I first encountered Minnesota’s The Crush opening for a Propagandhi show at First Avenue in the early 2000s. I was immediately sold on their midwest-emo meets Jawbreaker and grabbed the 7” they had available on Blood of the Young Records. I made it a point to look for their debut whenever I was back in the city.
The group would go on to release Tonight Will Ruin Tomorrow, an album that I still play regularly. This was made more difficult when Google Music closed, taking with it the band’s two albums and 7” I had ripped to the service.
Thankfully unofficial Bandcamp versions of the debut Tonight Will Ruin Tomorrow and the thematically linked follow-up Here Is Where I Cross My Fingers have been made available since the band isn’t active online and was only around for a brief moment in time. The band would be briefly signed to Green Day’s label Adeline Records and would tour with the Bay area group, culminating in a huge gig at Wembley Stadium in 2002.
Despite serious label attention and apparent buzz, the group would unceremoniously fade away until the tragic death of lead singer Andrew Richardson in 2014. Richardson had been working at ZVEX Effects, a guitar-pedal maker in the Twin Cities.
Anyone who has gone through the ups and downs of life with someone can probably relate to the push-and-pull effect love has on people, something the band effectively explored across the two albums. Considering the resurgence of emotionally-influenced punk, both these underrated albums deserve a new audience.
