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The Crusaders (199-?-1998. R.I.P.)- Interviews / Articles
Gray, Denis, 1998, 'The Crusaders - Fat, Drunk and Stupid', Vicious Kitten Magazine, Issue 7, p 14
This one's been out a while but deserves a late reviewing simply because a) the Crusaders rock and can never have enough exposure and b) that magnificent looking scooner on the album is indeed 'art'.
There are thirteen good-time tunes on 'Fat, Drunk and Stupid' and if beer soaked garage distortion is your thing, which it should be, you're gonna love this.
'She's My Woman', 'One Eyed Bikini Monster' and 'I Dig Your Holes' are instant faves,but the grooving 'Hot Rod Baby' is my choice cut. Brilliant.
'Wave to the Grave' is cool surf rock and runs a close second, with it's big swelling six foot chorus that would have Brian Wilson burying his head in his sandbox.
Rock'n'roll is all about having fun, and if there was one band who could step into the ring and take on the fuzzed-out fury of the Psychotic Turnbuckles, it would have to be this lot. Sir James and his fellow knights are about to take the US by storm and to co-incide, the good folk at Dionysus are releasing 'Fat, Drunk and Stupid' on wax.
If you're yet to discover some of the great musical talent Australia has to offer, this rockin' album is a great place to start so go buy it!
Schimdl, Englebert, 1997, 'The Crusaders - All hail', Inpress Magazine,
"We don't play any kind of punk and we don't play any kind of rock, we play rock'n'roll, we're a rock'n'roll band." - Crime.
We're living in a world under one chemical groove, suffocating beneath the crush of the pop narcotic. You want to be a social pariah? You want to be a generational misfit? Feel like being reviled and misunderstood? Proudly proclaim your love of rock'n'roll. Go ahead, stick your neck out and feel the guillotine of good taste come down. There's no form of modern music as derided by the arbiters of soulless cool as rock'n'roll.
I spoke to James from Sydney band, The Crusaders, via the telephone. The conversation was stilted, but there's nothing stilted about The Crusaders, either in action live, or on their recently released album, Fat, Drunk and Stupid. The Crusaders have come into their own in the last couple of years as one of the finest exponents of rock'n'roll action in Australia. They team up for the first time with like-minded foot-to-the-floor terroists The Onyas, this weekend.
What have the Crusaders been up to lately? "The major thing we have been up to is we were in Spain earlier this year for a tour and a holiday and then the release of the album only a couple of months ago." As I briefly alluded before, the new album sits alongside the likes of the recent releases by The Onyas and Asteroid B.612 as proof that Australia can still produce decent rock'n'roll bands. Through all three bands have their roots planted in different styles, the Crusaders taking their cues from 60s garage miscreants such as The Sonics and The Trashmen through to bands like DMZ and The Scientists, there is a shared spirit in the intensity of playing, almost like these bands realise that they have been charged with the responisibility of keeping the music they love alive in Australia.
I was curious as to who The Crusaders might have had the good fortune to play with while in Spain? The Pleasure Fuckers perhaps? "We met those guys actually, met a lot of really cool people and played with various local garage bands. We got to with the Fleshtones, that was great fun."
I remember seeing The Crusaders around four years ago when they were a more conventional 60s-ish garage band. The sound has got scuzzier and the playing has got nastier in the last couple of years - conscious or just evolution? James paused for (a) second, "Yeah, it's sort of happened. It was pretty straight down the line authentic 60s stuff. We sort of moved away from that, not that we hate those sorts of bands or anything, that's just how we evolved and we like different music not just the straight one type of music." Probably not the smartest evolutionary path for the fiscally minded, considering the cyclic emergence of classic 60s pop stylings in the last couple of years.
This raised the question of a rock'n'roll band's position in the dance and 'alternative rock' dominated nineties. Does James think that people have lost their ear for rock'n'roll? "Shit yeah. In Sydney especially. Melbourne's always been our favourite place to play because it's separate from the bullshit that happens in Sydney. You guys have got PBS and RRR. When JJJ went national, Sydney was left with nothing and now it's a city full of sheep and morons. That's why we like coming to Melbourne so much." So I put to James, infidel slayer, vox twanger and eloquent knight of the realm, who's killing rock'n'roll? Dance music, indie rock, or something altogether more insidious? "I don't know if it's the bands themselves, it's the radio stations, it's JJJ. That's the super villain in my case. They need to be destroyed."
James had made mention earlier in the conversation that while in Spain he heard The Onyas new album quite often. I asked if the two bands had ever played together before? "No, We've heard good things about them... we're so looking forward to playing with them. It sounds like they're coming from our direction." Fat, Drunk and Stupid. Young, Loud and Snotty. Both reasonable sets of epithets when trying to slap a handle on the "direction" from which these bands are coming.
The image of the caveman has always been invoked when people have attempted to deal with true rock'n'roll primitivism. The Troggs got their name from a newspaper article about a bunch of kids gone feral (no, not dreadlokcs and facial piercings - loincloths and caves). In replying to my question about advice for the nation's youth, James exhibited a certain caveman charm. He particularly wanted to undress or address the female populace with a few choice words but couldn't go much beyond ummm and aahh, so he settled on a more generalised message. "We just want to see people at the gigs having a good time. Anyone who's into sitting in cafes and listening to fuckin' dance music can piss off or I'll throw something at you."
Taushcke, Steve, 1997, 'The Crusaders - Fat, Drunk and Stupid', Beat Magazine.
Dig this raw, primed, muffled and dare I say, garage rock frivolity.
[Gee, great review this one. The
Australian Independent Music site that Leaping Larry L should see most
of (maybe!?) - ed.]
Taushcke, Steve, 1997, 'The Crusaders - motley Crusaders', Beat Magazine.
Sydney's undisputed garage freaks, The Crusaders cometh. And drummer Mick speaketh no bollocks, as Steve Taushcke discovers.
Beat: You've been to Spain on a tour I believe?
Mick: "We've just come back from three months in Spain. I was over there with the Pyramidiacs for two months then a month with the Crusaders.. Pyramidiacs is power pop, a la Big Star, Teenage Fanclub, Plimsouls, Matthew Sweet, that sort of thing. The Crusaders have moved on from their Stems-y kind of garage thing, now we're much more in line with Teengenerates or DMZ or the Mummies, that kind of caper. So, they're not the same but there's kind of a parallel and we can run with the rock'n'roll crowd that likes either styles."j
Beat: I hear the Spainiards are a fairly devoted bunch when it comes to Australian indie music.
Mick: "Mate, for those guys, it's the thing! They've got such a wealth of knowledge of Australian music it puts us to shame at times. They're very passionate about music, their local scene over there is kinda dull but they love rock'n'roll and collecting rock'n'roll records, whether it's punk stuff or whatever. For them, Spainish punk bands don't have the balls even Australian pop bands have. It's funny for them they think raw meat and beer is obviously a strong factor in aggresive style of music. They love it."
Beat: You've literally bashed out the songs on this new record "Fat, Drunk and Stupid" but you've also added a few from other sessons. Where are they from?
Mick: "Silver Sands came out on a French compilation with a fanzine, so that's something people over here have never heard of before. "Sabrina" has been on about our last four or five releases, we've kind of got this thing now that we might just chuck it on the next couple as well. And "Wave to the Grave", yeah, that's a bit old. Basic thing was, we only had about nine new songs and we really wanted to do this album but we just couldn't get off our arses and get this new stuff happening so we just chucked a few old songs in at about eighteen minutes and I think people would have felt cheated."
Beat: You've had a deal with Dionysus Records for this album too don't you?
Mick: "Well, we did a 7" "Yeah Yeah" with those guys and we've just had a 10" released called "Addicted to Fuzz" and we're in discussion with them at the moment about doing a vinyl release for "Fat, Drunk and Stupid". That record will be on either Crypt, 1+2 Records in Japan or Dionysus or all three. Swiveldisc in Australia is right now co-ordinating, either one or all three which is exciting for us cos we may get to tour Japan and the States and Germany."
Beat: Where's the fat, drunk and stupid quote from?
Mick: "It's from "Animal House". I mean our music's changed a bit since we started. Since we put the costumes and masks on, we've just been out there having fun. The more we've had to do with music (industry) th more hassles we've had and we're not trying to prove anything anymore. We realise we just want to have a bit of fun, which reflects in the stuff we buy and support now. I was in Au-Go-Go the other day and I picked up this Von Zippers single and I bought it really (because?) on the cover alone. There's these guys dressed up in Prussian war helmets and iron crosses and they're doing this garage thing and they're on Estrus and I just bought it by sight. I hadn't heard it at all. And when I played it this afternoon, man, it was such a great buzz. These guys are having a shitload of fun."
Beat: I know a guy who's into the viking thing, the chain mail and sheep skins and swords. Do you get into that stuff too?
Mick: "For sure! (Guitarist) James has done a little of medieval theory and a bit of chain mail making, he's right into it. On the cover of the record you can see him with his chain mail and frothy beer!"
Taushcke, Steve, 1997, 'The Crusaders', Beat Magazine.
Sydney's, Crusaders pillage our town again this weekend. Steve Taushcke speaks with beer-swilling, chain mail-wearing guitarist James.
Beat: Last time I spoke to you guys Mick gave me his impression of Spain. How did you find touring there?
James: "We had a great time. We were just in our element over there - free piss, gorgeous women and partying all the time."
Beat: And treated like ye olde royalty no doubt?
James: "Well, yeah! Like crusaders anyway!... We played with a lot of local 60s garage bands, all very friendly. We got to play with the Fleshtones who were touring at the time, which was a blast cos they've been our heroes for ages. So that was really the highlight for me. The Fleshtones are still going great over in Spain, they just love them so they just keep going to Spain. I don't think they bother with America anymore. They begged us to come on the rest of their European tour but we had to turn them down. By the end of the night we were all good friends, drinking buddies. We had a great time that night... Hopefully in America we can hook up with them again and with other bans we became friends with, like Man or Astroman and Sugar Shack."
Beat: At the moment here, are you guys confined to playing Sydney/Melbourne?
James: "Yeah, but we want to go to Perth. We met up with the guys from The Early Hours last time they were in Sydney and we want to set up some shows over there with them."
Beat: Perth is no stranger to what the Crusaders have to offer.
James: "Perth's where it all began with Hoodoo Gurus, Victims and the Scientists - that's why we all got into this mess in the first place!"
Beat: Now that a few months have passed what's the reaction been to your "Fat, Drunk and Stupid" album?
James: "Steady. We don't know what numbers are selling but we don't care really so long as we've got something out. The next plan is our US invasion. We're doing a bit of recording on that, we're going to do a US version of the album next year and then hopefully tour to the States.. we've had heaps of stuff out on Dionysus Records and they're interested in putting out a 12" LP. So they'll have us and we'll tour when it comes out and do Japan on the way over for a couple of nights. It'll be like a world crusade!"
Beat: And to think no-one wanted to hear about you a year or two ago.
James: "Yeah, I think the punters just got sick and tired of all those shitty little indie jerk off bands, those shallow-chested, navel gazing wankers. They just want to some rock'n'roll, have a good time and go out and get pissed at a pub and see a band that does exactly the same thing, one that doesn't worry too much about angst and depression and all the shit that no-one wants to think about anyway. People just dig rock'n'roll and we're here to please."
Beat: Is the Crusader aesthetic simply too many comicsand too much late night trashy TV?
James: "That's right, TV shows from the 60s, Get Smart, that sort of cynical humour. A bit of Kenny Everett, a bit of the Goodies, a bit of Spinal Tap; it's all melded together to form what we are I guess."
Beat: I believe you're in some sort of viking hobby group.
James: "I guess that's me, a bit of fetish there. But they're a bit too tame for me. They don't drink enough, they're a bit square!"
Ward (Saunders?), Jo, 1996, 'The Crusaders', Almost Human Fanzine, Issue 1.
the Crusaders
The Crusaders are a band from Sydney that play excellent 60's fuzz. Their records are a bit hard to get unless you live in France, but they play live in Melbourne and Sydney on the odd occasion and these occasions turn out to be very odd. Don't ask them for a single because they'll give you a slice of cheese.
This interview was done with Sir James of The Crusaders by post and e-mail (I'm so technologically advanced). His spelling is left in on his request as it adds more flavour to the soup. If you want to know more about The Crusaders see them live (they're playing in Melbourne in June 1996), or write to them at PO Box 389 Alexandria 2015 NSW, Australia
How and when were the Crusaders born?
I was born in 1105, Chris in 1102, Kendall in 1092, Mick in 1104 AD Butt, we used to play as a band for Richard the Lion Heart in the Holy Land in about 1125. Merlin the Bastard gave us a gift once, a box on which was written "fuzz" and when we pressed thee button it sent us forward in tyme to the mid 1960s. "Fucketh" we all said. But to cut a longe storery short, after hanging out in the 60s for a tyme, we pressed it again "bzzzzz" it went and sent us all to Australia in the mid 80s and we've been here ever since. Crusading still against fuckers and the shitty music that JJJ tells us we should dig. It's truee.
What's your following in Sydney?
Well I think its safe to say that we all like following girls who wear short skirts and long boots, oooh-errr! But Kendall has been known to follow the odd frozen chicken.
Do you get more feedback (ie popularity, sell more records, etc.) here (Sydney and Melbourne) or overseas?
We manage to get feedback where ever we go. As soon as we turn the fuck'n amps in "oooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeoow" it goes. Feedback through the PA everything. Its fucking bewt mate.
What's the best gig you've ever done?
Fuck me!!! What a hard one (ooo-errr). Impossible to say (I've forgotten the best ones!) All I know is that gigs go better with Stolichnaya!! All in all Melborn is a boss place to play cause nobody knows our true indentity (nobody alive that is!) so we can act like utter pricks and idiots and get away with it. Ha!
What things inspire the Crusaders?
Listening to Triple Fucking J (JJJ) inspires me to Vomit Blood! I hate em! Hate, Kill, Slay! etc. That fucking shit hole of a station has inspired us to play the retarded, low fi, do-it-yourself mess we play. But old movies, old music, old wine, the usual artistic inspiration. Overseas bands like Sugar Shack, The Cramps that tour help too!
Tell us about the new album and when will it be available here?
That album 'Keep It Up' was recorded using the usual technique that The Crusaders employ. Substandard equipment, cheap mics, old tapes and plenty of beer, as you can hear, the product is garbage but hey, you pay peanuts you get us. It's released in France as part of the treaty between Australia and France; If they keep letting off A-Bombs in the Pacific, we keep recording. It may escalate into an invasion. If you want it you have to come to our gigs or order it or go to France.
You're going to Spain, Portugal and France later this year, how did you get that lined up?
Yep we're off on a OS crusade, we heard the Muslims are getting cheeky in Spain so we're ducking over there to put them in their place! We heard the girls are very very nice and that helped. Our Brothers, the Pyramidiacs went last year and it was a big success. They dig the right music over there.
The Crusaders have their own fanzine, tell us about it?
Well, I'm glad you asked. Yep we knock up a little fanzine/newsletter every 6 months that's not only filled with interesting facts and figures about The Crusaders but also interviews with bands, reviews of shit that we dig, photo's of us naked etc. You can order 'em at our address. (see start of interview - Jo)
What are you crusading for?
If I told you we were crusading for peace, love and a better world for our children I'd be a complete idiot and a bullshit artist. But you already know that. We crusade for thrills, kicks, spills, for beer, for the right to drink beer as free men or for the right to drink as much free beer as we can. We crusade for cheap, unreliable electronic instruments, for people that can't tune guitars all over the world and lastly but not least for big jugs.
How would you describe the Crusader sound?
A gut twisting cacophony of Merderouse, fuzz laced garage punk, drenched in beer and very very loud. Oh, and slightly out of tune. To sum up "Fat, Drunk and STOOPID!"
[This Interview when published originally included a discography up to 1996. See the page previous to this for a discography that is reasonably complete.(?!) - ed.]
Warm, Luke, 1996, 'The Crusaders - Keep it Up', Punters Club Form Guide, Issue 29, p 33
Stamping their custom woody fuzz pedals and letting the rhythms travel from the hips, The Crusaders have recorded this for you. If you've followed the seminal recording history of these Sydney surf/garage trolls you'd be aware that these 13 tracks include efforts from various giveaway tapes, singles and compilations. 'Keep it Up' collects them on an equally obscure release, delivered via French label Larsen Recordz.
With animated Sonics/Scientists-like abandon their holy war is on the veil complexities that detract from the simple experience of FUN. Tracks such as 'Sabrina', 'Yeah Yeah', and 'Danger Beach' are infectious motions of energy.
Themes clasp the hedonistic and romantic. The style is blatantly derivative. The vision is simple - stain it with fuzz. A boss release from Australia's underground surf kings.
Witts, Peter, 199-?, 'The Crusaders - Fat, Drunk and Stupid', Beat Magazine?/Drum Media Magazine??
Having already notched up international success with short tours to Europe and single releases in the US, Sydney 'punk' pranksters, the Crusaders, have plonked 13 guitar trashing, drum bashing tunes onto a CD, and called it subtly Fat, Drunk and Stupid.
The songs are mostly fast, short, simple explanations of lager-led life, standouts including She's My Woman and the tongue-in-cheek Flippin' Out .
There are elements of the Front End Loaders no nonsense, in your face attack in the Crusaders style, but over all, these masked men appear to lean further towards the surf-rock side that pure rock. Not band for a 'live' recording, even if variety is not the Crusaders priority. (8/10)
Leslie, 1999, 'The Crusaders - Es Car Go 7"', Carbon 14 Magazine, Issue 14 p 92
Four new tracks by everyone's favourite Aussie knights of garage rock. The sound quality on this is not the best, it's kinda low actually. You gotta crank it way up to even come close the ear-splitting sonic fuzz that they lay down live, but it's good in the meantime.
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