Artist Bio - Rhinestone Pickup Truck is the work of Appalachian singer-songwriter Tristen Colby, a self-described glitter grunge project that originally started out as a way to pass the time with home recordings but soon grew into something much more. After a series of releases since mid 2020, Rhinestone Pickup Truck has now signed with Stockholm, Sweden based label PNKSLM Recordings.

Colby started out recording and touring the US at 16 years old as part of the duo The Styrofoam Turtles, receiving attention both nationally and internationally for their debut album Burnouts Watered Town, the band came to a stop during lockdown in 2020. Rather than turning away from music, Colby started recording new songs at home with a Tascam 24 track and a 20 dollar microphone, songs which would become the start of Rhinestone Pickup Truck. A self-released first record, Sobbing in the Moshpit, was released in the fall of 2020 and was followed by his second record Happily in Dismay and third Sad Planet, both of which were released with Richmond, VA label Sockhead Records during 2021.

At the end of 2021, Colby set to working on what would become the Adore Me EP, finding himself moving in a different direction towards a sound more akin to early Weezer or Teenage Fanclub, and opting to work together with Jake Orall of long-time heroes JEFF the Brotherhood. Colby’s latest album Self Deprecation At Hourly Rates was released in July of 2024 by PNKSLM Records.

Rhinestone Pickup Truck has major tours and festivals - including an appearance at South By Southwest - under his belt and will continue on the festival circuit in 2024 and 2025.

On Rhinestone Pickup Truck’s most recent album -

So far, all indications are that Tristen Colby’s Rhinestone Pickup Truck only travels at full throttle.

Since the Asheville, North Carolina native launched the project in 2020, he’s emulated his heroes in Guided by Voices by firing out music at a breakneck pace, with three records, two EPs and two live releases already in the rear view mirror. Now, he’s back with what is, at once, his most refined and riotous release to date: Self-Deprecation, Hourly Rates.

Those familiar with his work to date, whether it be the raw power of debut LP Sobbing in the Moshpit or the rapid-fire experimentation of 2021’s Sad Planet, will know that is stage name is apt, not only because it evokes the image of hurtling down a freeway blasting Colby’s college rock influences out of the speakers, but also because the design of such a vehicle would represent a neat frame of reference for his sound; he takes the scuzz and the grunge of classic garage rock and studs it with sharp hooks, nagging melodies and, often, disarmingly personal lyrics.

“In the beginning, it was power pop, really distorted and buzzed out,” says Colby of the project’s origins, which were born out of lockdown when his old band, The Styrofoam Turtles, were forced off of the road. “I was madly in love with Guided by Voices, basically; that lo-fi recording has such charm for me.” A lot of his early tracks, he says, were cut on the fly; “just sit down and record. Some of them, I’ve never played a second time. Quick little ideas, released at random.”

The eventual next move for Rhinestone Pickup Truck, then, was always going to be a move towards a fuller, richer sound, and on Self-Deprecation, Hourly Rates, he’s broadened his horizons beyond the bedroom recording project it started out as, which he described as “very stoned out and caveman.”

Collaborating closely with producer Matthew Sykes, and bringing in Evan Rice to lay down most of the album’s bass, Colby was able to work through ideas more deliberately, throwing ideas back and forth and seeing what stuck. The result is a record that that comes with both polish and crunch, on which the freewheeling pace of the songs works in tandem with the tightness of the melodies, and that channels the spirit of masters of this genre both classic and contemporary.

Colby nods directly to Nirvana’s ‘Lounge Act’ on the track ‘Knife’, and their influence, along with that of the likes of Dinosaur Jr. and Weezer, are felt throughout. So too, though, are newer bands; the power pop strut of cuts like ‘Capn Ganyu’ and ‘Sinking’ bring to mind Bass Drum of Death and Ty Segall, while there was fresh inspiration from closer to home, too.

“I definitely drew a lot of influence from JEFF the Brotherhood. (Frontman) Jake Orrall worked on the record, he mixed it, and he’s my childhood hero, really. So, I wanted to rip them off a good bit! Just in my own, unique fashion. I was looking to make something that sounded like my teen years, but matured.”

And there is maturity on Self Deprecation, Hourly Rates; as the title might suggest, there’s introspection beneath the rambunctiousness, as Colby sought to work through personal difficulties on the album. “I was writing out of necessity, as part of a healing process,” he explains. “I’d beenthrough a pretty traumatic breakup, and whenever that happens, you always question, what did I do wrong? Where did it go wrong? So, it’s a breakup record, with me taking a look at who I am, and trying to make myself a better person. There’s a lot of loss running through the songs.”

Colby will take the Truck on the road in 2024, with several full band tours in the pipeline, something he jokes he’s looking forward to “after so many years of being destitute.” Self-Deprecation, Hourly Rates will be the fuel in the band’s tank along the way, and looks set to announce Colby as the US’s next great garage rock talent.

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