What do you get when you cross the Descendents, Gwar, Converge, Hagfish, Good Riddance, and Bane?
Apparently, you get Only Crime. Russ Rankin from Good Riddance, Aaron Dalbec of Bane, Zach Blair of Hagfish and Gwar, his brother Donivan, also of Hagfish, and Bill Stevenson of All/Descendents and Black Flag fame joined forces to create a new band, whose first LP, To The Nines, comes out this month on Fat Wreck Chords.
They’re more hard-core than Good Riddance and the Descendents, but you can feel the pop-punk just under the surface of this band. The guitar veers from hardcore to straight-up metal, and Bill Stevenson’s drumming is unmistakable. What they’ve come out with is a gritty band that still knows how to put together a melody, and added Blasting Room production and that certain je ne sais quoi that you can hear in nearly all Fat Wreck Chords bands these days to make angry, driven music that’s still catchy as hell. Only Crime sound like they’ve been playing together for years, rather than months, and I can bet from hearing their record that their live show will be killer.
