Self-Renewing or Splitting Up?

If there’s anything to be expected from Crime In Stereo, it’s unpredictability.

Without revealing much in the way of details, the melodic hardcore band from Levittown, New York posted on their MySpace blog, “We broke up. Then we got back together. It all happened rather quickly.”

Even if the band isn’t telling specifically why they temporarily called it quits (it’s possible the details really aren’t anyone’s business), one must applaud their persistence, as it isn’t the first time they’ve nearly thrown in the towel.

The pressure of maintaining full-time jobs (bassist Mike Musilli is a teacher, while guitarist Alex Dunne works as a political consultant), combined with Dunne’s worsening diabetes (he has to give himself insulin shots to the stomach on a daily basis) had conspired to permanently derail the band before the release of their critically acclaimed 2007 album, “...Is Dead. “

Crime In Stereo must thrive on such adversity, however. In a quote taken from their label bio on Bridge9.com, Dunne stated, “Initially, the “Is Dead” thing was about the literal end of the band, but then I think it became something else. It was about starting out one way, and then growing into an entirely new beginning.”

The resulting album shows an uncommon level of progress and maturity for a hardcore act. A far departure from anything else on the Bridge 9 Records roster, it builds on the driving punk sensibilities they honed on their second full-length, 2006’s “The Troubled Stateside,” but introduces more varied tempos, textured guitars, and lush melodic tendencies.

Vocalist Kristian Hallbert pushed his range into previously uncharted territory, and comparisons to the likes of Brand New were both appropriate and unforeseen.
It’s the sound of hardcore growing up and growing out in new directions, and while some purists cried foul, those who understood embraced the record as the band’s best work to date.

The creative risks taken on “...Is Dead” ultimately paid off, and in a short time, Crime In Stereo had gone from splitting up to topping rock critics’ year-end lists.

They soon found themselves heard by a far larger audience than before, garnering almost universal praise from the press (including an almost unheard-of five-star review from Punknews.org), landing spots on tours with Poison The Well, Against Me!, and Comeback Kid, and shooting their first ever video for “Small Skeletal” (which they would later claim “kind of really sucked”).

The amount of attention the band began to receive in the months following the disc’s release would have previously seemed unthinkable, and none of it would have happened if they hadn’t resolved to continue onward.

There must be a moral in this story somewhere.

Looking forward, they’re planning tours of both the U.S. and Europe with long-running pop-punks New Found Glory, and putting out no less than five new releases over the next 12 months with three full-lengths and two 7” EP’s, (including “Selective Wreckage,” a rarities collection due out Sept. 30). Not a bad place to be for a band that nearly burned out into nonexistence.

They’re returning to Fargo for the second time this year on Sept. 8 with Naples, Florida folk-punks Fake Problems, showgoers would be well advised not to miss this chance to see one of the fastest growing bands in hardcore today.

It might only be a matter of time before Crime In Stereo is dead for good.

If You Go

What: Crime in Stereo
Where: Aquarium
When: Mon., Sept. 8, 6 p.m. (all-ages)
Info: 701.235.5913