Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
“…an arena worthy performance…” - SXSW Live Review - Spin
“The strength of the band’s classic songwriting…(‘Baby Boom’) is another glimpse of future greatness!” - Music Week
“At its best, the Crimea's compelling full-length debut, Tragedy Rocks, consolidates all three Kinks eras – Sixties, Seventies, Eighties – in a slick, '00 lathering of wit and whimsy. No mystery why John Peel is their champion.” SXSW Picks - The Austin Chronicle
“The Crimea work hard, gig plenty, and play catchy, intense songs about over-reaching, under-achieving and drinking too much…it’s a satisfying mix and The Crimea do it better than most. Their last gig at the Borderline was a minor classic!” - Time Out London
“The Crimea - offering the world an alternative to the alternative!” - Rocksound
“The Crimea have a knack for otherworldly tunes, the kind that linger inside your after the music has stopped…success is surely just a matter of time!” - TNT
"Frontman Davey Macmanus' vocals might be raw, cracked and emotional, but as a band they're as far from being emo as they are from any other nice neat label... The Crimea sound ready to take the next step up from being one of the UK's best-kept secrets.” - Kerrang!
"Strong, emotional rock is their most immediate forte... a quality adorned with all manner of perverse and unusual detail.Piano arpeggios tumble behind billowing guitars; ghostly strains of Hammond organ; wild, acid-fried harmonies and the battered, seen-it-all voice of frontman Davey Macmanus.” - Metro
Discography
Title: Baby Boom
Format: CD
Label: Boobytrap Records
Release Date: November 17th 2003
Title: White Russian Galaxy
Format: CD/7
Label: Double Dragon Music
Release Date: June 2nd 2003
Title: Lottery Winners On Acid
Format: CD
Label: Shiny Beast
Release Date: November 25th 2002
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Bon Scott was right. Its a hell of a long road to the top if you wanna rocknroll. Just ask The Crimea. Formed in the summer months of 2002 with two ex-Crocketts (scraggly punkers reared on chaos and confusion) and an eight track machine, The Crimea began life in Plaistow, Londons Hamburger Hill. Fuelled by the disease-ridden streets, populated by knife-wielding hooded youths, the vision slowly took shape. It was an exploration into the dark recesses of love and lust; a journey on intricately woven guitar and piano lines to the center of frontman Davey Macmanuswarped cranium. Dusty Springfield, Leonard Cohen, The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev and the Pixies all spring to mind, but they would its forward thinking, imaginative, boundary pushing and classic.
Tours with Ash, Kings Of Leon, Travis, Primal Scream, Stereophonics, Dashboard Confessional and other mere mortals have seen the band forge a die-hard following. Three singles have come, leaving an indelible mark on pops landscape and disappeared into the hearts of thousands. Lottery Winners On Acid, White Russian Galaxy and Baby Boom received airplay on various shows at Radio 1, Radio 2 and XFM. Baby Boom even made no. 8 of John Peels Festive Fifty - The White Stripes and their Seven Nation Army failed to invade the top ten.
Awards and plaudits have come thick and fast - The Pop Factory (Waless own Top Of The Pops) gave them a Best New Band gong in 2003, The Independent have named them Ones To Watch in 2004, and Big Cheese included Macmanus in a fashion spread.
And theres more. Powered by the bands debut album Tragedy Rocks (scheduled for June 2004 in UK), the South By Southwest Music Festival in Texas was the first stop on a global assault. Ireland will fall soon after. And then? Well, who knows? It might have taken less than two years to get this far, but its been five lifetimes-worth of preparation and they ain't finished yet by a long shot. On rocks big highway, this particular juggernaut is set to run and run.
See The Crimea at T In The Park on July 9th & V Festival in August (21st & 22nd).
Links