The members of Trapt had plenty of reasons to make their band succeed in and around their home stomping grounds of Los Gatos, Calif.

An all-star roster of bands, including Dredg and most notably Papa Roach, hail from the area and bassist Peter Charell says having so many label-worthy bands in the area pushed Trapt even harder to get to that point.

“It was tough to compete, we couldn’t really headline shows, but it was when we were in high school, you know,” Charell says during a phone interview. “I didn’t even think of them as local bands — I listened to them with all my other music. I was just kind of jaded from living there.”

In the band’s early years, Trapt dabbled in rap-core. The group has since molded its sound to the highly melodic yet aggressively heavy sounds showcased on its self-titled Warner Brothers release. Trapt didn’t get to this point without plenty of aggravation and pressure from record labels, though.

The band recorded an Immortal-funded demo with Jim Wirt of Incubus and Hoobastank fame, but after hearing the demo, Immortal told Wirt the band didn’t sound enough like Incubus. Needless to say, that signaled the end of a short-lived relationship between Trapt and Immortal. Trapt would then turn down a demo-deal with Elektra before signing with Warner Brothers.

The comparison between the two bands can be an easy one to make, and many music critics have done it. But despite the split with Immortal over the band’s sound, Charell still isn’t bothered when people say his band resembles Incubus.

“I would compare us to Incubus too, because I don’t really know what else to say we sound like,” Charell admits.

“Incubus, Trust Company, that kind of stuff. Those are good bands and I love Incubus, so to get compared to them is fine with me” Charell says.

Trapt’s list of influences is varied and eccentric to say the least. Tool, Papa Roach, Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam and even Genesis make the list.

“Yeah, definitely Genesis,” Charell says. “I would say it’s mainly Chris, our singer — he really admires the way Phil Collins writes.”

And of course, like most young hard rock/metal groups that have emerged nationally within the last decade, Charell cites Korn as one of Trapt’s biggest influences.

“They got us to get five-string and seven-string guitars and all of that,” Charell says. “They got us into the lower tunings and stuff.”

The four-piece’s prior experiences with the record industry and with life itself have spawned the group’s “do it your way attitude” that is the driving message behind most of the band’s songs.

Charell says “Headstrong,” the group’s first single, which is catching fire on radio stations across the nation, is the perfect example of the band’s battle cry.

“Headstrong was about not having someone say ‘Do this, trust me I’ll get you to where you need to be,'” he explains. “Headstrong is about sticking to your own beliefs and being stubborn and going ‘I’m going to do what I’m going to do and believe in myself.”

Who: Trapt, Theory of a Deadman, Sunset Black

Where:Toad Holler, 1820 E. Army Post Road, Des Moines

When: 7 p.m. Thursday

Cost: $8