The Crimsons
15We Never Asked to be Here Anyway (The Crimsons)
15By: Martin Royle
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Did you see that? She smiled right fucking at you. Just for one second. She looked down and away, yeah, but that one second of soft eyes has left your head rattling. That rattle of desire and expectation has a name you know. It's called, "cellophane", and it's a song by The Crimsons. 1515Can you remember? You ran all the way home from school, your arms waving because they could, because they were that free. Outside your house your friend ambushed you with the hose, and you laughed and screamed and laughed. These days that memory has become a tattoo on the small of your back, just out of reach of your mind's eye. That tattoo spells in cursive letters, "ninetythree". It's a song by The Crimsons.
1515The Crimsons are a four piece band from eastern Pennsylvania who, along with contemporaries The Moldy Peaches and The Strokes, are riding the crest of new and wonderful rock and roll. The band is made up of Jay Crimson and Ryan Baugess on dueling lead and rhythm guitars, Jimby Berger on bass and Ron Kimes on drums.
1515The three original members, Ryan, Jay and Jimby first got together in high school, and started playing together in 1997 in an attempt to cover Radiohead's "Fade Out". It wasn't long before they started crafting their own material and by the summer of 1997 had recorded their first album, the slicky titled "Vellocette". The songs on Vellocette, with Crimson's slinky lyrics and Baugess' swaggering pop leads are casually tossed jewels of small town boredom and fantasy. From the oversexed "Girl", to the slacker anthem "Forgot How To Rock", Vellocette was a strong first showing from a young band.
1515After three years and the arrival of new drummer Ron Kimes, The Crimsons' have moved light years beyond their early raw sound. Their music has taken a softer tone; luscious acoustic guitars hold hands with a delicate and skillful rhythm section, providing the base for simple, beautiful melodies. The band has split the song writing and singing two ways and the result is a band with more to say and better ways to say it. On their new E.P., songs that deal with the frustrating realities of love and rejection sit comfortably next to odes of the bittersweet beauty of childhood. To put it simply, The Crimsons are elegant as fuck.
1515If you breathe or tingle or move at all The Crimsons have seen you do it and smiled at their own likeness. Dance while you may.15
