Trapper Schoepp is an American singer-songwriter based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
After releasing two albums in his teens, Schoepp signed with SideOneDummy Records and released Run, Engine, Run (2012) as Trapper Schoepp & the Shades. In 2016, he signed with Xtra Mile Recordings and has released four albums under his own name: Rangers & Valentines (2016), Bay Beach Amusement Park (2017), and Primetime Illusion (2019). He later signed with Grand Phony Records to release May Day (2021).
Early life
Trapper Schoepp was born in Red Wing, Minnesota and grew up in the nearby town of Ellsworth, Wisconsin. Tanner Schoepp co-writes and tours alongside his brother. After a back injury from BMX bike riding, his mother signed him up for guitar lessons as a "safer hobby". While recovering from the injury, he heard Bob Dylan's song "Hurricane" in the movie of the same name which inspired him to become a musician: "That first A minor chord got my blood pumping. Hearing the conviction in his voice as he told the story of an innocent man wrongly accused was life-changing".
Musical career
2007–2015: Early work
At age 17, he started a band called The Trapper Schoepp Band with his brother, Tanner Schoepp (bassist) and local friends, while attending Ellsworth High School. The Trapper Schoepp Band released an early debut album called A Change in the Weather (2007) before the Schoepp brothers moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for college.
At age 19 he started a new band with his brother called Trapper Schoepp & the Shades, while attending the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UWM) and released Lived and Moved (2009), which refers to his move from his small town to Milwaukee: "I really wanted to get out of that small town, but I think that everyone who goes through that transitional phase feels a little lost. You have all this ambition, but you're really clueless and you don't know what to do with it. There's this uncertainty. So for me, recording this record was definitely a way to deal with those adolescent blues that I think everyone experiences around this age".
Schoepp graduated from UWM with a degree in journalism focusing on radio broadcasting and obtained a Certificate in Rock-and-Roll while studying under the late Dr. Martin Jack Rosenblum, who was a music history and literature professor at the University.
Trapper Schoepp & the Shades signed a record deal with SideOneDummy Records and released their national debut Run, Engine, Run in September 2012. Rolling Stone premiered the album's title track on September 20, 2012. The song, a tribute to the Schoepps' grandfather and his 1964 Mercedes Benz, was also featured on Car Talk'''s Whad'Ya Know?. The band toured on a 25-stop with The Wallflowers and also alongside Old 97's, The Jayhawks, Soul Asylum, Tommy Stinson, Social Distortion, The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band, Frank Turner, Cory Chisel and The Wandering Sons.
2016–2019: Rangers and Valentines, Bay Beach Amusement Park and Primetime Illusion Schoepp signed to Xtra Mile Recordings and released his second album, Rangers and Valentines on April 1, 2016. The album's name, along with the featured track "Dream", paid tribute to Geo Valentine and Schoepp's former professor Dr. Martin Jack Rosenblum (stage name Holy Ranger), both of whom were influential in developing his music education. The music video for the song "Settlin' or Sleepin' Around" features Richard Riehle and was shown at the 2016 Milwaukee Film Festival.
In 2017, Schoepp released Bay Beach Amusement Park, a six-song concept album based on the rides at the amusement park of the same name in Green Bay, Wisconsin. "Each song takes the listener on a different ride. I had this idea for years but it took me years to piece together how I wanted the songs to flow and what rides I wanted to sing about... It was pretty funny, the whole process, because when I started telling my band about it, they thought I was a crazy person until I had all the demos of the songs. It kind of started as an inside joke and the whole idea kind of exploded". The album was recorded in Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. The album is inspired by the sounds of Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Elvis Presley as an ode to the retro rides at the park, including the Zippin Pippin, Presley's favorite rollercoaster. The band commemorated the album with a performance celebrating the 125th anniversary of the amusement park, as well as nationwide tours with Ha Ha Tonka and BoDeans. "The Scat" became the theme song for the Onion's inaugural podcast “A Very Fatal Murder."
