CRISIS COUTURE 4 SABRINA

WAITING ON THE WORLD TO BURN - VIDEO

THE FULL ALBUM

THE STORY

What follows is a free form journal entry, more similar to our conversation over brunch - NOT a legitimate document for anything practical or useful. X^P

THE BEGINNING:


Crisis Couture was born from a cosmic accident. I was tasked with writing a few butt rock songs for a horror film called Hellfest. This was late summer 2018. They needed them fast too…so I wrote 2 songs. One called Dead Alive, and one called Worm Feast. Both of which have cannibal/sexual overtones…and undertones. So it was all very tongue in cheek. I took maybe 3 days each to write, record, and produce both songs, and I thought to myself done deal! But while I was driving around town I was listening to Worm Feast and it suddenly dawned on me that I was having a ton of fun. It was FUN to write…FUN to record…FUN to perform…and FUN to listen to. This was in stark contrast to what music creation had become in years past. Music creation had become somewhat of a cross to bear, or an albatross to lug around behind me. So I thought to myself…well if it was this much fun…then fuck it, let’s make some more!


And so it started that way. As a sort of dare to myself…or a scientific experiment gone horribly right.


And that experiment had a few simple rules. FINISH THE SONG! Each song had a 3 day write and production rule. That means…write, record, in the can and mix ready in 3 days or less. Paint on canvas, and MOVE ON. This was also in stark contrast to the way I made music previously, when songs could take months to finish. Crisis Couture became the cure, a catharsis…art therapy. I suspect the reason the Crisis formula worked so smoothly is because it actually had a formula. The first being…drums, bass, guitars. Same settings. The end. This may sound obvious to most people in rock bands but for me…I was always questing to reinvent the wheel. Find a new wacky sound. Curate the perfect samples. Discover something new and different. Constantly questing was exhausting, and at times debilitating. With Crisis tho…I knew EXACTLY what colors I was going to be painting with right out the gate. These are the rules. Anything else is sweetener. So I knew exactly what to do going into it. After that, it was no holds barred. Just start hucking ideas out and if they stuck…GREAT…move on. And that’s how it works. If the song isn’t AMAZING…who cares…time for the next one!


The “juice” so to speak just started flowing. I think the next song I wrote was “Private”…followed by “Despair” and then it just didn’t stop. I wanted to write a song called “Waiting on the World to Burn”…so I did. It was simple, easy, energizing, rewarding. All the things the act of creation should be. It was also an avenue for some serious emotions that until then, I didn’t really have a way of expressing musically. This is for several reasons…


By this point in my life I had been through some serious shit. Debilitating life altering auto-immune disease. Critical life threatening depression. Severe PTSD. Multiple suicide attempts…and the beginning of a very painful and ongoing divorce. These are themes that are generally more difficult to fit into a pop song, and I think they were trying to come out for a long time.


Songs like “Despair"…which is essentially a chronicle of my descent into sickness. "We Are Stars” is a treatise on how enslaved I felt to my own art and expression. “Private” is about living in a lie and clinging to that lie despite “heads rolling in the street”…none of this is fun stuff.


BUT…that’s the beauty of metal…it can be a musical haven for shit people don’t want to process or think about. Shit tho…that NEEDS to be processed and thought about.


METAL INFLUENCE:


I came into metal late in the game. I grew up listening to the Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Joe Cocker, Janis Joplin, Blood Sweat and Tears (to name only a few) - stuff my Mom was into…not the hardest shit. So heavier music always pushed me away. This is something that I think is a common experience amongst most of the world. Metal is TOO…fill in the blank. The real ice breaker for me was Brendon Small’s band Dethklok. I started watching the show (Metalocaplypse), and it was the jokes that lured me in…what I wasn’t prepared for was how AMAZING the music was, and the performances. Dethklok also had lush chord progressions and beautiful soaring melodies…all the stuff I loved…but it was in this fucking metal package. From there I started dabbling around, and suddenly metal wasn’t as off putting to my ears anymore.


The issue for metal is it has a steep barrier to entry. A heavy learning curve. It also has about 500 sub genres in varying degrees of face melt and ear bleed that turn people off really easily. It also has been around for 40 to 50 years…so there’s a lot of ground to cover. Furthermore…it’s just not really available for the general music listener. You’ve got to go find it. This is why Dethklok was so important to my understanding of the genre. It’s not “bad” it’s different. It’s a different language. Like going to a super wacky church with your wacky friend, and then having a great time!


Before hip-hop took over planet earth, it was much the same. In fact…I consider hip-hop and metal to be cut from the same cloth, but on opposite poles. Both are generally ethno-centric forms of music creation. Metal being the Whitest and frequently most European…and hip-hop being the Blackest and most American. Both require thorough understanding if not virtuosic chops on specific instruments. For metal it is the guitar, bass, and drums - for hip-hop it was the turntable now sampler. And perhaps the most similar trait of both…you can say ANYTHING. You can literally talk to your audience. About anything. Whatever is on your mind. And that is super powerful.


The metal band that taught me this the most is Sepultura. Specifically on their album Roots. There is a song called “Attitude” and in it there is the lyric…”live your life, not the way they taught you…DO WHAT YOU FEEL”…and that blew my fucking mind the first time I heard it. A metal song with the words, “do what you feel”…that brought me into a whole new head space within the genre and music understanding in general. I fucking love that album.


I’m glossing over a lot here, but I would be remiss if I did not mention System of a Down. When they came out I didn’t get it…and it wasn’t until years and years later that I finally came to the conclusion that they are in my top 5 fav bands EVER. I had actually met Serj Tankian before I ever really paid attention to System. I’m embarrassed to say. He invited us to the SOAD show at the now long defunct Verizon Amphitheater…and the show extended my perception of reality. I learned a lot at that show. First, System of a Down was fucking incredible…and I spent the next several years of my life exclusively listening to them. Two, the show was spectacular, and changed how I thought about live performance. Three, the love. The love in that venue was off the charts. I’m sure there was a lot of gratitude just for them being together again…but I remember at one point turning around and embracing some random guy. A bald, severely tattooed, denim vest wearing, metal die hard SOAD fan…and we were best buddies in that moment. And that is when I learned…metal has the power to bring people together, to heal, to express, to feel, to do anything that any other genre of music can. And I’m forever grateful for that experience.


CRISIS TODAY:

So I started Crisis on a lark. And that lark turned into a bald fucking eagle. Shortly after starting the project I couldn’t perceive my life or creativity without it first going through the “crisis filter”…all the songs I heard in my head were Crisis songs…everything that was happening to me got fed into the Crisis machine. And I was eating, breathing and generally living Crisis Couture.

Nevertheless I had it on the back burner. I thought the music was awesome. I thought it had the ability to cut through…it was different…familiar…and I believe fills a very real vacancy in metal right now…

It wasn’t until the summer of 2019 I was conversing with Serj via email, and I mentioned I had a metal project I was working on. He was intrigued, believing and understanding I’ve been primarily a pop and rock guy all this time. He gave it a listen and for lack of a better expression…he liked it. I would say it blew his mind…but for safety I’ll just stick with…he liked it. We emailed back forth about the project, and it was Serj’s enthusiasm that made me think…no…made me DARE to think that maybe just maybe Crisis had a shot out in the big bad world. So I took it off the back burner and slammed it squarely down on the front. Put a band together, and shot some videos! I also invited Serj to come along for the ride, and it seems he’s taken me and Crisis under his wing…which I am wholly grateful for.


THE MISSION:


My goal for Crisis is multi-tiered. I want it to be a bad mother fucking rock experience. Check that box. But the real goal I have, the main thematic thread that weaves through all the songs…is in broad terms…mental health. And more specifically…how to cope with your mental health. I’ve been using the hashtag #lifeisacrisis…and you know something…it is. It really is. And if you’re lucky enough that that isn’t the case…well you need only wait. It’s coming. It’s probably already there, and you just don’t know it, or don’t want to.

Crisis is elastic. It’s flexible. It’s relative. One person’s Monday is another’s person’s last straw. Society encourages you to be happy. HAPPY! LIVE YOUR BESTEST LIFE EVRRRRRRR! How often do people tell you NOT to feel bad. NOT to feel depressed. They are doing you a great disservice in saying this. Because the truth is…FEELING is the ONLY way through. The grief, the sadness, the depression…the crisis…it MUST be felt and expressed for healing to occur. It can take years…but it must be done.

In my own life I’ve come to visualize my crises as a puppy. Or some sort of Miyazakian creature…adorable…but sad. This fantastical animal lives with me. But I don’t keep it in the back yard. I don’t tell it to get out. I don’t kick it or abuse it. I feed it. I comfort it. I give it hugs…give it baths. I make sure it’s taken care of. It’s a part of my family.

That’s my goal for Crisis Couture. I want everyone to have their own crisis…or be ready for it when it comes.

MISSION/GOAL Outline

MISSION STATEMENT

  • Proponent for mental health, suicide prevention, expressing yourself, personal growth, honesty, looking internally

  • If a band like Fever 333 is about political and socio economic change, Crisis Couture is about the opposite...internal change. Speaking your truth, forgiving yourself and moving into the world to be the change yourself.

  • Personal Note: past 5 years I lost my body, my mind, and then my heart in that order. I reached the bottom. Discovered the lowest of lows, and now I'm on my way back to discover the highs and the lights. Crisis seems to be the way.

  • Be a gateway to heavier styles of music

  • Hybrid between rock and metal

  • A heavy music ambassador

  • Bring heavy music back to mainstream

  • Coloquial and easy to understand lyrics

  • Hip-hop style vocals and down to earth messages

  • Talk about real shit

  • Visuals: bright colors mixed with black. Pinks, golds...alt clothing...not trying to look overtly metal

GOALS

  • Short term

  • Skip ahead of local shows

    1. Opening act for mid level to major bands

    2. Entry level festival slots

    3. Record or EP release via a label or independent label or entity

    4. Get on some rock playlists or XYZ...online exposure through some professional means

    5. Label? Management? Media or talent agency?

  • Long term

  • Opening for major bands

    1. Tour

    2. Headlining own shows

    3. Radio play

    4. Legit label involvement

    5. More mass appeal with regard to the mission statement

    6. Involved in a movement to bring rock back to mainstream appeal

  • Possible involvement in fashion? Clothing line eventually?