The Trash Can Sinatras

The Trash Can Sinatras
The Trash Can Sinatras at Knuckleheads Saloon Kansas City, MO 27 March 2011 L-R: John Douglas, Francis Reader, Paul Livingston, Stephen Douglas
Background information
Origin	Irvine, Scotland
Genres	Alternative rock, indie pop
Years active	1986–present
Labels	Lo-Five (UK, North America: current) JVC (Japan 2006–current) Picnic Records (UK: 2004–2007) Go! Discs (UK: 1989–1996) spinART (U.S.: 2004) London (US: 1990–1993) Avex (Japan: 2004–2006) Sony Japan (1999)
Website	trashcansinatras.com
Members	Francis Reader John Douglas Paul Livingston Stephen Douglas Frank DiVanna Stevie Mulhearn
Past members	George McDaid Davy Hughes

The Trash Can Sinatras, now generally known as Trashcan Sinatras, are a Scottish band that was formed in Irvine, Scotland in 1986. The band's music makes frequent use of pop harmonies and the lyrics make frequent use of wordplay.

The Trashcan Sinatras were founded as a covers band. The band members knew each other from school or met through the club/pub music scene in Irvine. The band name was derived from a school music class, where students improvised on various 'instruments'. After banging on some trash cans, someone mentioned Frank Sinatra and the band name was born. The original band members included Frank Reader (bass), Davy Hughes (guitar and vocals), George McDaid (guitar) and Paul Forde (drums). By late 1986/early 1987, the line-up had changed to include Paul Livingston (guitar), John Douglas (guitar) and Stephen Douglas (drums), along with Frank Reader moving to vocals and Davy Hughes to bass. While the band has included other members for short periods of time over the years, this is the line-up that would record the bulk of the Trashcan Sinatras' music to date.

The band was spotted performing in a pub by Simon Dine in 1987 and quickly signed to Go! Discs. Using their signing advance, the band purchased a recording studio in Kilmarnock, naming it Shabby Road. Work began on their debut album, which was eventually released in 1990. Cake featured the band's largest worldwide hit single, "Obscurity Knocks" as well as a couple other alternative music hits ("Only Tongue Can Tell" and "Circling the Circumference"). The band were often compared to The Smiths and the success of Cake in the United States, where it spent three months in the Billboard 200, led to extensive touring in both the UK and North America in support of the album.

The follow-up record, I've Seen Everything was released in 1993. The song "Hayfever" made an appearance on the MTV animated series, Beavis and Butt-head. The band released two singles ("Hayfever" and "I've Seen Everything") and toured the UK, North America and Japan in support of the album.