Simon Cruz of Crashdiet on Urinating in Juice Packages
Monday, March 8, 2010 at 12:01AM Musicians often lead very unglamorous lives. Sure there can be fame and money, but usually only after years of toil and poverty. I've interviewed enough musicians now that I'm rarely surprised by any back story of stricken youth or hurt egos or really much of anything anymore. Still, Simon Cruz, the new singer of Crashdiet surprised me with his candor regarding his not so distant past. I interviewed the Swedish Cruz via phone for Noisecreep to talk about Crashdiet's upcoming album Generation Wild. Stereotype or not, it usually does turn out to be the case that musicians are generally laid back and cordial. When Cruz spoke, it was as if we'd known each other for some time. I've interviewed other members of Crashdiet long ago, but had never really had any contact with Cruz. Still, the lulls in the conversation were comfortable and I even questioned his accent. In a lot of ways, Cruz sounds British. He says this is because he's "spent a lot of time in London."
I knew from my research that Cruz had told at least one other reporter that he had to "pee in juice packages" when he was with his unsigned band, Jailbait. I had to ask exactly what he meant by the statement.
"I lived in the rehearsal space at one point with my last band. I lived there for a couple of months because I didn’t have anywhere to go," explains Cruz. "We were going to have a house together as a band but they [the band members] f*%ked up and they didn’t move along with me [and] I didn’t have anywhere to go so I was living in the rehearsal space. I lived there for awhile and I showered at work and I peed in juice packages because it was too far to go to the toilet. You’d have to go outside and down a couple flights of stairs so that was the way it had to be. It was kind of charming but it was rough at the same time. I came there during the evenings, we rehearsed and the rest of the guys would say 'Bye bye, goodnight' and I’d go to sleep."
At this point, I'm completely startled because 1) I've tried to clear up if Cruz was homeless or not and 2) the odd word choice of calling what is basically a squatter's life "charming" has me reevaluating my own priorities. Is it wrong I like a home with a warm bed and hot, running water?
"I had somewhere to stay but I wasn’t allowed to live there because of the owners but no one noticed," Cruz continues, as if to clarify."I was a bit concerned sometimes because they had workers in the building and they saw me sneaking out in the mornings and stuff. It worked out for awhile and then I swapped bands and I got to move into Eric [Young, Crashdiet drummer] mom's place and I stayed there for awhile and now I’m living with Martin [Sweet, Crashdiet guitarist] here in a flat. I haven’t really been trying to build up my materialistic surroundings very much. I’ve always just wanted to do music and I don’t really care so much as what happens around me as long as I’m doing music. I can put up with most things. Definitely hardship and troubled times helps you express things through music."
Needless to say, this conversation made me an immediate Cruz fan. I was already rooting for him considering just how important Crashdiet is to the modern glam movement. Crashdiet's new album, Generation Wild, will be released next month. The single, "Generation Wild" is available now via the band's website and Cruz promises the video will be very dark and edgy.
The full interview with Simon Cruz will post on Noisecreep soon.
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Reader Comments (17)
Can't wait for "Generation Wild" to come out!
Theez guyz are definitely at the top of the heap of the Modern Glam Movement, as you so aptly describe it.
If only the Youth of America realized this is the Generation that's the Wildest one to belong to, not X, not Y, not Z, not "Me", and not the Homey or Dawtry/Nickelback ones, either.
Though there are factions rising up (hahaha!!!) among the kids, they're mostly into Classic Hard Rock or Metal vis a vis Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Deep Purple, Sabbath and Metallica, Scorpions, Judas Priest, Crue on Rock Band and Guitar Hero or their old man's CD collection.
Too bad their girlfriends, older sisters and brothers are still all rapped up (pun intended) in 50 cent, Beyonce and Jay Z.
That's what's holding Crash Diet and all the other bands of the New Glam Movement back from really cracking the market over here, regrettably.
Maybe a DJ will take a chance. Does that even still work today?
It's a shame cuz theez boyz outrock Crue and Buckcherry right now and would go into that mix on your car radio perfectly right this minute.
p.s. Listen to "Generation Wild" closely. You can hear a very clever cop of part of one of the riffs in Ratt's "Round and Round"! Hey, if your gonna steal, you might as well steal from the greatest 80's Glam/Hair Anthem ever!
Maybe that being subliminally heard by the casual Metal listener's ear will okay it to deem it acceptable for the sheep who run radio and all the rest of the media out there.
You, of course, being an animal of a completely different color, Allyson, and not included in my attack, meant to include the new media, as well, because, when it comes to getting great stuff like Crash Diet out there, new media still pretty much acts like the old media, you and BBG excepted, of course. But here's hoping, and it's started with you and your new Modern Glam Movement to do precisely that, Bring Back Glam!
p.s. Don't mean to gush so much, but at least when I gush, I gush liquid mercury! Rock On!
But why the h*ll aren't Crash Diet on iTunes when stuff that's good but not as good (Vains of Jenna) from The Modern Glam Movement is on there?
Nope, it doesn't. Clear Channel pretty much owns all radio, and the chances of Crashdiet getting on the air on any of those stations is slim to none. Internet radio will be all over this, Stickman, Pure Rock Radio, etc., leading the way in playing this type of stuff. And of course, Hard Rock Nights which is heard on several internet stations and a couple of FM dials will be all over this! :)
But in general, the playlist for 90% of all FM stations is pre-determined and the DJ has absolutely no say in what he plays.
Hey, at least I was routinely censored on both sites by the moderators in their veiled attempts to keep me "focussed"; which I suppose was their attempt to make me accept all the bad behavior of their beloved rock stars that I reported on- kinda bootlegged that idea from Stevie. But moreover, I've done something much to your chagrin...when I stole a riff, I gave credit where credit was due. Conversely, the likes of bret michaels et. el. continue to steal other's work and intellectual property and exploit it for their own gain and greed. rock on metal boy!
Ask Chuck Berry about theft of intellectual property, namely how the Stones, the Beach Boys, the Beatles and so forth all pilfered his classic riffs.
I'm not sayin' it's a bad thing, it's ROCK AND ROLL!
p.s. As far as "credibility", bring your polygraph with you to M3.
a couple quick thoughts/clarifications...1) did you know that 'buckcherry" sounds similar to chuck berry? 2) the "credibility" comment was directed at the specific posts on this site not overall- I opined that BBG jumped the shark, not necessarily MB, but I am sure that you like most of us, have at one time or another been seduced into believing the hype of a rock star or a media outlet entirely focussed on the rock and roll lifestyle.
As a friend once taught me, "You would be surprised what a person would do because a 'rock star' told him/her to do it." I guess the same holds true when a supervisor, or a respected trainer, or an administrator, or a legal representative directs similar actions. god forbid you challenged their demands- all hell might break loose and you would be found insubordinate, passed over, subject to rumor, outcasted, etc... rock on!
I could easily give 50 exmaples, but I'll name a few. 1) Let me go, rock and roll (versus) Let me go, to the show. 2) hey, hey where are you going (versus) hey, where you going 3) they invited me into the band because I had an amp (versus) they invited me into the band because I had an amp [and they didn't want to rent it any longer]. 4) I look in the rear view mirror waiting for people to catch up (versus) I'm looking in the rear view mirror waiting for people to catch [up to] me. I'm waiting for Bret's Picasso crack! I'll stop here. You want any more examples of thievery, look me up elsewhere. I'm not hard to find.
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