Pulling into Los Angeles straight from a highway ditch in the hills - tent off the side of the van, hummus in the cooler - Crisis Crew are exactly who they look like, and that's entirely the point. The trio sat down with Medicine Box at Medium Sized Backyard for one of the most disarmingly honest conversations we've had in this series, covering van life logistics, a genre they've coined themselves, and a meditation on busking culture that landed harder than we expected.
On How Crisis Crew Came Together
Medicine Box: I need the Crisis Crew lore. Talk to me. How did this come about?
Crisis Crew: We'd all been traveling separately for quite some time, and then we met roughly three years ago in New Orleans just playing on the street. We ended up staying in this house together that was just a mess - and out of escaping that house together we kind of formed this little trio bond. It probably wasn't until Michigan where we broke down in a school bus for a couple of weeks and there was nothing to do but play music. So Crisis Crew was kind of born out of that - sitting in a school bus in rural Michigan with nothing to do.
Medicine Box: As many bands are, you know.
Crisis Crew: We were living in the back lot of a mechanic shop and we happened to be there right on July 4th. So we're in this tiny little backwoods Michigan town - shout out Ludington - more American flags than I've ever seen in my entire life on every surface. And we're just walking around looking like this.
Medicine Box: At what point did you realize, "Oh, this could actually be a thing?"
Crisis Crew: Up in that little town in Michigan, we had to walk like 30 minutes to the nearest grocery store, so we were just sitting on the school bus together with nothing to do but play homebrew D&D and write music. But I think back to one of those moments in New Orleans too - before we left we went and busked together, and it was one of the first times we'd ever played together. We were just trying to make a couple bucks and it was very clicky. It kind of immediately clicked and I was like, "I want to play with these guys for a minute." I didn't think that three years later we'd still be here, because that rarely happens. But here we are.
On New Orleans and Where the Sound Comes From
Medicine Box: You met in New Orleans, which has such a rich music lineage. Do you feel like you pull that into your music? How has living there inspired what you do?
Crisis Crew: Definitely, greatly. Especially on this project we're about to release - there are all these little New Orleans Easter eggs and themes that if you know them, you can find them. And I think it's important that since we kind of originated there, we really want to platform that area and the smaller, cooler music scene that exists there. Independent people making really raw, vulnerable music. I think our sound is indicative of what you can hear just walking the streets of New Orleans. The jazz aspect of what we do is rooted in that - you wake up every morning and you hear the same cover band playing "Walk On By" or something, all day long. It's kind of hard not to let that seep in.
Medicine Box: I want to pivot to the music. If someone came up to you and said, "What is Crisis Crew's sound?" - what would you say?
Crisis Crew: We've been trying to coin the term "shoe grass." Or "blue gaze" is another one we've been playing with. I come from kind of a bluegrassy, blues background playing guitar, and I listen to a lot of indie shoegaze - like Great Death and those kinds of guys. They meld in our sound into this really spacey, environmentally inspired slow rock music mixed with the fast pickiness of bluegrass. Southern music influence at its core, but pushed somewhere else.
On Van Life and Living Together 24/7
Medicine Box: You guys live in a van and travel together. How did that come about, and how is it being not only collaborators but also roommates?
Crisis Crew: Things can be tense sometimes. We love each other - we love each other so much. Both days, you know. But the real truth is that we actually underneath it all like each other. The fact that we can spend every single day together, wake up and immediately be working or traveling thousands of miles - we've found a good balance between how much space we need and what the future looks like. Hopefully we're not all four living in a minivan in the very near future.
Medicine Box: Eventually when you get to the place of "cool, we've all moved out of the van" - is there going to be a part of you that's like, "Damn, that was a time"? Or are you ready to be done with it?
Crisis Crew: I think we're going to be living in two vans. Not going to miss it. Not going to miss it at all. I do think fondly of the first trip we took together out of New Orleans - we had a bigger van and we really went nowhere over the course of two months. It was nice. Right now we're sleeping in the van, Jackie and her partner are in a tent off the side of the van in a beautiful highway ditch up in the LA hills. There are some great pull-offs up there. You could live there for three days if you wanted. The day in the life definitely involves hummus at some point and coffee. The days end early when you go to sleep with the sun - we try to be tucked in by 8:00, falling asleep like grandmas. You wouldn't think it to look at us, but we're all sober.
On Making Music Together
Medicine Box: When it comes to the music-making process, how do you each add to it? Who's on the songwriting side, the production side - how does it work?
Crisis Crew: Almost every song is almost entirely hers, and then we'll throw in some lyrics on a couple of them. From there our parts we pretty much independently work out, layer over the top to see what sounds good once the core frame of the song's been written.
Crisis Crew: Yeah - to compare it to building a house, I kind of hang the framing and the foundation and then I bring it to these guys and say, does this work? Do you like this? Is this our sound? And then from there the songs evolve so much. I've kind of been in the habit of writing something and having it just sit, but I know for sure that when I bring a song to these guys it ends up metastasizing beautifully into something else. That's kind of where we end up - in that little sweet zone - and we try to record them there, because they continue to evolve past that too. I do most of the production stuff as well.
On the New Album
Medicine Box: Can we talk about the new music? How does it feel with an album on the horizon?
Crisis Crew: I can speak for these guys when I say we're excited. The songs making it onto this next album were originally intended for our first release and just didn't make it on. So we kind of made a different record first that didn't have these songs on it. Now to be bringing them to fruition and actually have all these songs that we already wanted to release ready to go - it's nice. It makes us really pumped about what we're putting out.
Crisis Crew: I've been playing pretty much my whole life - acoustic folk fiddle. So I'm excited to go electric with it. Do some more spacey type of sound.
On Busking, Taking Up Space, and What It Costs
Medicine Box: You've mentioned busking a few times in this conversation. The busking culture is still very much alive and I have friends who really go out and do that. It takes boldness to park yourself in a public space and play music. What has busking culture done for you guys, and any tips for aspiring artists who want to do something like that?
Crisis Crew: You can make a lot of money at the Walmart before they kick you out.
Medicine Box: You also have to be talented, which you guys are.
Crisis Crew: That is part of it. It's a mixed bag. As we ease into the digital world more and more, the money is definitely drying up as far as traditional busking goes - going out to a downtown area, sitting and playing guitar. People don't have cash. So if you do that, I think it's a homage to your dedication. You'll hear a lot of people say busking made them the musician they are, and I think that's true. The ups and downs of it - you spend years of your life, maybe six to eight hours a day, either getting to the spot or playing. You take a lunch break and then play for six more hours. That breeds a really healthy work ethic. But it's not a sustainable way to make money for your art the way it was ten or fifteen years ago. When I first started busking I was making enough to live in a house and do okay just from playing guitar in the streets. The global shift to digital currency is really the only thing to blame for that. But there's only really one tip, and it's just to do it. Just find a place - a Walmart, a Trader Joe's, a Goodwill - if you can sit there and play, you should.
Crisis Crew: The culture has also just gotten more hostile to people being outside in any capacity, whether that's playing music or sitting on a bench. There's no room for that anymore. People are upset if you feel like you're allowed to take up space. And that's one of the reasons busking is so important - it teaches you that you are allowed to take up space. I am an artist and I'm allowed to make my art.
Medicine Box: I agree with that completely. Well, I can confidently speak for everyone here - you've earned twenty new fans in the last hour. Our lighting guy Scott was already following you on Instagram before I even checked. Crisis Crew, thank you so much for coming. Last question - where are you headed next?
Crisis Crew: Oakland. Headed up to the Bay to see some friends and play some shows.
Medicine Box: Amazing. Thank you guys again.
