Crash and Burn

Thundering through the back alley sleaze of rock via the crusted veneer of punk, Crash and Burn are as direct as they come. Weaned on equal parts Black Flag and Guns n’ Roses, these scruffy caveman have tapped into the most primal of musical energies and the most stripped down of approaches. The scourge of the Boston music scene, CAB are known for their unrelenting live shows, where members have expended so much energy that they have inadvertently knocked themselves and each other unconscious. When asked of their best gig, vocalist/guitarist Bill Brown relates a packed show in Baltimore where flying beer bottles ended up with him going to the ER at 3am to get his arm stitched up.

A lethal combination of players, CAB pairs the beer soused vocals and rhythm playing of Bill Brown (formerly of hardcore heroes Shoot The Hostages), the lightning quick riffs of Phil Valentine (he who learned guitar at the age of ten playing along to Appetite For Destruction), the sludgy four-string pop of Jeffrey Artiaco (Uriah Heep’s first album cover is tattooed on his arm) and the tribal thud of Brendan Jones (who earned his speedy chops in countless metal bands).

Releasing their self-titled debut on a local label in 2000, the group toured the East Coast and the South repeatedly, crashing in their vans, seedy promoters floors, and even once a crack house. Following this hellish ride down the super highways and dirtroads of America, the group have collected enough bizarre anecdotes to fill four volumes, many of which end up in their lyrics. Sick Again, their recent album for the Traktor7 syndicate, is the recorded result of this crazy ride, a full-length album of sociopath tales replete with feedback drenched sonics, unpolished solos and fit to accompany a bar brawl between drug lords in a Tijuana Strip Joint.