Watching artists grow and develop is the best job on Planet Earth. Emerging bands have the best stories about trying to “make it” in the music biz, hands down.
So I thought I’d touch base with a few Aussie acts I’ve spoken to over the years to see what’s been happening on their turf since the last time we spoke.
Hence, the new segment, called “Band Check-Ins”, on my YouTube channel. And the Melbourne prog rock reps CRYSTALLINES inaugurate the series.
CRYSTALLINES is a three-piece from the suburbs of Naarm (Melbourne). Callum ‘Cal’ Lausberg (guitar, vocals), Ben Benton (drums) and Devin ‘Dev’ Hartley (bass) formed the group in 2019 to carve their impressions into the rock n’ roll landscape.
With music that delves into subjects ranging from levity to complicity, the band seamlessly shape-shifts between genres, delivering a message that could be light-hearted & humorous or hard-hitting & dystopian.
In that quest, they look up to legends in their genre, like Black Sabbath, Foals, Foo Fighters, Guns N’ Roses, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Led Zeppelin, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rival Sons, Slipknot & This Town Needs Guns.
Photo by: Natalie Edge
CRYSTALLINES approached me last year with their debut single, “Hammer & Tong.”
Back then, we had an honest chat about their beginnings. As an independent band, they were open about the obstacles they were facing, which any emerging act can surely relate to.
In a music city like Melbourne, there’s a place for everyone on the scene, which is amazing. But it’s also hard to break through all that noise, which makes it challenging. So it’s all about navigating between those two extremes.
Since that first catch-up, though, things have been, slowly but gradually, happening for the Naarm rockers. They’ve been “testing” their songs in the live setting. And since their debut was so well received, they’ve also released a concert version of it. Plus, it looks like they got hooked on Frisbee throwing.
CRYSTALLINES have also gone back to the studio to record more music, the fruit of which is the new track, “Down My Neck.”
featuring Photography by Natalie Edge
This new song is different from the previous one. It heaves like shifting tectonic plates, laden with bluesy riffs and a slow grinding, impatient energy. It’s a scream for action, viscerally rejecting ignorance and naivety.
PBS. Radio’s Program Manager, Owen McKern, summarised it like this: “The recording and performance are fantastic. Rhythmically, it’s absolutely compelling”.
This time round, CRYSTALLINES have also made the release an even bigger project. The song dropped on May 17th, 2023, accompanied by their first music video.
It was a major undertaking for the band but well worth the results.
The rambunctious clip features a frenzied performance by actor Richard Mueck. The camera lens follows ‘Jim’ spiral-ling out in an exorcism-like episode – a theme that, metaphorically, suits the song’s lyrical layer.
“I’m not particularly proud to say that the events of 2020, particularly the murder of George Floyd, were the catalyst for me to interrogate the apathetic attitude I had towards many issues of social justice up to that point in my life”, Cal recalls.
“What was most difficult to swallow was that similar injustices to those BIPOC face in America are and have been happening here on our doorstep. ‘Down My Neck’ is my visceral reaction to these revelations, anger at myself for my ignorance and disgust for the perpetrators.”
And it’s not the end of that exploration of complicity in 2023. “Down My Neck” is to be followed by another single continuing that theme.
All that explains why CRYSTALLINES are the perfect up-and-coming band to kick off my new YouTube video interview series, “Band Check-Ins”.
Find out more about their frisbee throwing rehearsals, who wrote “Down My Neck” on the piano, how many TVs were smashed in the making of the video, and what the rest of 2023 looks like for the band in the video below.
Article cover photo by: Natalie Edge
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