CRIME IN STEREO HEADLINE SHOWS!
 

The twelve months between the 2006 release of their critically acclaimed The Troubled Stateside and the beginning of recording Crime In Stereo Is Dead, Crime In Stereo thought they had seen the end of the road. After coming home from six straight months of touring promoting Stateside, a release that All Music Guide praised as As ambitious as modern hardcore is likely to get. Hitting the road on tours ranging from support slots for Brand New & the Warped Tour, Crime In Stereo made a name with sharply intelligent critiques of the current social and economic landscape set to a backdrop of music that broke out of the standard hardcore mold.

But time was taking its toll. Following almost three consecutive years touring non stop in support of Troubled Stateside and their debut full length Explosives And The Will To Use Them in 2004, the band felt disconnected from their label and lost. Dunne went to work as a political consultant, managing successful judicial campaigns on Long Island for the New York State Democratic Party. Further complicating the situation was Dunnes diabetes reaching a new severity. His situation worsened to the point where he now has to self-administer injections to his stomach every day to keep things in control. Being on the road suddenly became more complex and possibly life-threatening for Alex.

It wasn't just Dunne, however, that found his home life evolving in strange ways. Co-founder and bassist Mike Musilli, on the verge of earning his masters degree in education, gained employment as a teacher in his home town high school, the same one he and Dunne had graduated from years before. With the band spending less and less time together and more working in their respective fields, the future of the band was in doubt.

After spending a few months at home, the band re-emerged from a de-facto hiatus to tour the East Coast and Midwest in a whirlwind run with Glassjaw. As Dunne and drummer Scotty Giffin began spending time back in Dunnes basement working on songs, while vocalist Kristian Hallbert was taking vocal training on his own. At the same time, Bridge Nine Records entered the fold for a very likely partnership. Hallberts vocal performance stands out on Crime In Stereo Is Dead, ranging from screams & shouts to the occasional falsetto.

Crime In Stereo Is Dead is unlike any record the band or Bridge Nine Records have ever done. Its a punk record, it's a hardcore record, and its an intricately written album start to finish, but it doesnt really fit into the melodic hardcore or punk category without having to further qualify the description. Produced by long-time collaborator Mike Sapone the band was able to focus on making their most musically and lyrically ambitious record to date. The result is a record that features the familiar Crime In Stereo sound, but it also showcases the band at their most explosive and discordant,their catchiest and their most ambient and loosely structured. Crime In Stereo Is Dead is a wakeup call to a scene that sees melody as taboo and a world that sees catchy music as safe and lyrically passive. Its an enigmatic release, its hardcore, its punk, but its a difficult record to describe in terms of preceding bands because this doesn't sound entirely like anyone else.

19 Nov KINGSTON BACCHUS
24 Nov CARDIFF CLWB IFOR BACH