Beginning as subway buskers, Queens funk rock band LTrain’s story is a New York story. As featured in The Noise Beneath The Apple, an art book about the city’s street performers, the band began in January 2011 when Crystalla Gonzalez (vocals) and Gabriel Castellar (guitar/vocals) started busking with a song called “On The Train.”

Halting busy, side walkers with their dynamic chemistry, original takes on hip-hop, funk and rock, and indisputable romance for the city, the two quickly saw reward for their hustle. With the addition of Tristan Green (drums), the band have performed hundreds of New York shows at high-flying venues, including Knitting Factory, Arlene’s Grocery, and The Studio at Webster Hall. Fusing together influences dear and true to New York, including the Latin beats of Tito Puente, the cool jazz of Miles Davis, and punk rock of The Ramones, the band delivers an exciting sound that perfectly showcases the city’s multiplicity.

Set to debut this fall, Can’t Pay Bills is a concept album depicting the highs and lows of New York City life, from the “Party on Bedford” to “The Rent Is Still to Damn High.” The band is proudly ready to grow and become as indigenous to the city as the Brooklyn Bridge, dollar slices, graffiti… and the subway they’re born from. 

Grim Fade is following