably before,” he says, “but Bristol has Sarah Records as well as a strong history in other scenes that I’m not as familiar with. Leeds has more venues, and that’s the worrying thing in Bristol at the moment. City centre development is making it hard for live music venues to thrive.” 

Your correspondent was a latecomer to Trust Fund’s music, having (foolishly) been put off by the ‘preppy’ name. Why did he choose it? “It was supposed to be a subtle-ish critique of how all the bands I read about at that time seemed to be really obviously wealthy in terms of background. Also, I guess I was jokingly suggesting that this band would be a ticket to great wealth. Both of those ideas seem not especially funny now as I’ve been on a slow transition to middle class status for the last ten years.” 

We Have Always Lived In The Harolds is a little more experimental than previous outings – the autotune verses on Would It Be An Adventure, the gonzo guitar harmonies on Crab Line – but fans will be pleased to hear Trust Fund have lost none of their melodic and lyrical spark. “There’s no strong concept,” says Ellis of the new record, “but I did want to take time to mess about with arrangements and structures. There’s a lot of key changes, which I think helps to obscure some slightly weaker songwriting, all in all.” 

His last point is rubbish, obviously.  With most ending around the two-minute mark, the new songs are exquisitely composed miniatures of heartfelt indie pop. What are The Harolds, anyway? “They’re a set of streets in Leeds (Harold St, Harold Walk, etc.) and I lived there last year. The album title is an unimaginative play on We Have Always Lived In The Castle, which is a beautiful book by Shirley Jackson.” 

The last time Trust Fund played Bristol (review here) they performed to a packed house at Exchange, and with gigs like that and festival slots in Britain and beyond they look like a band on the rise. “I think we’ve probably plateaued, for now,” says Ellis, “which would be fine by me.” This month’s show is at Roll For The Soul, a smaller venue Trust Fund have played many times before. “Rob, who helps run it, is a fantastic person who has done a lot for the scene, or whatever you want to call it. The Exchange show was so great, but I want us to be able to support small venues where we can, especially when it feels like they’re doing something good.” The feeling is clearly mutual – the venue’s website describes Trust Fund as “the best band ever to come out of Bristol.”

For all his modesty, Ellis is single-minded about the future. “I think of Trust Fund as a very long term thing, maybe a lifelong thing,” he says, “and hopefully something that I will always feel good about regardless of the size of our audience.” Rest assured, there will always be a crowd for music as imaginative and heartfelt as his. 

We Have Always Lived In The Harolds is out now. Trust Fund play Roll For The Soul on Saturday, August 27. For more information visit trustfund.bandcamp.com