On The Road With Crash The Calm

Long Island band Crash The Calm will be performing at Greensboro's New York Pizza on August 22nd. We caught up with them and they told us some tales from the road.

Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
We're a five piece band from Long Island heavily influenced by various genres that we have carefully crafted as our own. We have a wall of sound that captures the melodic parts of emo, the trance parts of ambient music, and the heavy parts of grunge.

What's the first concert you attended?
The age in the band varies, and we all grew up from different backgrounds. Some first concerts include blink-182, Guns 'N Roses, Linkin Park, and the best one of all: the king of Livin' La Vida Loca, Ricky Martin.

What's the strangest gig you've played?
We played a bar in such a shady area that we had a plan to tell the promoter that one of us had a wife who was going into labor so we could leave immediately.

What's the craziest thing a fan has done at one of your shows?
We were playing a backyard party and we watched the neighbor jump out a second story window and flee on foot. The craziest part was no one seemed to notice but us.



What's the first thing you look for when you hit a new town?
A bar and place that has good wings. Simple as that. We also try to look for somewhere we can unwind from the drive and take in the sights and sounds of the town.

How do you spend your days on the road?
Playing wiffleball, drinking fish bowls, and trying to network with some locals to come to the gig.

Do you have any pre-show rituals?
We try to stay even keeled by making a set list based on the vibe from the show. Some nights we go in knowing we are going to be heavier and more chaotic, and we also know the ones where we know we should play softer and lighter.

What's some advice you'd give to a band embarking on its first tour?
Stay levelheaded and pace yourself. Don't go too wild and exhaust yourself early on. Sleeping, eating well, and staying hydrated are very important, as it is very easy to feel under the weather, especially when you're trapped in a van with 6 others for long periods of time. Do your best to make friends and watch local bands when you're out of state. Those people are the reason you're able to do what you do.

Final question: You're the opening act of a music festival. You can get any five artists, living or dead, to perform on the bill with you. Which five acts do you choose and what song do you all perform together for the final jam?
This one is gonna absolutely vary depending on who you ask...

Pat: Smashing Pumpkins

Connor: Guns 'N Roses

Ryan: New Found Glory

Matt: Rage Against The Machine

Brian: Nirvana

We'd all jam out for to "Hunger Strike" by Temple Of The Dog. This is probably our favorite song to listen to as a band and scream the lyrics to on top of each other. We actually tried to get a cover band to play it after Pat's wedding recently but we didn't get so lucky.

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