All-around Breakdown: Crescent Ridge's Derek Schepici, Kevin Merriam & Mike Assatly Dissect Their Debut Full-length Garden of Fools (Forever Never Ends Records)
Crescent Ridge is a Stoughton, Massachusetts-based band whose music has been described as Alternative, Rock, Pop Rock, Slacker Rock, Soft Grunge, and Bubblegrunge. However, despite goofy genre labels and fabricated names, Crescent Ridge's musical output has drawn real-life comparisons to the likes of Dinosaur Jr., Foo Fighters, The Lemonheads, Pixies, Quicksand, and The Smashing Pumpkins; so, I guess we can kinda see how someone came up with the sub-genre label of "Bubblegrunge." Crescent Ridge's current line-up consists of guitarist and vocalist Derek Schepici, guitarist Aaron "Ron" Devoe, bassist and vocalist Chris Gill, drummer Kevin Merriam, and part-time guitarist Mike Assatly. Collectively, Crescent Ridge's members have spent time playing with slightly more Punk/Hardcore bands, such as BearTrap, Spirits, Clueless, Energy, and Terminal Crisis, and even our Emo/Indie-leaning favorites Little Low.
Crescent Ridge just recently wrapped up a string of West Coast shows with Cruz, Cage World, Little Low, Shutups, Hit Me Harold, Drainer, Girl Named Pixie, Ted Barber, Clear Capsule, Drive By Cinema, Blimp, Chorus Pedal, Human Musik, Noveleras, Outwest, VTB, and Saviour Complex. Now, Derek, Ron, Chris, Kevin & Mike are all back home on their respective coasts and just this past Friday, released their full-length debut, Garden of Fools, on Forever Never Ends Records. It was produced and engineered by Chris Johnson (Cave In, Deafheaven, Cult Leader) at New Alliance Audio in Somerville, Massachusetts. "Chris is a total work horse and absolute class act. Being able to bounce ideas off him and his patience with us can't be [overstated,]" Derek Schepici recalls about his time spent in the studio. We recently got a chance to wrangle up Crescent Ridge's Derek Schepici, Kevin Merriam & Mike Assatly to tell us all about the making-of Garden of Fools for the latest installment of The Witzard's All-around Breakdown. Crescent Ridge's Garden of Fools is now available on Forever Never Ends Records.
Derek Schepici: Ron [Aaron Devoe] & I jammed on this song two months before the band started with Ron on drums. Fast-forward to after we recorded the LP and we had Ron join on guitar: I think this track is what started it all and was the song we knew would be the first song on the record before anything else.
Kevin Merriam: This song always just brings me back to recording the video for it. It was a lot of fun and I feel like it catches the vibe of the whole album really well.
Derek: The ending of this song is absolute chaos. Kevin murders the drums and I love every second of it
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Mike Assatly: It's about those hot summer days when you have nothing in the world to do and everything feels slow, but monumental, trapped inside your own mind while the world spins around you.
Kevin: This might be my favorite guitar solo on the album.
Derek: [This] song was fun to write being the most fantastical approach lyrically.
Kevin: This is my favorite song on the album. Playing it on drums is probably the most fun for me. It reminds me a ton of the Foo Fighters & Pixies, even if it doesn't totally sound like that to the listener.
Mike: I think this is our most approachable song. Anyone can hear this regardless of what type of Rock music you listen to and be like, "ah, yeah, I f**k with this." Straightforward for sure.
Derek: This song is about my dog, Kappy. I adore him and wrote it about his day-to-day life when I'd be cheffing [it] up at work for 8-10 hours and no matter how long or sh*tty of a day I had, he would be there for me with nothing but love.
Derek: This is likely the most melancholy song on the record. Over the course of The Pandemic when the LP was being written, I lost several friends and family members to depression, mental illness, and addiction. This song is dedicated to our late friend, Jarrod "Jere" Tracey, and my late cousin, Andrea.
Mike: We re-worked this song probably, like, five times before landing on this version. The outro is the most "Fugazi" thing we wrote.
Mike: The working title for this song was "Third Eye Blind" and I think everyone needs to know that; our most Pop Rock song.
Derek: The uncertainty of life had me feeling the most anxious I'd ever felt. The lyrics are self-explanatory, but I think the music accompanying it [captures] that whole vibe and expression. I feel this best captures the band and has my favorite guitar solo to play.
Derek: When [Chris] Gill & I worked on lyrical content for the LP and, ultimately, what the overarching theme of the record we would be, I had conceptualized the phrase "garden of fools." It's what in my head was the best way to describe where we were from. Gill ran with the idea with some crucial lines and imagery that capture the concept and experiences. That’s why we felt the LP should, also, hold that title.
