Trevor McGee: Immortalizing the Ephemeral Indie Bands of Houston.
- Avant Media Institute mgmt
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Written by Lucia Sanchez Solis
He can almost always be seen with a band t-shirt on, and he isn't partial to one that features big or small acts.
Trevor McGee’s passion for music practically oozes out of him. This multi-instrumentalist turned audio engineer is always eager to talk music with anyone. You can find him at local shows in Houston, his home studio, or recording small bands who may not otherwise have the opportunity to professionally record their music in a studio setting. This accessibility is invaluable in the ever changing landscape of Houston's local indie music scene, so the work of countless bands can have music that lives on even if their band dissolves. Trevor is doing the work of being a modern musical archivist, while also nurturing his own work with his project “Evolving into Crabs.” He is driven, and although his career in audio and music is only beginning, his hard-working attitude is proof of what’s to come, and we are so lucky to have him on our Wall of Fame.
To date, he is the youngest student we have had at Avant Media Institute, so it makes perfect sense that he has had music in mind for himself for a long time.
Ear-Catching Music & Going Against the Grain
“I was involved with music since I was forming memories.”
Trevor can recall the exact moment music caught his attention.
At five years old, Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger" captivated him. Instead of enjoying the rhythm or learning the lyrics like most, he did the most budding audio engineer thing possible, and started noticing the components of the song to dissect them. He realized that by listening to the drums, he could “predict” the 4 counts. That initial spark led him to wanting to play music, so he was quickly enrolled in drum lessons. His curiosity and the question “how did they make this?” only helped him further along to learning how to play the guitar and digging deeper into music and music production.
His life couldn’t be all about music though, at least not yet.
In school, he struggled to make friends. He had a self proclaimed “floater” mindset and was okay with having friends groups that didn’t last. Trevor also realized the typical post graduation to 4 year university plan was not for him. There was one thing he was certain of, that he had to pursue music in some way. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted his freshman year of high school, and it was the final push Trevor needed to transition to homeschooling. He accepted that his path was unlike most and told himself:
“When I turn 17, I'm gonna get my GED as quickly as possible and then go to Avant right after that.”
Trevor did exactly that and to date, became our youngest student.
While he did receive support from his parents with homeschooling and enrolling to higher education as quickly as possible, his experience in school taught him to be independent and untethered from the norm. Trevor was incredibly passionate about music, confident in his dream, and was finally at the point where he could study what he had desired all along.
Fast Track to AMI
Trevor came into Avant Media Institute with no expectations of what his higher education experience in audio would be like. Although he was a bit self conscious at first, he found our professional studio environment to be welcoming, and he grew in his confidence throughout his year here.
During his time at AMI, he also made fast friends with another student, Coleman, who became his bandmate, and coworker in live sound jobs. They bonded and ‘geeked out’ over audio, and Trevor is grateful that he showed him to jump in and try his best in unexpected and unexplored audio and musical terrain.
“You're putting a bunch of people who are doing an against the grain thing…we're all doing audio engineering, and we're all nerding out about the same thing that… the general public doesn't really know about that much. So I think there's… a much higher opportunity for making friends when that's the environment that you're in.”
Trevor is glad to have received formal audio education, especially because he learned about audio concepts like panning that he would have otherwise not known about. After completing the 101 course, he had a better grasp on what it meant to be an audio engineer, and his time here forever changed how he listens to music today.
Trevor’s time at AMI allowed him a space for personal and professional growth, now having a solid foundation of knowledge of the backend of music production, his next steps were to keep the ball rolling and continue growing as an artist and as an audio engineer.
Evolving into…the Upstairs?
After graduating from AMI, Trevor formed an indie rock band with his friends Eli, Coleman and Isai called “Evolving into Crabs” based on the meme that throughout multiple evolutionary lines, many creatures have evolved to become crab-like.
His band released their EP “NAUTILUS” March of 2025, but since then, Trevor has mostly stepped away from performing and recording his band and instead shifted his energy to uplifting others in his community.
With help from his friend and collaborator Ephraim, they created a project akin to NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series that aims to serve as a time capsule of indie bands in Houston. With Trevor running sound and doing the final mix and Ephraim doing video, the AV duo has recorded bands that would otherwise be lost to time due to the usual financial inaccessibility of professional grade studio recordings. Their project ‘The Upstairs’ is currently on Youtube, and will continue to grow as more bands crop up in the indie Houston scene. The crux of why this project feels so important to Trevor is that he believes live music is important and a lot of hard work, so it is important to capture and immortalize it.
“This band that put in so much work and is so talented…I just want to capture them so even if they aren't around for forever, that video is around forever and you'll remember how good they are.”
With both of these projects Trevor has worked on since graduating, Trevor sees the value of both live music performances and recording music for artists.
“Something about watching my favorite band play…and actualize this music, it's a reminder that this stuff that just sounds unbelievable in the way that it sounds and makes you feel is, is created by multiple humans doing their part at the same time. That's something that I'm definitely obsessed with, and having access to that locally is such a blessing.”
Music for fun. Full stop.
“Stop approaching music as a business. Start making music for fun.”
Trevor dives into music and audio production fully, working on both his band’s music, teaching music, working live sound gigs, and his audio and post production work with the upstairs, but at the root of why he continues to work so hard in music and audio, is because of that same passion from his 5 year old self is still loud and alive. He has removed ego from the equation and defines success not by accolades or streams, but instead believes that “the most important thing you could do is make it for yourself because you really like it.”
In terms of music business, Trevor’s approach is full of heart. He chooses to pursue music for himself, for the joy it brings him.
“Music is…it’s powerful, it’s spiritual, and if you make it something that you really wanna hear, not what the internet wants to hear… you're going to get so much farther..”
In terms of what the future holds for Trevor, he acknowledges that this is only the beginning of his budding career as both an audio engineer and as a musician. He is on the right path, with a great mentality and hard working ethic that will back him up, and we cannot wait to see what he works on next.
For the full podcast episode with Trevor and our 301 Instructor Mark Drew, visit our youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@avantmediainstitute
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