Holocaust Hymns…CRISIS

When I was 13, I was obsessed with punk rock; not only the bands that were around when I got into the scene in the early 80’s, but the bands that came before me & paved the way for the bands of my day. I guess you could say I was also a bit of a punk nerd, I wanted to know all about the history of punks from California all the way to the UK. That being said, I loved reading Melody Maker, Punk, Flipside plus Maximum Rock & Roll had me hooked from the first issue. In my research as a young upstart I came across this band CRISIS, they sounded like no one else I had ever heard. This bunch of British weirdos created anarcho punk before there was even the term & went on to put out some killer singles from 1979 to 1981. CRISIS’ sound totally was a product of their multicultural environment & you could also hear this in their lyrics. This band was not afraid to wear their political beliefs on their sleeves. They went all around Britian performing against racism – you have to remember, this was during the time of the National Front, which they wanted to smash. These are the kind of attributes I looked for in my punk bands & CRISIS delivered the right amount of radical angst tenfold. Then there was the music they created – this band had some of the sickest basslines, every which one they drenched in their subversive cauldron of reggae. CRISIS also were on some positive punk shit before the term was coined; I guess you could say they were just way ahead of their time. Their song structure was off kilter, but at the same time very on point. You can almost hear a cheeky sense of humor in the rhythms this band manifested. CRISIS’ vocalist was top notch; he had this I don’t give a fuck vibe, but you could also hear he was intelligent. I know I learned mad info from this band. The cool thing that happened when this band broke up was that Douglas Pearce and Tony Wakeford went on to form Death In June, which is a whole other story of radness. So here is the deal, if you dig anarco punk, death rock or just good fucking music, do your research & get all of their music!

[audio:http://staging.cvltnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/04-White-Youth.mp3|titles=CRISIS – White Youth] [audio:http://staging.cvltnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/12-Frustration.mp3|titles=CRISIS – Frustration] [audio:http://staging.cvltnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/09-Laughing.mp3|titles=CRISIS – Laughing]