Two-piece Northern Colorado rockers King Crawdad entered 2020 like many bands around the world; with high aspirations and a sudden wipe-out of the entire music industry. But a little pandemic isn’t going to stop a band self described as a “hug you can hear” in a time when we could all use one.
King Crawdad 2 is Miles Mercer (guitars/vocals) and Nick Perich (drums) tackling their older material in a way they felt it deserved. Very much a live band, they wanted this to shine through, recruiting Northern Colorado producer/musician Alan Hlavacek (Attack on Venus, Copper Teeth) to record them at his studio in Windsor.
The end result is a ripping, twenty minute, three track EP. It feels more like five songs, but that’s actually one of their greatest strengths. Mercer and Perich display a great sense of movement and syncopation put front and center by the long song format.
“We’ve been playing (“Out Of Sight”) for over a decade,” says Mercer. “It started out as a couple of different songs but over time morphed into one. We had all these songs but decided to put them together. We liked how they fit.”
The two met at middle school in Windsor, Colorado, and just celebrated their fifteenth year as a band. They’ve had bassists throughout the years, but balancing schedules between the two of them was enough to settle into being a two-piece. That said, they consider the door always open to anyone who wants a chance to play.
With Covid-19 throwing a wrench in the spokes of every musician on the planet, King Crawdad finds themselves on new ground. With everything cancelled, their summer plans were put on hold. Because of social distancing they can’t have band practice. This led them to innovate, finding ways to continue writing and creating music remotely.
“It’s almost like an exercise. You’re being forced to create something within the confine of certain rules,” says Perich. “Once it’s all over King Crawdad is coming out of the gate ready to party.”
