It all began at the age of 16 with some Cheetos.  Truck's first website was made in 1995, an anal-retentive beck website that the man was so impressed by, that he hired him 2 years later.  It had a cheeseball background. 

Truck (whose real name is Evan Torrance) is 24 now, and has a graphic design and web development company called Moving Units.  “The name comes from the term used in the entertainment industry, when something is selling big.  You know, you’re ‘moving units,’” explains truck.  “I thought it would be a delicious name for my company.”  He also does posters and art, and plaques.  Plaques?  I imagine something for a peewee soccer team.  “Plaque layouts for gold records,” he clarifies. 

Truck's client list includes Jack Black’s Tenacious D, Duff Skateboards, Big Brother magazine, Fred Armisen from SNL, up-and-coming fashion designer Rebecca Rich, as well as Golden Voice, those folks responsible for putting on the Coachella Valley Music Festival in the middle of the California desert.  “Stuff just keeps on flying in,” exclaims truck. 

Something did fly in, and it wasn’t the little old lady from Pasadena. 

“I almost had to do this one project that all of my friends were trying to get me to do.  This lady called Mooncrest, or Moonbeam, Moon-something, called and was like, [in a really throaty, breathless voice] ‘hey, how’s it going,’ and she proceeded to talk to me for a little bit, how she had heard about my web design work and blah blah blah, but anyway, it turns out that she worked at this tantric massage parlour in Pasadena.” 

Uh oh. 

“She sounded really space age, and was like ‘the one that we have right now is not really melding with us’ and she kept talking.  I did some more "research", it suddenly occurred to me that this was a super crazy, tantric, “let’s get it on” massage parlour.   The sort with web cams in every room.”  

She was persistent.  Truck asked mooncrest/moonbeam what the cap for her budget was.  Her response?  “Well, I was thinking, maybe we could give you a free session or something.”

Despite all the coaxing from his friends, truck didn’t take the job.  But he checked the site again later, and it turns out that some lucky fellow had taken the job instead.  Yeow.

Before moving units, truck was working at Artistdirect, the giant music multimedia conglomerate based out of Los Angeles.  He did work for Marilyn Manson, Stone Temple Pilots, k.d. lang, and Matthew Sweet.  “k.d. lang, can you believe it?  k.d. lang,” he sighs with dismay, as if Constant Craving was not his favourite song of 1991. 

So what is the hallmark of a truck-made website?  “Hopefully something that won’t make you wince – I tend to lean towards a subtle and spare aesthetic.  I kind of get a feeling that less is more.”  For Beck’s website (http://www.beck.com) supporting Sea Change, Mr. Hansen asked for a monochromatic colour scheme, with each section a different base colour.  “It should have cleanliness, ease of use, and it should be visually stimulating.” he explains.  

At the end of the day, truck maintains that he is still just one of the many Beck fans.   He speaks animatedly about the direction beck is moving in with his songwriting on Sea Change, and of his amazement when he first heard the songs on mellow gold. 

“The first time I heard mellow gold, it blew my mind.  It was a catchier version of Captain Beefheart by a 23 year old, and I couldn’t comprehend how good it was.  I like One Foot in the Grave a lot, and I like Stereopathic Soulmanure.   But when I first got Mellow Gold I was 15, and it was one of those CDs that you brought everywhere you went.”  It was even brought on family vacations on boats up the west coast of Canada, past mountains, marshes, shady swamp areas.   Where truck has gone, Beck has gone too. 

And vice versa, now. 

“Beck took me on tour last year for the Flaming Lips tour, shooting video, taking photos. That was amazing,”  he tells me.