The Chicago rock band CrashDive’s encompassing sound stems from classic rock bands of the late 1960′ through the 1980s. The band asserts to have thus “created a whole new sound for rock” on their new EP.
Infusing sounds from brass and rock band instruments in a whole new way, with traditional classic rock guitar fervor, CrashDive creates a unique, high-energy, and entertaining vintage rock sound.
Their new four-track release, Top Brass, opens with the booming “A Million Goodbyes” – a power-chord driven multi-lingual track that adaptly expresses something that many people experience at one time or another: a relationship that doesn’t work out and yet coming to grips with that and saying goodbye is a lot easier said than done.
“Sometimes you just need to say goodbye and move on,” says songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist Richard Galime. “But to make that message clear you may need to say it in more ways than one.”
The more 70’s theatrical rock-oriented, “Evil Mistress,” captures the swagger of the era, even a bit reminiscent of bands Aerosmith. Throughout there are changes in sound, timing, rhythms, and melodies, leaving not a boring moment in the mix.
“On the surface ‘Evil Mistress’ may sound pretty straight forward,” Galime says. “But it uses the mistress to personify the adrenalin high that happens with on-stage performance and the emotional crash felt when it’s over,” adding that the ‘duality’ is also reflected in the “guitar and trumpet riff’s contrasted by a jazz section.”
“Save Me” is a tepid, and more melodic and harmonic, song, featuring heavy rocking guitars and plenty of rapid chord changes, matched key-for-key by the brass section and percussionists.
The EP’s closing track is the interestingly-titled and edgy, “Batteries No Bueno,” driven by buzzsaw guitars and a feverish brass ensemble, blazing through bar after bar.
A bit past the track’s mid-point, the mood changes and becomes more spirited with a 70s funk influence that is impossible to miss. You might just expect Shaft himself to come flying through the window.
The band says it’s the first time they used a trumpet on one of their songs. The instrument stands out front and center as a lead voice rather than as a background embellishment.
In 2016, we included CrashDive’s debut album as one of our favorite DIY debuts of the year.
You can listen to the other tracks here