Crashing Cairo

"Monday Changed Everything" answers any question you may have. Yes, they belong on the charts. Crashing Cairo gave a stadium sized performance and I am glad I was there to experience it."
-- Amy Palomar -writer for Motor City Blog - Motor City Blog

Crashing Cairo has really something to say in this bloody crowded music world, believe me! Indigenous to Detroit, Michigan, US, they are Robert Wax on vocals, Joel Cooper on guitars, Dan Denton on keyboards and Bob Gilbert on drums, they brilliantly produce a superb full flavoured alternative rock, with mixed experiences that range from symphonic music effects to almost punkish riffs, that hits the point; "developing a cutting edge sound in this era is a difficult task" says Wax. But for me they have reached the objective, a great band such as this one should be in the charts!! Their sensational mini lp is a joy to listen to, 6 stunning tunes, each song it's better than the previous one, don't really know which way to start to find a single, nothing to waste. Apart "Hair", the wonderful song in the player, we have the extraordinary "Rise", the brit pop oriented "Children", "Luxury" a passionate ballad, "Greyhound" and "Tell", both fantastic. From 1 to 10, 8! Join my enthusiasm and visit their web page! - Radio Basile

Video link - Graham Media Group

Audio Link - WJR

Rock stars like Gene Simmons and Sting used to be teachers, not long before having sold-out concerts across the world. For Crashing Cairo, this serves as a good omen as they prepare to open for Eddie Money at the DTE Energy Music Theatre on Friday.

The Michigan pop-rock group's lead singer, Robert Wax, is a fifth-grade teacher at Norwood Elementary in Royal Oak. Drummer David West is a software engineer who also advises future engineers.


Blending together the styles of Radiohead and U2, Crashing Cairo talked with Stateside's Mercedes Mejia about their road to performing at the DTE Energy Center. - Michigan Radio

Fifth-grade teacher Robert Wax has an interesting perspective on life.

“You know how when you are little, how kids are asked, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’” he said. “I never had one answer to that.”

The Northwood Elementary School teacher has personified his life philosophy that you don’t have to pick just one thing.

In addition to being dedicated to his profession as an educator, “Wax” — as he is referred to by his bandmates — is the frontman and lead vocalist of Crashing Cairo.

The band recently landed the gig of a Detroit lifetime — opening up for Eddie Money this Friday at DTE Energy Music Theatre.

“It’s iconic,” he said. “When you think of Pine Knob, there are just some things that come to mind and that is one of them.”

And yes, Wax is in the generation that still refers to DTE Energy Music Theatre by its former name, Pine Knob.

Wax said the theater holds about 15,000 people, and he was told there are usually about 10,000 in attendance for the last four songs of the opening band.

The Eddie Money concert has always drawn a sellout crowd at DTE and has grown to be a sign of summer starting in metro Detroit.

“We’ve played shows before with people who are more well-known than we are,” Wax said. “But nothing this huge.”

Wax describes Crashing Cairo as if you were to take Radiohead, U2, The National and Coldplay and put them in a blender, “and then scoop off the scum. We sound like the scum.”

In his music career, Wax has reached some applaudable milestones, like being photographed with Adam Ant at Hitsville U.S.A., opening for Kid Rock, playing frequently with The Verve Pipe and performing at CBGB in New York.

He was working as a solo artist at that time in New York when he met Duane Lavold, someone Wax said motivated him to form a band.

“We talked and he said I should turn it into a whole-band thing instead of doing it on my own,” Wax said. “So I did.”

Wax said he found the perfect fit when Crashing Cairo formed about six years ago. He said it was a great fit not only because of their talent, but because they all share the common belief that you can be more than one thing in life and you can go for it in everything that you do.

“I’ve been performing in different bands for years, and I love to teach, and I finally met a group of guys that answered a question the same way that I did,” he said, adding that all members are professionals in the auto industry by day and have other passions as well.

Wax has a growing list of movies he has appeared in and loves his role as a farmer in Oxford, where he lives. Right now he is getting his coop ready for his new chickens and finishing their run.

The lesson of reaching for all of your goals and not having to settle on one is something he is proud to have accomplished and to show his students on a daily basis.

“When working with kids, sometimes they learn by seeing, and they know I act, they know I do music, they know I’m a farmer, and it’s kind of embedded in everything that I do,” he said. “And so what a wonderful lesson to say they can be a couple of different things. They don’t have to be one thing.”

Northwood Elementary School Principal Angela Ashburn said the district is proud that one of its teachers is reaching this milestone.

“It is great that students can see a teacher with diverse interests and talents fulfill his dreams,” she said. “We want all of our students to pursue their dreams. We are glad that his day job is teaching our students.”

To listen to Crashing Cairo and learn more about the band, visit www.crashingcairo.com. - C and G News

Robert Wax would like to be cool and hip and say that playing this weekend at the DTE Energy Music Theatre, when his band Crashing Cairo opens for Eddie Money, is just another gig.

But that wouldn’t be accurate.

“Y’know, we’ve played a lot of small shows in a lot of empty rooms, and to tell you the truth I thought I missed a shot at playing Pine Knob,” Wax says from his office at Norwood Elementary School in Royal Oak, where he’s a fifth-grade teacher and recently directed the school play, “Shirley Holmes and the FBI.”

“So I can’t believe we’re actually doing this. The whole band has wanted to do something like this our entire lives.”

Wax, who resides in Oxford with his wife and two children, has been making music all his life, both as a solo artist billed as I Am Wax and for the past 10 years with Crashing Cairo, whose other members — guitarist Joel Cooper, keyboardist Dustin Walker, bassist Nick Porter and drummer Dave West — all work in the automotive industry. A pivotal moment; attending a Mac Davis concert at Pine Knob when he was five or six years old with his parents.

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“We were close to the front and someone placed me on the stage,” Wax recalls. “So here’s Mac Davis singing a song about a little boy to me. For six months I thought Mac Davis was my real dad! But after that I would walk up and down the street with an acoustic guitar, strumming and singing.”

Music is only one of Wax’s artistic endeavors, however. He’s amassed an acting resume that includes small roles in films such as “Transformers,” “Real Steel” and “Batman Vs Superman.” And he has a five-acre farm in Attica Township, where he’s raising chickens.

“It’s a lot of different lives, but that’s OK,” Wax says. “Y’know, we always ask kids that are around the age I teach, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ I think one thing all of the (Crashing Cairo) band members have in common is we didn’t just check one box. We said, ‘OK, we’re going to be this and something else,’ and we all kind of decided we could be more than one thing.

“I think it’s a good lesson for the kids. They can look at someone like me and think, ‘All right, this guy’s my teacher, but he’s also got this other thing.’ It helps them say, ‘I can be more than one thing. I can be a fire fighter and an artist. I can put things together, and it’s OK.’ That’s a great message for kids.”

With summer vacation nearing Wax is planning to be busy with Crashing Cairo. In addition to the DTE show on Friday night, May 27, the group released a new song, “Cotton Pillow,” this week that it recorded at Tempermill Recording in Ferndale. More new material will follow in coming months along with some shows, and Wax is even putting acting opportunities aside in order to concentrate on the band.

• Eddie Money, Dez Money & The Faze and Crashing Cairo perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 27, at DTE Energy Music Theatre, Sashabaw Road east of I-75, Independence Township. Tickets are $34.50 pavilion, $10 lawn. Call 248-377-0100 or visit palacenet.com. - The Oakland Press