Crushing Planes Releases New EP: Odd Numbers!
Indie rock band, Crushing Planes, just released a new five-song EP, Odd Numbers, on all streaming services, and it’s totally worth a full back to back five or seven good listens. Hailing from Houston, this three piece mixes garage rock, grunge, punk and just straight ass rock n’ fucking roll into something for the whole family to love. Except your cousin George, and you know why, so don’t act like you don’t.
“Zero” starts off with an opening right out of “Come as You Are” by Nirvana and then the vocals come in and at first remind me of how Greg Graffin of Bad Religion sounds on his bluegrass albums. When the palm muted guitar track kicks in the vocals shift to sound more like the singer for the Offspring especially when the chorus hits. Musically this song crosses that mix of rock from grunge to punk to just straight up fucking rock and roll. The quiet parts that build into the big choruses are very reminiscent of both The Pixies and Nirvana. The bottom end is held tightly together by closely synched bass and drums that add to the song by giving it what it needs and nothing more. No excess flourishes. Lyrically the part that sticks out to me is the first verse that goes:
“Can they run faster
Then time will allow
For twelve years we brace for
The who, where, and how”
To me this speaks to our ubiquitous journey through the American prison system that is 1st through 12th grade, and I say that as a former teacher and current PhD student in education is believes that our system of preparing us for some unknown future where might need skill X or where topic Y will be relevant misses the point that all learning should be authentic and relevant now. If what I’m learning doesn’t apply to the world I’m experiencing then why does it matter. We can’t prepare for the future by ignoring the now. Whoa…that was my own diatribe. I guess I was a little triggered. So I could be way off base but if nothing else its clear that the song envisions a world where people give zero fucks if you fail or succeed.
“To Follow” has a new vocal style that sounds more like the vocals of Morphine i.e. haunting and powerful. My favorite part hit around the 1 minute mark with frantic guitar that I might hear on a Stooges album into a muted guitar riff that goes silent at just the right moment for the drums to hit a simple and yet very fulfilling couple of beats by themselves. When it works it works. Around the 1:35 mark should be one of those moments when people start clapping their hands together and then break into a some dope ass dancing and jumping about. I’m picturing this live, and can imagine how spent they feel at the end after the closing crescendo. Good shit indeed. Lyrically the song seems to be about the tension between societal expectations, personal authenticity, and the internal struggles that arise from dealing with all of this. The repeated calls to "get out" and "make it stop" feel like they are yearning for freedom and relief from the burdens imposed by conformity and falsehoods. That would be two songs in a row about the expectations and support or lack thereof from the world around us.
“For Despair” takes us down a notch and lets us catch our breath. In this song I’m really attracted to the rhythm and how staccato beats are all hit en force. The drop to clean guitar and gentle singing at the 2:44 mark is rad although I found myself thinking I’d get one more hard hitting chorus. That’s okay. It just left me ready for more, which is what you’d want to live. Lyrically it seems as though you are caught in a never ending cycle of despair and as soon as you’ve won, you’re back at the starting line and the gun is off again and the race against your own inner demons is back on. No rest, no respite. Part of me wonders if there is a desire to get in front of the gun to end the circle?
“Six Degrees” shows just how good they are at building up to big hooks. You can just feel it building and building and then it comes in and just fucking hits like fuck. But then they just pull back again and say…”hey take a moment, we aren’t done yet, so you’d be better take a break cause we’re gonna come back big” and BOOM! that shit hits! Vocals hit some dope ass high notes here that are almost reminiscent of old metal from the 80’s or Layne Stanley from Alice in Chains or Chris Cornell in Soundgarden. Lyrically the song paints a picture of a metaphorical journey toward greatness, emphasizing individuality and the pursuit of happiness. However, there's an underlying tension or fear of mediocrity, and a desire to keep this aspect hidden or private. The mention of "six degrees" adds a layer of complexity, suggesting that the true nature of individual achievements or lack thereof may be concealed beneath social connections or relationships. It makes me think of 7 degree of Kevin Bacon but also six feet underground. I’m not sure how the two mix together for meaning in this song, but it seems we keep people so many degree away from who we are which in the end leaves us six feet underground as we bury ourselves in our own self-denials.
“Hillside” drops out the drums entirely and really lets the singer highlight all of their different vocal styles while also forging their own unique sound. Man that vocal riff at the 1:30ish mark is sick! Would drums have made this song better? I’m a drummer, so I’d like to say yes, but I think it's great the way it is. It’s the last song on the EP, and it makes me wonder if they close sets with it as well. Like, we’re all tired, we’ve all danced our asses off, and now it’s time to close up with a gentle but powerful ending. My only issue is that there it didn’t stay in the even “numbers” of the other songs which was a meta thing to do on an album called “Odd Numbers”. Lyrically this song paraphrases Lord Acton who famously said, “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” which in this song appear to be aimed at religious hypocrites or anyone who gathers followers to fit some sort of mold that they themselves do not follow. The mention of the hillside makes me think of Reagan’s speech of us being a “city on a hill” which is itself taken from John Winthrop’s famous sermon in which he proclaimed that the new colonies in North America needed to be all that they preached they would or be seen as failures and hypocrites (It’s more than that, but that’s all the I have time for in this blog post—travel back in time to one of my 8th grade social studies classes I used to teach to learn more), so perhaps that is the inspiration of this song.
As you know, I love the live stuff, so I had to find a video of them playing live:
You can check out their stuff on Spotify or on my Indie/Garage Rock/Grunge Playlist.
