Christina’s Trip: 'I'll Take It'

The Sunday Music Drop is a weekly radio series hosted by the KQED weekend news team. In each segment, we feature a song from a local musician or band with an upcoming show and hear about what inspires their music.

Songwriter and guitarist Christina Busler of the Oakland-based band Christina’s Trip describes their music as alternative 90s rock-inspired with elements of distortion pop.

“We try to be like a little bit edgy but and have that distortion, but I definitely write like very poppy melodies and lyrics and stuff, and I kind of like to weave it all together,” Busler says. “If I were to define it, [distortion pop] comes from that kind of sound of dissonance and fuzz. So distortion is when it comes to like the sound quality of everything. So pairing that with pop and pop chord progressions and pop sounds.”

Regarding the origins of the band, Busler says the name comes from two references in indie rock: the band Sonic Youth and their song “Eric’s Trip.”

“I’m obsessed with both Sonic Youth and ‘Eric’s Trip,'” she says. “And so I decided Christina’s Trip. My name’s Christina. I decided that would be the band name.”

“I’ll Take It” will be featured on the band’s upcoming album Forever After and released on Cherub Dream Records. Busler says it’s a love song about “when you like someone, and you might not get a lot of time with them, but you’re saying, ‘I’ll take what I can get.'”

Hailing from Moraga, Busler met drummer Alec Moore (from Lafayette) in high school. The two became friends after they graduated and started playing together around 2020 before deciding to add more members to the band. Busler says that whenever she is unsure about whether people will like the lyrics she’s written, she brings the song to the band for reassurance and to decide if it’s worth playing in front of an audience.

“I hope that the audience, if they were listening to the lyrics, kind of feel their heart like swelling a little bit, like, thinking of someone that they feel the same way about that,” Busler says. “Like, ‘I’ll take what I can get, whatever you give me, I love you.’ Like that kind of feeling, I guess.

The band members also include JB Lenar, Christina Miyagi and Alec Moore. Christina’s Trip will be performing at Little Hill Lounge in El Cerrito on May 4, so you can go hear them live.