The Crash Years

Follow this link: ( http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thecrashyears/the-crash-years-funds-a-record ) to help us fund our new record’s final stages!!!!!! We’re almost out of time! 

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So it’s true. We’ve begun the writing and pre-production process for a new ep. We’ve had some people ask what the new stuff sounds like, and well, while I’m not too keen on giving stuff like this away, I’ve been way too antsy about the material to not talk about it a little. 

I won’t necessarily talk about the songs themselves but more or less the new skin we’re growing. As a band, we’ve always been in agreement when it comes to our music and how we want to present it. I guess you could say that we share a mutual mentality. For myself, my greatest influences are bands such as Dashboard Confessional, The Starting Line, The Get Up Kids, Jack’s Mannequin, Straylight Run, Further Seems Forever, and Motion City Soundtrack.

This begins a brief history lesson.

With the exception of Motion City Soundtrack, Jack’s Mannequin, and Straylight Run, these bands were a part of a new breed of the music scene back in the late 90’s to early 00’s. Emerging from the punk scene, these bands branched out, creating a new genre of music that took on songs with slower tempos, more melodic-than-punk melodies, and much more personal lyrics.

Most of these bands, and the bands they influenced that followed, were quickly given a new nickname: Emo. Emo is a word that is far from it’s original meaning today. But we won’t get into that. These bands, mostly in their late teens to early twenties, travelled the country with their music, singing songs about “darker things”. This was a big deal given that they emerged from a “happy-pop” 90’s music scene. Bands such as Dashboard Confessional hit the stage solo at hardcore shows with nothing but an acoustic guitar and a bunch of songs about life’s struggles. An acoustic set at a hardcore show? Sounds crazy but it worked. Why? Because people want to hear songs about struggle, overcoming obstacles, the light at the end of the tunnel. As depressing sounding as it is, these songs hit home. Because when I turn on a song written in this raw, sort of poetic formula, I understand it and it reminds me that there’s a million other people who feel the same as myself.

It seems that happy songs generally come from  a different place than sad songs. For the longest time, music was trapped in this shell where only rarely did artists write about true struggles and fears. But it’s been changed, and this change influenced me significantly in my early years.

It’s this formula that drives me in my song writing. It’s what I like to sing about. Now, I don’t want to tie our music down to any sort of mold but I can tell you this…

The new stuff isn’t necessarily any less of how I usually write, but you can expect some faster tempos and and even some guest vocals. Won’t say who but it’s in the works. But as a band, we are trying to get back to the early 00’s way of presentation. We want our songs to be relevant to us first, and then connect with all of you. There’s nothing better than hearing the conviction of words in a song. Everything sounds better when the lyrics aren’t watered down. 

With that said, expect from us nothing less than a representation of who we are as individuals, a band, where we’ve been, things we’ve done and experience, and most of all, the people we’re becoming because of this. 

Thanks for your time. We look forward to sharing music with you in the near future!

Joel (The Crash Years)

A 15 second clip of I Killed the King.

I’m Joel. I’m sick. I’m miserable. Blah Blah Blah!!!!!!!!!