Video Premiere: Crazy Eyes’ “Sand Castle Squisher”
By Matt Ashworth
It’s no secret that numerous NadaMucho.com contributors have enjoyed intermittent and/or extended crushes on Seattle band Crazy Eyes.
Over the last five years, we’ve included them on our yearly list of emerging local bands (#41for2015), asked them to play our yearly #NadaFest mini-festival multiple times, and had six different photographers capture 95 shots of the group performing live for our Flickr photo gallery.
The band’s Ring Ring Jingalong and Dark Heart Singalong (2017) was a great local record, the kind you can put on and listen to all the way through when you’re in the right mood…. you know, like the good old days.
Somehow the band has yet to take off outside the Northwest, but if there’s any justice, their forthcoming record It’s Over, Everybody will help them do just that.
Today we premiere the first song and video from It’s Over, Everybody and the song “Sand Castle Squisher” is aptly titled given the band’s jagged, melodic sound. While they come at you hard in the post-punk-heavy-indie-smash-your-face-with-angst category, which makes them appear mean enough to kick over your sandcastle, they sound like righteous dudes who’d dig making some new circles in the sand with you and share some creative ideas on how to go about it.
An album primer written by songwriter/guitarist/pianist G Kellen Grace certainly seems focused on creating and healing rather than squishing. In it, he expresses dismay with the current state of affairs in today’s world and states that the band’s goal is to “address the experience we’ve all had handling our relationships, mental health, caring for those who may not care about themselves, personal tragedy, and at times howl at the moon when it’s all just a little too much.” This thoughtful introspection is a much needed quantity in the Seattle music scene – and everywhere – and I can’t help but feel buoyed by Grace’s statement that the band believes that, “despite the difficulty in simply surviving really is at times, music can be a healing tool that we can all share together.”
It’s Over, Everybody will be released Dec. 14 on local label Den Tapes, which carefully curates some of the most interesting independent music in the region. The accompanying album release show is that same evening at the Victory Lounge with Dirty Dirty and Flesh Produce.