crumb

Is there any other touchstones in rock that can sound so timeless, nostalgic, and yet so bang up to date as that
classic jangly, melodic,12-string guitar-driven pop sound? It's certainly weaved magic for The Byrds, Big Star,
REM, The La's and Teenage Fanclub. Dublin three-piece Crumb are the latest outfit to fall under the spell of the Rickenbacker rooted, harmony-laden West Coast template. That they do it so skilfully and at times so majestically is as much a testament to their combined talents as to their record collection.

Featuring former members of Mexican Pets, Hey Paulette and The Sewing Room, Crumb have the songs and melodic instincts in spades,
and go on to prove it on trackslike 'Follow Me Home', 'Bad Timing' and the oddly titled but soaring, irrestible
Byrds-like 'Fecky the Ninth'. 'Marwood' is more 80's indie power-pop, while 'Lights Of The City', my personal
favourite recalls Murmur-era REM, though as with almost everything here it's more inspiration than emulation that rules the day. The lyrics are mainly of the lovelorn variety: "I should get over this I know" is the refrain on the
penultimate track 'My Back Yard' and they bring the pace down a tad on the acoustic closer, 'No Great Plans'. If
the recording budget squeaks a little, it's more than made up for by the sheer embarrassment of riches on offer- there isn't a weak track here, and clocking in at just 34 minutes in total, proves that less is more.

- Colm O'Hare

It’s rarely a bad thing when top radio jock Tom Dunne starts raving about your band. An the Pet sounds host and his listeners have been going ga-ga over this three-piece’s debut album Evenings And Weekends.

Jangly guitar pop of the highest order is the order of the day and Crumb server it up with aplomb. Think REM back when they were good as a chiming Rickenbacker 12-strings ascends and descends through the chord scale. Although the band are veterans of the Dublin underground scene, Crumb may now find themselves up with Hal and The Thrills in the wake of this release. This is the best record you’ll hear this summer. We love it.
- The Star On Sunday

Dublin trio Crumb sound like several other bands, but the one band whose influence is all over this debut is REM. The jangly guitars and vocal harmonies here recall the American band circa 1984-86. And, lest there be any confusion, this is no bad thing. With Stipe & Co looking like they've exited stage left in creative terms, they could do worse than to cheer themselves up and listen to this to see what their influence has meant.

There are quite a few highlights here - brisk and bright opener 'Lights of the City', the plaintive 'Wrecked Or', the gloriously addictive 'For the Leaving Of...' - but the album is strongest as a whole. There is no grandstanding, just well-crafted songs that complement each other astutely.

This is the sound of three music fans - Dez Foley (drums/vocals), Derrick Dalton (guitar/vocals) and Eamonn Davis (bass) - paying genuine homage, and it's abundantly clear that it's about enjoyment, not success. The album even manages that rare trick of sounding instantly likeable, yet offering more on each listen.

Admittedly, 'Evenings & Weekends' fades slightly towards its close, and some might be put off by what they might see as a lack of variety. But in a music scene deluged by showy, slick guitar bands, there is something admirably honest and pure about Crumb. Younger listeners will probably want something more flashy, but others will be given a nice nostalgia pill. They'll enjoy the trip.

The title of this album might well be a reference to the windows of opportunity in which it was made. If so, for Foley, Dalton and Davis it was time well spent. It's unlikely to put them on any big maps, but sometimes the smallest victories are the sweetest.


- Tom Grealis

Crumb are that rare thing in an era of self-conscious art rock and retro's 80's guitar acts - an indie pop band. This album is full of bittersweet, jangly guitar pop and boasts vocal harmonies on a par with Teenage Fanclub and
melodies with tinges of New Order, The Beautiful South, and The Go-Betweens, while the 12 string Rickenbacker guitar calls to mind REM. 'Lights of the City' and 'Fecky the Ninth' set the pace, while 'Follow Me Home' and 'For The Leaving Of ...' are stand-out tracks that just won't get out of your head.


- Edel Coffey

As the post-punk black hole shows no sign of collapsing in on itself, a new hope glints on the guitar band horizon.  Crumb (comprised of ex-members of Dublin bands Mexican Pets, The Sewing Room and Hey Paulette) fit their own musical stencil around some of the best bygone bands of the last two decades.  

Thanks to the gorgeous jangly twang of Derrick Dalton's Rickenbacker, The Go-Betweens, The Blue Aeroplanes
and a touch of early REM (when they were good) segue in. American bands such as The Feelies and The
Replacements, exponents of melodic guitars and small town lyricism, are obvious references.  Lights of the City is supremely hummable, while Wrecked Or is the soundtrack to latenight melancholy.  With this guitar pop tour de force, Crumb may have just started the post Rickenbacker revival.     


- The Ticket

Fusing melodic guitars and small town lyricism, Irish band Crumb bring to mind some of the best guitar bands of the last couple of decades. While referencing bands like The Go-Betweens, The Blue Aeroplanes and early REM, their sound is definitely their own. Lights Of The City is supremely hummable and Follow Me Home is an infectiously catchy foot-tapper. This jangly guitar pop is a tour de force.

The Verdict: We’ll be spending our evenings and weekends listening to this.

- Sinead Gleeson

In a musical landscape dotted with blokes who think they're Adam Ant resurrected it's like a trip to a spa resort to hear Evenings and Weekends. There are 80s influences, but Crumb doff their caps to some of the best guitar bands of that decade. Listening to the gorgeous jangly twang of a Rickenbacker (so not a post-punk instrument) bands like The Go-Betweens, The Blue Aeroplanes and a touch of early REM (ie when they were good) float up. American bands like The Feelies and The Replacements, exponents of melodic guitars and small town lyricism could also be factored in. These songs start to stick in your head almost as soon as you've heard them - 'Lights of the City' is supremely hummable and 'Follow Me Home' is an infectiously catchy foot-tapper. 'Wrecked Or' is the soundtrack to late-night melancholy while Bad Timing is a Byrds-style lament of missed opportunities. One of the best songs is saved for last with closing track, 'No Great Plans', a sparse acoustic love song.

Comprised of members who have at one time or another played in bands like The Mexican Pets, Hey Paulette and The Sewing Room, Crumb have been around long enough to be aware of their own distinctiveness. They reference others, but theirs is a sound all of their own which sits head and shoulders above the style over substance bands doing the rounds today.

We Say: A jangly guitar pop tour de force

Tracklisting: Lights of the City - Fecky the Ninth - Follow Me Home - Wrecked Or - Bad Timing - For The Leaving Of… - Book Of Misunderstanding - Marwood - My Back Yard - No Great Plans

Info: www.crumbmusic.com
- Siglamag.com

Just picture the ad: ”Two members of acclaimed 80s indie act seek like minded individual, with similar credentials, to wrest control of the Irish music scene back from imposter Frames-types and Fleetwood Mac cover acts.”

Well, it may not have appeared in Musicmaker’s doorway, but it’s happened nonetheless.

Distilled from the remnants of erstwhile John Peel faves Hey Paulette, and bulked up by a onetime occupant of the Sewing Room, Crumb are what melody-driven pop can be, if it paid more attention to riffs instead of the threads.

The melodies are sharp, the drums crack and the guitars jangle. What’s more, tonight in the Hub there’s nothing superfluous, excessive, or posing, thank Christ - just the tunes.

Grappling for references isn’t too hard. If you’ve found yourself blowing the dust off your old Go Betweens, Replacements or Teenage Fanclub LPs recently then Crumb will get your Cons tapping.

Derrick Dalton plays his Rickenbacker like a man on a mission, his former Paulette bandmate Eamonn Devine holds everything bass-steady, and Dez Foley (once of the Sewing Room) snaps and crackles on the kit.

Truth to be told, before I hit the Hub someone has passed on a couple of Crumb’s MP3s. Most of their tunes come in under four minutes, all nipping beats and driving bass, topped off with some economical Marresque guitar work from onetime Mexican Pet Dalton.

The highlight of the set is the sublime ‘Wrecked Or’, which comes off like sweetest melody Forster and McLennan never wrote.

A upbeat melancholy characterises much of the evening’s output. The lyrics allude to old girlfriends, good times, places and people, coming and going – all the misty mellowness with none of the clichés.

Discrete enquiries afterwards revealed that the three piece are currently recording an album’s worth of material. With no date yet set for release, and few live shows scheduled for the immediate future, Crumb seem intent on retaining an air of mystery.

With tunes like these, though, that can only last so long. Catch them if you can.


- Cormac Looney

This debut single from Dublin three-piece Crumb is a nicely zippy, hearty song that should set them apart from Ireland's wave of indie contenders. While the bands around them lose their heads attempting to be big and clever, this band of merry men get down to the semi-serious business of writing three minute pop-rock gems. Written in the breackneck tradition of early Dinosaur Jr. 'Follow Me Home' is nicely affable and playful, and confirms Crumb as a band to keep an eye on. - Hotpress

The first thing that strikes you about Crumb is that for a three-piece they manage to make quite a lot of noise, and with some of the members playing the scene since Hey Paulette in the 1980’s there’s also a not-too-shabby pedigree.

There are an abundance of lilting teenage fanclub-esque melodies that conjour up images of a poppier Jubilee Allstars (could opening track Lights of the City even be a direct reference perhaps?). Indeed the beautiful Bad Timing easily outshines the majority of the latest Teenage Fanclub album. The lavish indie rock swing of Fecky the Ninth is a charmer, while My Back Yard delivers a pop-rock chorus-and-a-half. There’s the fuzzy, delicate tweeness of The Field Mice all over For the Leaving Of…., while Book of Misunderstanding captures The Go-Betweens’ pop sensibilities in Crumb’s own way. The fact that practically every song drops an immensely hummable chorus is quite an achievement for a debut record.

Closer No Great Plan’s beautiful acoustic fragility offers another side of the band, and shows that even without the big, shiny choruses, Crumb still know their way around a good song. Evenings and Weekends is the perfect choice for anyone seeking a soundtrack for a lazy summer. And while it may not be their Grand Prix just yet, everyone has to start somewhere.

- Michelle Dalton