Crash! Radio

Every band has to start sometime, and Crash! Radio began in high school (and still attends). However, this is not your typical high school teen angst garage band that practices every day after the last bell rings. Crash! Radio is a female fronted pop-rock band who has already signed a publishing deal in China, before they even have received their diplomas. With two EP’s on their resume already, Crash! Radio does not plan to stop anytime soon. Check out our interview with the band as well as a bonus track-by-track commentary of their latest EP, For You, From The Heart, below.

How did the band get its start?
Crash! Radio first came together from the remnants of an old local band. I [Aidan] was in a band with our old drummer and bassist. Just as we were about to bring on a new singer and second guitarist to round out the band we got Michelle’s demo. We loved it and we loved the idea of having a female singer even more so the next day we called her up and she was in the band, simple as that. We still needed a second guitarist to complete the group and the first person to come to mind was Brad, a friend of mine from school. After a week of going on and on about how awesome this band was going to be I asked him to come for a tryout and he was accepted into the band right away. Over the past two years we’ve been through a few line up changes. After parting ways with our bassist over creative differences back in 2011 we brought Derek on board right before the release of our first EP and he’s been with us ever since. Just recently our long time friend and drummer decided to leave the band to pursue other goals in his life. Our new drummer Ben was a friend of Derek’s and he was brought in to the mix about a month ago. We all agree that Crash! Radio is stronger than it’s ever been and we couldn’t imagine moving forward without the current line up. We’re like a big family really and family is everything to us.
 
With the current sensation of female led pop and punk rock bands, what separates you from the rest?
The biggest thing that separates us from the rest is that we’re not trying to beat all the male fronted bands at their own game. Many of the female fronted bands try to compete with the male fronted bands and carve out their place among them. Having Michelle be our front women opens up all these creative possibilities that having a male front man wouldn’t allow and that a lot of female fronted bands ignore.  Mainstream music has this huge hole for a few good pop rock bands to fill and that’s what we’re aiming to achieve. Fans are looking for some upbeat, band focused rock music and the fact that we have a female singer really helps bridge that gap from the Warped Tour pop rock/pop punk scene to the top 40 pop acts like Taylor Swift.
 
Okay, now who are your influences?
That’s a really big question and we could probably do an entire interview about just that. Each member of Crash! Radio comes from a very different musical background.  As a band we listen to a lot of the same music; from Taylor Swift to Mayday Parade to Of Mice & Men and everything in between. We’ll write songs and be pulling influence from pop rock, post hardcore, pop punk and mainstream radio. Our lead guitarist Brad, for example, grew up listening to Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy so when we’re writing, his lead lines will be directly influenced from classic blues and I think it blends really well with what we’re trying to do and sets us apart from the average pop punk band and gives us room to grow.
 
This past fall you released an EP, For You, From The Heart. This was not the first time you had put out music, so how did this EP differ from your self-titled?
For You, From The Heart was a much more conscious effort than our self titled. When we put out our first EP it was really just a new band getting their four best songs down in the studio so we had something to give to people to show that we were serious about what we were doing. When we did FYFTH we thought about everything in a lot more detail. We talked about the entire project from start to finish before we even went into the studio so we had everything planned out and we were prepared for what was to come. We wanted to give listeners the very best we could do and really represent what Crash! Radio was all about. We think we pulled that off pretty well.
 
Now that you’re getting the feel for writing and finalizing music, is there anything you haven’t tried in your music that you’d want to try?
I think there are always new things we’re going to want to try. We’ve been in the studio twice and both efforts have been huge learning experiences for us. Right now the main focus for us is to write the best possible songs that we can and then when we get in the studio really bring those songs to life.  Its easy enough to go into a studio, just lay down the tracks and say you’re done but what we want to do is expand on that and really make the songs the best they can be. We’ve been talking about adding some live string parts as well as some other instruments that aren’t typically used in pop rock.
 
You guys have three writers in the band. Does it ever get difficult when writing a song or have you made a system of how to write?
We definitely have an unofficial system of how the band writes songs that we’ve used up to this point. In most cases we’ll write the song on our time. Each writer does it a little differently; Michelle will come to the band with lyrics, a vocal melody and a chord structure, then the band will arrange the details and rhythm structures of the song. Brad and Aidan usually come to the band with lyrics and a structure of what each instrument will do and we take it from there. For this new album we’ve been working on though we’ve really tried to shake up the writing style a bit. We’ve gotten together and co-wrote a few of the songs, which is really new for us.
 
What is your plan for 2013? Are you currently writing, possibly trying to tour, or maybe digging really hard into getting your music heard?
2013 is going to be a big year for us.  We’ve been in the band long enough to know the basics and to establish ourselves. We see 2013 as the year that we take Crash! Radio to the level it has to be to really make an impact. We’ve got a new EP in the works and we’re just about to go into the studio with our producer Justin Koop to start on the first two singles. Along with that we are working really hard on playing as many shows as we can get our hands on. A band is all about networking and getting your music out there for people to hear so that’s definitely a huge focus for us. Everything is starting to line up for us and huge opportunities are presenting themselves so all we can do is hope we’re ready and put everything we have into it.
 
You all are still at a young stage in life, and in your career, but with what you have accomplished so far where do you see Crash! Radio in a few years?
We don’t expect to get huge overnight. That kind of stuff only happens in the movies or on very rare occasions and frankly it’s unhealthy for a band to grow too big too fast. All the bands we take our cues from have had to start small and grind it out and that’s what we plan on doing. Two years from now we want to be breaking into mainstream radio and growing past the typical Warped Tour scene that we are used to. We think that scene is great and it’s what we grew up on but we don’t feel our music fits in those genres. Because of the accessibly of our music we feel that our appeal is to a large mainstream fan base and that’s who we tend to market towards.
 
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
Working with Justin Koop on our upcoming EP will probably be the highlight for us so far. He’s a really established producer who’s worked with bands like Billy Talent and Lights. For us, being able to work with the same producer Silverstein worked with when they were our age is like a dream come true. When we were in elementary school Silverstein were local heroes to us and they went and worked with Justin and then got signed so to have that example of hard work and success so close to home is really inspiring.
 
 
BONUS: Track-by-Track of Crash! Radio’s For You, From The Heart EP
 
Be With You – This song was actually written and arranged by the band the week before we were due to start recording. We knew when we worked on it though that it was going to be a big song for us so we quickly got a rough demo done and pushed it through pre production so it would make it on the EP. Be With You is a love song boiled down to its simplest elements. No poetry or metaphors, just “I want to be with you.”
 
Walk Away – Walk Away is one of the more emotional and angry songs that we’ve ever written. It’s essentially about being lied to and eventually cheated on. The song is written as a conversation between two people, one calling out the other about what they’ve done. We think this is a song that a lot of people are able to connect with and relate to.
 
Happy Hellos Are Sorry Goodbyes – This was the first song we worked on for the EP. The song is about a one-night stand or falling in love for a night but letting the person know that even though it’s over they won’t be forgotten. This song has a really powerful chorus and is a great summer jam. It’s upbeat and poppy while still providing a great lyrical message, which is what we’re all about. We’re all really proud of how it turned out