Car Seat Headrest is a relatively well-known independent rock band consisting of members Will Toledo, Andrew Katz, Seth Dalby, and Ethan Ives. The group has been together since 2016, but all members have been producing music since they were in college or younger, with the first album released under the Car Seat Headrest name coming out when Toledo was in high school.
One of these projects started by the band is 1 Trait Danger. 1TD is an electronic parody-rap band, with members consisting of Will Toledo and Andrew Katz. I’ve been a long time fan of the project, and was honored to be able to meet with Andrew over a voice call on Discord to ask him a few questions about how the project has gotten to where it is today, as well as for some insight on what goes on behind the scenes.
They produced their first album 1 Trait High while the band was on tour in 2018, which Katz describes as his favorite part of the project.
“Most of 1 Trait High [was produced] while we were on tour. […] A lot of laughs were had.” He mentions his favorite song of his being “Saturday is for the Boys”, the second track for that album, for that reason.
Katz went on to describe how said albums were created. “I’ve never really paid attention to the story,” he mentions. “I write what I think is funny, and Will fine-tunes it to make it all fit together.” The story explored through his music has touched a number of people, garnering tons of fan works and discussions. Katz says he isn’t too active within this community himself, but thinks that “It’s really awesome seeing 1 Trait Danger grow its wings and fly.”
I feel that this style of writing comes forward very clearly within the world created by the two of them- following the story of 1 Trait Danger, a band within the universe itself. The members consist of Stoney Bologne, the main protagonist, and his friend Trait, a gas-mask-wearing rabbit. In the first album, 1 Trait High, they face the perils of a futuristic highschool- bitcoin stealing bullies, being socially outcasted, and coming to the realization nothing they ever create will be truly unique. The story goes on through albums, singles, and now even a fully released game, 1 Trait Escape, a long-term goal of the project Katz was very passionate for. This was not the only project planned for 1 Trait Danger, though, as Andrew mentions a scrapped pitch for an adult swim show based on the story of the music, information that to my knowledge has never been made public.
Many songs contain one off characters or bits that are sometimes called back to, like Katz’s favorite character he has created, Multiple Computer Mark, or MCM. MCM appears in the 2nd album, 1 Trait World Tour, where he hacks the setlist for Ed Sheeran’s world tour, putting 1 Trait Danger as the opening act. However, once they get there, Ed Sheeran’s manager informs them none of the water on stage, in the green room, or even in the supermarket is for them; all reserved for “Eddy”, prompting Stoney to “quit music forever”. This lasts a bit over a year, until a single was released, detailing what Stoney and Trait had gotten up to in the months passed. Another bit that resurfaces quite often is Stoney’s excessive use of mustard and the mentioning of making sandwiches- prompting me to ask Katz about his go-to sandwich order.
“Well, it’s gotta depend on how you’re feeling, right?” he points out. “When I’m feelin’ healthy, turkey and cheese, bit of lettuce. When I’m feelin’’ wild, pastrami on sourdough.”
If the story or creativity behind 1 Trait Danger is interesting to you, 3 albums and 4 singles, as well as a remix of a Car Seat Headrest song. You can also check out 1 Trait Escape on steam for $12.99, a humorous action-packed roguelike with many callbacks to songs that both new and old fans of the series can appreciate. This is not all Andrew has planned for 1 Trait, and a new album will hopefully be releasing some time later 2025.
