The musicians who make up the band Crushed!? are bolstering the local music scene with energetic performances that keep audiences on their feet. Armed with a powerful and abrasive sound, this 5-piece post-hardcore band is bound to grip your attention in a loud way.
Crushed!? consists of guitarists Adam Smith and Jake Snider, vocalist/trombonist Joel Sheets and brothers Jimmy and Jeremy Wallace, who play bass and drums, respectively.
The group came together through BelenFest, a music festival founded by Smith in his hometown of Belen, NM. BelenFest, a project influenced by the annual Vans Warped Tour, has exploded in popularity over the last four years, expanding from seven bands and one stage to 45 performers on five stages.
“We showcased a lot of local artists and activists by allowing them to set up and sell their merchandise or spread their messages,” Smith said. “It was a completely positive community - which was simply just a few hundred people on a farm in the middle of nowhere, enjoying music together.”
During these years the band put in vigorous hours within the music scene, working and volunteering at venues across Albuquerque. Smith went on to work for the Amped Performance Center, curating sound for acts such as Three 6 Mafia.
At the same time, the band’s own sound was growing. As evidenced by their recent single Bonestorm, Crushed!?’s style involves precise, punchy instrumentation layered under Sheets’ distinctive growling vocals.
Their passionate and exciting live show is evocative of post-hardcore acts like At the Drive-In and Jamie Lenman.
However, unlike those acts, every member in Crushed!? is an integral part of the songwriting process. A song is usually derived from the Wallace brothers’ ability to improvise for hours on end. This is mixed with textures from Smith and Snider, who exchange lead and rhythm guitar so frequently the band doesn’t bother designating their roles.
The lyrics, which are often, but not always, spearheaded by Sheets, thematically range from social issues to introspection and anxiety. Though heavy, the lyrical content of these tracks do not seem to detract at all from a typical gig’s atmosphere.
“It’s about having fun,” Snider said. “To have people move and dance with high energy, it’s a very cathartic experience. People release their anxieties into something positive.”
And nowhere is that positivity more exemplified than at the Fly Honey Warehouse, Smith and Sheets’ backyard venue and a locale for touring artists. Smith works heavily with a myriad of traveling bands, and the Warehouse features a blend of both local and touring performances almost every week.
“We keep our accessibility ideals by allowing everyone to attend free of charge,” Smith said. “We usually pass around a jar to collect donations and help the touring bands get gas money to keep touring. It forges a better bond between artists and the audience. It creates friendships, as well as fans.”
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The Fly Honey Warehouse was recently featured as a location for the third annual Mountain Blood Festival, where founder and coordinator Alex Denbaars worked heavily with Crushed!?, among other artists.
“The most important thing I can say about Crushed!? involves their show at an early BelenFest,” Denbaars said. “They were headlining an all-day music festival, so everyone at the end was exhausted. But the band started playing, it was like a wind of fresh, clean air blew through the crowd. It was exciting, with people singing along and a bunch of circle pits going on. They can have that effect on an audience, and I think that’s amazing.”
Check out Crushed!?’s music here, as well as upcoming acts at the Fly Honey Warehouse here.
Audrin Baghaie is a culture reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
