The Long Island melodic-hardcore collective Crime in Stereo reunited earlier this year after a short-lived hiatus. Their latest tour will be hitting Richmond on Saturday, July 13–a welcome occurrence in light of their having overlooked RVA and the southeast during recent outings outside of the New Jersey/New York area.
The Long Island melodic-hardcore collective Crime in Stereo reunited earlier this year after a short-lived hiatus. Their latest tour will be hitting Richmond on Saturday, July 13–a welcome occurrence in light of their having overlooked RVA and the southeast during recent outings outside of the New Jersey/New York area.
The band’s career has spanned over a decade; they were spawned in the same NJ/NY scene that also produced Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, Lifetime, and The Movielife. As you’d imagine, the band has a similar take on punk rock as those regional contemporaries. Crime in Stereo plays melodic hardcore that’s intelligent and scathing, with experimental-sounding guitar parts. Lots of vamps, various distortions, back masking, and other unexpected noises meld with the fast riffing, gang vocals, and breakdowns you’d expect of a hardcore band. One thing’s for sure, they have the high energy in a live setting that you hope for in a hardcore band. Here’s their performance from The Fest 8 in Gainesville, FL in 2009:
Much like a few of the aforementioned bands from around their hometown, Crime in Stereo’s discography is pretty expansive, soundwise. Earlier records, such as their debut full length, Explosives and The Will To Use Them, show a young band playing pretty straight forward melodic hardcore that sounds like bands such as Gorilla Biscuits and Rufio. The last two albums Crime Stereo released before the hiatus, Crime In Stereo Is Dead and I Was Trying to Describe Someone To You, both show a clear progression in their songwriting, being much more thoughtful and mature than their previous records. Think about how much different Brand New’s Deja Entendu and The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me are from Your Favorite Weapon and you’ll get an idea of the path that Crime In Stereo carved for themselves.
The band’s hiatus was an incredibly short one, having lasted less than two years, and featuring a one-off reunion show during the break. The band was initially vague about their breakup, with guitarist/vocalist Alex Dunne citing personal problems in a statement. In an interview with The Village Voice after the reunion announcement, Dunne elaborated more on the breakup. “I think that it was just too much, honestly. At the time, it was just all too much. I don’t really know to what extent bands really should be full-time bands. I don’t know how good of an idea that is, really, to be on the road 10 months out of the year. It was a very slow, creeping eventuality that [with] all of the reasons we did it and loved doing it, all of a sudden one day we turned around and those things were the exact reasons why we didn’t wanna do it and why we were miserable.” The band’s comeback seems like it will be a limited one, with a good deal less touring than they did in previous years. However, they are currently writing a new record that will be released through Bridge Nine Records early in 2014. And thankfully, they will be in Richmond this weekend, so make sure you catch them.
Crime in Stereo will be playing at The Camel (1621 W. Broad St.) with In Between, Averman, and Springtime on Saturday, July 13. Doors open at 7:00 pm. Admission is $12 in advance, $14 at the door. Advance tickets are available online here: http://crimeinstereorva.eventbrite.com/ For more info, click here.
