Crash Coordinates is the epitome of the self-made hardworking rock band and four of the five members were kind enough to sit down for an interview with me last week (Kevin, the bassist, was unfortunately unavailable). After working out some kinks with Stickam (not the most effective website in the world) we managed to talk about where the band’s come from and where it’s going.
Each of the guys—Chris Kalla (vocals,guitar), Chris Wahl (lead guitar, vocals), Jon Stoddard (drums), Kevin Williams(bass) and Vincent Liou (keyboards, percussion) have been playing music from a young age. Vincent got the earliest start on the piano at age 5 and learned bass and clarinet before finishing high school. Wahl told this lavish story about his days in the Stradivarius school of music, which I was almost fooled by. (In reality, he was jealous of a friend who learned how to play Michael Jackson songs in 7thgrade). The five are all passionate about music, and it shows.
The two Chris’ started the band in2006 with a few other musicians and the other three joined along the way, with the recent addition of Kevin from Chicago. All of them came from different scenes—Wahl was in a pop band, Jon was in a ska band, Kevin is the metal head, Vincent“listens to crazy stuff,” and Kalla was in a hardcore band Blue Wall Audience throughout high school. They each have their own repertoire of musical influences including Muse, Radiohead, 311,Minus the Bear, Explosions in the Sky, Metallica, and Coheed and Cambria. Out of this fusion of influences and a huge amount of ambition, Crash Coordinates has created a really unique sound.
Jon put into words what makes CC so interesting:
When we all got together we wanted to do something that wasn’t in a specific genre. What I liked about, what I still like about the band the most is that we can take pretty much any genre of music and throw a Crash Coordinates spin on it so we can take a pop song and we can make it Crash Coordinates with awesome tapping and different beats and Chris Kalla’s unique melody lines or we can take a dark song, a metal song, and do whatever we want to it. I think the thing really that influences us to write music that we do is that we wanted to take the things that work in music that’s already around and put a unique spin on it to create something new.
Wahl added that they’re always searching for a “cooler way to play things” and love it when people appreciate them for trying something new and mixing it up. Not going for the same old format.
Like a lot of bands, Myspace has been a huge help in building a fan base. They’re constantly (and personally!) responding to messages, comments,and adding more friends. They even do web cam chats with anyone who wants to log in (I caught one of their appearances and they decided to sing whatever anyone typed. It was hysterical). They’re the guys that do a ton of shows and hand out a ton of fliers. A truly self-made band, with the help of a handful of friends they released their album Ansible and managed to get distribution deals with a bunch of major stores and online retailers like Best Buy and iTunes.
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This album is obviously the product of musical ingenuity as each song has a unique style with an experimental ambiance and dark lyrics stringing each together. There were so many styles throughout the album from which I heard hints of Matchbook Romance, Thrice, The Mars Volta, Chiodos, and even an intro on “Pompeii” that reminded me of Mozart’s Requiem. This album is intense awesomeness.
Having shared the stage with some great bands like Bleed the Dream and A Cursive Memory, they are definitely ready to hit the road. They’re trying to build a good fan base and keeping their eyes out for tour opportunities in a couple of months and until then they’ll be playing weekend shows and working on their new EP. Not all of the songs are written but we can expect a format a little different from their full-length. Unlike Ansible whose songs were diverse and all over the map, the new4-song EP to be released in late spring/early summer will be more straight forward with a consistent feel. They guys assure me “It’s gonna be really good.” “Yeah, it’ll sound awesome.
With that promise, a quick plug for their awesome sponsors Vitamin Water and Red Bull, and the hopes of some new stuff coming out on their Myspace in the coming weeks, we parted cyber ways. Crash Coordinates is a definitely a band worthy of your ears and your support. Their ideas are ambitious and their music unique and creative, but not overly complex. Be sure to keep your eyes out for their things to come and if you haven’t heard Ansible, be sure and give it a listen!
photos used with permission
