Seattle trio The Crush had have a huge year with the release of their debut EP "Future Blimps" and the release of two singles, most recently "The Towne". The band features Kira Wilson on bass, Jacob Thiede on guitar and Daniel Cutting on the drums.
We recently caught up with the band to have a chat which you can read below. We have also written up a review of "The Towne".
Enjoy!
PART 1 - THE INTERVIEW
Hi guys, thanks for taking the time to chat to us. The first question that we ask every artist is what your first musical memory is and what kind of records were on around the house when you were younger?
Daniel: "My dad played a bunch of 60's music around the house, especially the song 'Turn! Turn! Turn!' by the Byrds. I got my grunge fix from older siblings."
Jacob: "Mine mainly consists of Wings’ ‘Band On The Run” and ELO’s Greatest Hits albums. My dad was really into The Beatles and had a bunch of memorabilia, books and records about them too, so those were probably my earliest memories of music."
Kira: "I heard a mish mash of 80’s/90’s pop, new wave, punk, grunge with notes of 60’s jangle. My first memories of music were passenging in the car on long road trips with my parents, singing along to Talking Heads, Blondie, Lou Reed, Nirvana, and The Monkees, and MANY others."
How did The Crush originally come together?
Jacob: "Well, Kira and I have been going out for a while, and were in bands as more of supporting roles before we decided to hash some songs out and start The Crush! We met Daniel once we moved to Seattle and he writes songs, drums, and plays guitar as well."
Daniel: "I think the cosmos had something to do with it."
Kira: "I am the cosmos!"
Where did the band name The Crush come from?
Kira: "When I was thinking of band names for this project I wanted to think of something lighthearted, cheezy, and classic all the same… Mostly I just wanted a band name that sounded catchy and this name worked for us!"
Jacob: "Definitely not that 90’s Alicia Silverstone movie!"
You, as a band, are from Seattle. Musically, Seattle has quite a rich heritage. Mainly from the grunge movement that grew there in the 80s. Is there any pressure as a young Seattle band to follow this and what is the scene like there at the moment?
Jacob: "At the moment there are so many amazing bands out there doing a lot of garage, surf, and early-psyc influenced stuff. This is great because you can always go out and see a killer show almost every night of the week here. Given that most of the music has a high-energy, rock 'n’ roll edge I can see how grunge would play some influence on the scene here. As far as Northwest musical heritage goes, I’m much more into The Sonics, The Wailers, The Kingsmen, The Fastbacks, and The Exploding Hearts than grunge though."
Daniel: "I think it's expected for at least one band member to wear a flannel, one to have long hair, one to be female, and one to be exceptionally good at an instrument. I got the flannel and long hair, Kira does as well plus she's a she, and Jake is a splendid guitar player. Plus we fit in with the garage rockers, so we stand a good chance. All of these characteristics are natural of course."
Kira: "I'm just a girl Daniel! Oh ya, like Gwen Stefani and No Doubt...nobody will remember you guys in three years but I’ll be on MTV 'n’ shit tearin' it up! What was the question again?"
Your most recent EP is entitled “Future Blimps”. Why?
Jacob: "Umm..."
Daniel: "Well blimps are a thing of the past, and I wondered to myself what a blimp would be like in the future if we kept improving on them. And our music is kind of like that. We're influenced primarily by 60's music, but adding our own modern twist to it. But if you want the truth, I really just compiled two random words together and they sounded cool and ubiquitous so we decided to use them!"
Kira: "What Daniel said… It’s funny that you ask because this EP felt particularly hard to name. We shared a lot of laughs in the studio trying to weed through all of the joke names we thought of for this album!"
For people who haven’t heard the EP yet, how would you describe it?
Daniel: "Future blimp-esque."
Jacob: "Kind of like a mixture of Creed, Kenny G, Barbra Streisand and GG Allen."
Kira: "The recipe for The Crush sound: add The Nerves, The Go Gos, Teenage Fanclub and a dash of Shocking Blue. At least that's what I’m going for (sorry Jake)!"
The lead track, “Never Gonna Stop”, is brilliant – jangly pop at its best! What is this track about and what influenced it?
Kira: "The song is kinda about Jake and I just being super busy and trying to fit all the fun we could into the summer before we had to go back to school and the weather got cold. Glad ya dig it!"
Daniel: "We needed a song that started off with drums."
Jacob: "Agreed! For 'Never Gonna Stop', I wrote it in the summer when I was doing a lot of traveling. When you travel around, you feel so busy all the time and like there is so much to do and so much going on. And then when you get home you realize there are still shows, parties, and so many other awesome things to do - kind of like catching-up on your life while you’ve been away!"
What’s up next for The Crush?
Daniel: "Future Blimps 2 EP?"
Jacob: "More shows, Trash-Humpers calendar shoots, stalking Paul Westerberg...another single by the end of the year perhaps? Who knows?"
Kira: "Probably the cops that interrogated us after they caught you stalking Paul Westerberg!"
Final question – who would be in your future supergroup?
Daniel: "Three of myself; one for guitar, bass, and drums. Plus a different singer for every song. The band would be called Blank & The Daniels, or The Daniels feat."
Kira: "Chrissie Hynde on guitar and backing vox, Kathleen Hanna on lead vox, myself on bass and backup vox, Moe Tucker on drums."
Jacob: "Hmm...tough question. Probably the guitarist from Powder, a resurrected Brian Jones, Paul Weller, Pete Thomas from Elvis Costello and the Attractions on drums, Sam from Foxygen on vocals, and Dave Berkham on bass! I’d just play the triangle or something and drive the tour bus!"
PART 2 - THE QUICKFIRE ROUND
Favourite Beatle?
Daniel: "Lennon."
Jacob: "Don't ask me that! My head might explode."
Kira: "Paul! He's my bass idol, and a total songwriting genius!"
Favourite band or singer?
Kira: "Ooh, this is a close one! It's a tie between The Beatles, The Pretenders and The Ramones."
Jacob: "Rolling Stones, have been for about a decade."
Favourite new band or singer?
Daniel: "Tame Impala."
Jacob: "Temples or Foxygen."
Kira: "Tacocat!"
Favourite song?
Jacob: "At this very moment? The Mod Lang by Big Star. Oh yes."
Kira: "Zig Zag Wonderer! Captain Beefheart! Nice bass part!"
Favourite album?
Jacob: "Revolver."
Kira: "Release Me by The Like."
Vinyl, CD or download?
Kira: "Vinyl! You can't beat that sound. Tapes are rad too!"
Daniel: "Vinyl for sure, but they can be expensive. I've been purchasing CD's more lately because they're cheaper."
Jacob: "Download for free to get into it; then go see a show and buy the vinyl!"
When you press shuffle on your iPod, what is the first track that comes on?
Daniel: "Kurt Vile - Breathin' Out."
Jacob: "Probably something by The Jam."
Kira: "Shelter Song by Temples."
Style icon?
Jacob: "Paul Weller, Pete Townshend, Miles Kane, Liam Gallagher..."
Kira: "Twiggy for throwback style, and the Calvin sisters from Bleached for modern style."
Favourite film?
Jacob: "Goodfellas."
Favourite TV show?
Kira: "The early seasons of Weeds are the best!"
Daniel: "Hard to choose, but Breaking Bad is up there."
Jacob: "Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Mighty Boosh for sure!"
Who would play you in a film of your life?
Kira: "Anne Hathaway!"
Daniel: "Jim Sturgess, Wiley Wiggins in the 90's, Tom Cruise. All based on looks."
Jacob: "Young Dustin Hoffman or young Al Pacino."
Favourite food?
Daniel: "Pizza. My life is pizza."
Jacob: "The pizza Daniel makes! Or Pad Thai..."
Kira: "Swimming rama noodles. Yum!"
Football team?
Kira: "I love football! I used to play when I was younger, I do like playing the game more than watching..."
Daniel: "None."
Jacob: "Well we live in Seattle so go Sounders! Not much of a footballer, but I like watching FC Barcelona and Real Madrid when I am at a bar."
PART 3 - THE REVIEW
The new single by The Crush, entitled "The Towne", is certainly a very strong power pop track. The opening riff, and the riff that purveys through the track, is classic vintage rock and roll. Think "Satisfaction" by The Stones or "The Riverboat Song" by Ocean Colour Scene, if there's any justice that riff should go down in history alongside such songs.
Kira's vocals are on form too and could be compared to Blondie's Debbie Harry with a hint of Nico's days with The Velvet Underground. And of course, the drumming is energised and driving.
The lyrics too are on the point and aggressive with lines such as 'I don't love you anymore' and 'somebody get me out of this town(e)".
All in all, this could be the best song by The Crush yet! Check it out, it's free from their Soundcloud page!
Hope you enjoyed this feature on The Crush, be sure to check out our previous feature on Crash Club!
Check out The Crush here - https://www.facebook.com/thecrushseattle
To keep up to date with future blog features you can like our Facebook page here - https://www.facebook.com/aldorabritainrecords
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