When rock bands in the Twin Cities area need a sub for a gig or two, a touring member, a session player, or whatever, they know they can count on Joey Hays, Megan Mahoney, or Kate Saoirse. These three musicians — all of whom can quickly learn setlists — have been on a tear of late.

“Try to name a local band that’s cool, and you’re going to accidentally name one of their bands,” says Decarlo Jackson, trumpet player for Hippo Campus. “Gnarly,” “prolific,” and “untouchable” are a few words Jackson uses to describe the three musicians’ work. Jackson has jumped in and out of bands with Hays since 2010 when they met at the Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists (SPCPA) high school. He also collaborated with Saoirse for a Lissie show, and plays with Mahoney in the local jazz ensemble HEYARLO.

Since 2020, output by Hays, Mahoney, and Saoirse has enhanced more than 40 albums and EPs by Minnesota musicians, including releases from Boyish, Early Eyes, papa mbye, Raffaella, Samia, Hippo Campus, Peach Fuzz, Ondara, Mike Kota, Brunette, and many more. The three are active members of more than 25 bands, many overlapping, and tour across the U.S. with some of the aforementioned acts, as well as Huhroon, Yellow Ostrich, Bad Bad Hats, and Tommy Lefory.

Mahoney and Hays are a bass and drum duo (and a couple), who come in handy when a singer needs to construct a full band. Then there’s Saoirse, who is primarily a guitarist, but also plays bass, piano, ukulele, banjo, and mandolin.

Of course, when you’re asked to tour, rehearse, learn new music, and record on other artists’ albums, some personal projects get put on the back burner. But now, with a little more free time, the three musicians have solidified a project just for them: Trash Date.

When I sit down with the group on ripped leather seating at Caffetto, a well-worn cafe near Lyndale in Minneapolis’ Wedge neighborhood, Mahoney and Hays have just returned from Paris. They played on Bad Bad Hats’ European tour. They’ve almost recovered from the jet lag and admit they were incredibly tired when playing First Avenue with the band the weekend prior.

The trio’s relationships go back years. Saoirse and Hays first met as students at SPCPA. They later became close through Mahoney, who had met Saoirse at their first Lissie rehearsal in 2017. They all take their musical careers seriously, but with a playful and humble nature. As they make wholesome sarcastic comments, there seems to be an implicit understanding behind each others’ words. Responses to most questions end with a statement to make the others laugh.

The name “Trash Date” originates from the trio’s periodic get-togethers. “Our ‘trash date’ was just meeting up and playing the songs that we thought we would never do anything with,” Mahoney explains. Plus, “the songs are all heartbreaking, just like a trash date,” they add, with a laugh.

Mahoney (they/them) is the primary songwriter on the group’s crowd-funded debut album, I tried to save the world…, which feels like a collection of miniature, unattached episodes, rather than one unified narrative. Tracks Mahoney wrote over the past three years still feel fresh to them. “Some of [the songs] almost feel kind of temper tantrum-y, like meandering around a point,” they say. “I think this exhausted feeling is kind of encapsulated by [the lyrics] ‘I tried to save the world.’”

The lyrics Mahoney refers to come from “Gravity,” a song that serves as the album's unofficial thesis. Jackson’s “gnarly” description can be applied to “Gravity,” for its sonic quality — warped guitars and coarse drums — and its layered message. For the most part, each band member speaks about the album in grand concepts without getting too personal. But Mahoney attributes this song’s origin to their and Saoirse’s relationship with gender.

During a late-night smoke break on the deck of Mahoney and Hays’ Lake Street apartment, while overlooking a moonlit Bde Maka Ska, Mahoney and Saoirse discussed rebuilding values after discovering who they really are. “[The conversation] was kind of in the context of our trans identities,” Mahoney says, “and outgrowing what we thought was true about ourselves and our bodies. Then, coming into this new truth, and looking back and being really frustrated at the environment that you were in before that.”

Saoirse distinctly remembers talking about the burden of trying to go back and change the family, or whatever environment that you grew up in, and the challenge of encouraging loved ones to welcome new beliefs. Hays adds, “And parsing out those relationships with people who you came up with in a different life, so to speak; and parsing out their capacity to change, and where you can meet them in the middle with a place of love.”

The idea of trying to save the world has two stages: first, expanding an understanding of oneself, and second, inspiring others to find their own most authentic selves. “It's interesting to have grown up in a really religious home where you weren't allowed to express your gender,” Mahoney says. “But in your brain, you're a light, you're a good example for the world and the people around you.” The song’s line, “Everything is beautiful, but everything's the same,” refers to acceptance, Saoirse explains. Self-understanding and understanding from others aren’t always mutually exclusive, but holding onto what brings joy is key.

Mahoney emphasizes the importance of the preceding line, “If I live for nothing, I'll die without pain,” because they reject apathy and believe the opposite: “It's better to live for something, even if you don't see the results of your influence,” they say confidently.

Hays adds, “There is just a level of acceptance and healthy grieving that has to go along with that, as you're divorcing yourself from your ideas of who you were and contrasting that with people in your life who aren't on the same track as you.” Looking admirably at Mahoney, he compliments their ability to capture their own stories while evoking universal feelings.

Hays and Saoirse each have a song of their own on I tried to save the world... Hays’ “Fluorescent” is a lo-fi, gloomy track about being down bad during the pandemic, and Saoirse’s “Subaru” is a delicate acoustic ballad telling a fictional story of a lover stealing her car.

Trash Date has provided an outlet for complete creative freedom for these musicians used to playing supporting roles. Saoirse strives for ultimate precision when recording and performing others’ songs, but in Trash Date, she says, “I'm gonna play wrong notes. I’m not going to think, actually.” They all laugh. Hays has gotten even nerdier with guitar, learning how to match his tone with Saoirse’s. “A lot of my ideas I can't really express from behind the [drum] kit, so it was nice to change course a little bit and do some new stuff,” he says.

“I am excited for everyone to hear how killer they are as writers, as artists, and not [just] necessarily as musicians,” says Gully Boys guitarist Mariah Mercedes (they/them), who produced the album. “It's gonna be really cool [for] people to actually hear them … their writing and their perspective on things.”

To talk about the very DIY approach to the album, I catch Mercedes on the phone before they load into a Gully Boys show in Seattle. Trash Date began writing and recording in 2021, and Mercedes has been along for most of the ride. Production and recording occurred in living rooms and a cabin. ”I don't think any of us expected harmonies to be such a big part of our sound. But Mariah coached us through all the vocal stuff,” Mahoney says. Mercedes says they aimed to pick out and emphasize special bits: “They all write really great melodies, [and] a way to compliment a great melody is to have a tasteful harmony at some point.”

One could throw a blanket term like “indie-rock” at the band, but Mercedes notes semblances of soft pop and doom rock and defines their sound by its raw, live qualities. “You gotta see it live to get the full appreciation,” they say.

Because the band members have played together so extensively, Mahoney isn’t worried about how they’ll sound on stage at their Green Room release show on June 28. The bassist is excited about the songs’ built-in flexibility, which leaves room for improvisation during live performances. Saoirse likes not being attached to a specific sonic outcome, and Hays wants songs to take different shapes in different contexts. “We’re all chemists in our little chemist corners,” he says.

“To see Meg get up there on a mic and split harmonies with Joey and Kate is gonna be crazy,” Jackson says giddily. “It’s just gonna be so exciting to see these three heavy hitters get to swoon some people for a second. We get to only focus on them, listen to their beautiful voices.”

For Trash Date, releasing music is cathartic and exciting, but not always the most fulfilling part of the process. “As a band in 2024, it's hard to not be focused on the output and on the content and on the end result,” Hays says. “I love making stuff; I love turning knobs; I love just drawing things, and that's where I get the most inner child-like joy.” Mahoney agrees. “I just want to keep becoming artier and more experimental,” they say. “Just more us, shining through in our newest and freshest way.”

I tried to save the world… is out on June 28. Trash Date will play a release show at the Green Room on June 28. Tickets here.