Crumbsuckers


Crumbsuckers were an American crossover thrash band formed by bass player Gary Meskil in 1982 in Baldwin, Nassau County, New York.
Crumbsuckers combined thrash and hardcore punk sounds and themes, making an impact on the scene with their 1986 debut album, Life of Dreams.
Though the band was supported by its fanbase and fellow artists, Crumbsuckers' second album, Beast on My Back, failed to deliver on expectations. The departure of lead vocalist Chris Notaro in 1988 started the band's gradual decline, despite the Crumbsuckers' attempts to create a new identity. Even so, the band had already cemented themselves as pioneers of the crossover thrash movement.
Crumbsuckers played its latest reunion show at the 2015 Black N' Blue Bowl Festival at Webster Hall in New York City on May 17, 2015.

History

In June 1983, the band recorded a five-song demo at Nino Studio in Baldwin. The demo, unofficially called The Crumbsucker Cave, included a cover of Chubby Checker's "The Twist". It was with this demo that the band landed their first CBGBs showcase, and subsequent "hardcore" matinées.
At that time, the lineup consisted of Dave Brady, Dave Wynn, Gary Meskil and Kevin 'Toast' Carroll. From the time of their first matinée performance, they prided themselves on playing all original music, with the occasional homage to such tracks as Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf" and the theme from Inspector Gadget.
Early in 1985, looking for a sharper edge, they added a second guitarist, fellow Baldwin resident Chuck Lenihan, and replaced Carroll with a local 16-year-old drummer, Dan Richardson. Lenihan's metal-influenced guitar solos contrasted with Wynn's blues-based offerings. Both Crumbsuckers' lyrics and musical direction took a notable turn towards a more metal edge, with songs such as "Life of Dreams" and "Return to the Womb" written around this time.
Following Brady's departure, they needed to recruit a new singer and soon found one from another local hardcore band, Krakdown: Chris Notaro. With the "classic" lineup now complete, they set about recording and releasing their first album.

''Life of Dreams'' (1986)

The band recorded their debut album Life of Dreams at Systems Two Studios in Brooklyn, New York City, in 1985, which was released through Combat Records the following year. Produced by Norman Dunn, the album contained 16 tracks clocking in at less than 33 minutes. Life of Dreams delivered a collection of 158 punk/metal-style riffs, with metal-style and blues-style guitar solos, frequent time changes and Chris Notaro's gravel-style vocals. Life of Dreams met with very mixed reviews in the music press.
The album's cover artwork was designed and painted by Sean Taggart, a local New York artist who had provided gig flyers for NYHC bands, as well as providing album covers such as Agnostic Front's Cause for Alarm, Carnivore's Carnivore and Retaliation, Prong's Primitive Origins and Whiplash's Power and Pain.
Crumbsuckers recorded videos for three tracks from Life of Dreams "live" at CBGBs in 1986, with only one track, "Trapped," being commercially released. "Trapped" originally featured as the opening song on an underground video compilation of English and North American punk bands called Hardcore, released by Jettisoundz in 1986. The track is now widely available to view on YouTube.

''Beast on My Back'' (1988)

In the spring of 1987, guitarist Dave Wynn left the band and, after a few guitarists came and went, Robbie Koebler stepped in to help record their sophomore album Beast on My Back.
The album opens with a gloomy piano passage, played by Lenihan's cousin, Mike Francis. The piece had originally been written on guitar, but offered a surprise to those listeners who had become familiar with Life of Dreams, and differed from other metal/crossover albums of the era. The guitar-driven instrumental track "Initial Shock" was penned by Matt Cardin, a fellow Baldwin native and guitarist, although no credit was actually given on the record sleeve.
The band was nominated as the "Best Hardcore Rock Band" in the 1988 New York Music Awards.
By now, Crumbsuckers were rubbing shoulders with some of their musical peers, including high-profile bands such as Anthrax, Megadeth and Metallica. The shoulder-rubbing also extended to lesser commercially successful artists, such as Agnostic Front, Bad Brains, Cro-Mags and Carnivore. It was during this period that Marc Piovanetti joined Crumbsuckers as a full-time guitarist, following the long-standing vacancy left open since the departure of Dave Wynn.
Following a successful U.S. tour to promote Beast on My Back in 1988, playing with such bands as Sacred Reich and Pantera, Notaro decided this was not for him, citing "musical differences." At that point, the band was already contracted to fulfill a winter tour in Europe in late 1988, but Notaro's replacement for those shows, Joe Haggerty, failed to deliver the vocal performances which had become a trademark of their overall sound.

Heavy Rain

Within a few weeks of returning home from their European Tour, Haggerty was fired and replaced with a local singer, Craig Allen. New material was written and tightly rehearsed, with a new sound emerging, leading to the band dropping the name Crumbsuckers in favor of a new identity as Heavy Rain.
Heavy Rain offered a more radio-friendly rock sound, with vocals more akin to Queensrÿche's Geoff Tate. Whilst they retained small doses of Crumbsuckers' vigorous guitar solos, most songs were recorded and presented in a much more straight, hard rock feel. These new songs failed to attract any interest or support from record companies who had been approached. Much time and effort was spent recording a considerable number of professional studio demos between 1989 and 1990, although nothing was ever officially released.
Heavy Rain disbanded in late 1990. A combination of contractual arguments and disagreements as to which direction the band should take, coupled with the poor response from potential record company interest led to the project's collapse.

Pro-Pain

From the ashes of Heavy Rain, Lenihan began jamming with former vocalist Billy Milano, under a new project called Rawhead. Meskil and Richardson came on board but, over a period of months, a revolving door of guitarists ensued. Lenihan was dismissed and replaced by another Baldwin guitarist, Al Zaleski. He was later replaced by a third Baldwin fret-wizard, Tom Klimchuck, who would eventually take a sabbatical from the band.
In the late summer of 1991, Meskil came up with a new name for the band, Pro-Pain, and the band gathered at Pyramid Sound Studios, Ithaca, New York to record their debut album, Foul Taste of Freedom. However, further lineup changes took place here, with Milano being sent home, whilst Lenihan was briefly drafted back in to play lead guitar, only to be ejected for a second time shortly afterwards. A new guitarist, Mike Mays, eventually ended up playing lead guitar on the album tracks. With Klimchuck all the while considered the official Pro-Pain guitarist but still unavailable to tour at that time, the baton was then passed to another new guitarist, Nick St Denis, who helped bring a measure of stability to the line up for the next few years.
Pro-Pain released three albums between 1992 and 1996, touring extensively in Europe and the U.S., but the departure of founding drummer Dan Richardson in 1996 left Meskil as the only original "Crumbsucker" in the band. From there, Pro-Pain added a second guitarist.
In 2006, longtime Pro-Pain guitarist, Tom Klimchuck, played on-stage with Crumbsuckers at their Reunion Show at BB Kings, playing in tandem with original lead guitarist, Chuck Lenihan. In 2015, current Pro-Pain guitarist, Adam Philips, joined Crumbsuckers on stage in the same capacity as Klimchuck did in 2006.

Reunions

In the summer of 1990, Meskil, put together a Crumbsuckers reunion show with Chris Notaro, being that Meissner had felt somewhat "cheated" seeing Crumbsuckers in the UK in 1988 without Notaro.
Crumbsuckers' first reunion show was held at the Sundance Club in Bayshore, Long Island, on August 24, 1990, with Chris Notaro returning to vocal duties for the first time since his departure in 1988 and featured the same lineup from the tour of that year; Lenihan, Meskil, Notaro, Piovanetti and Richardson. The venue was sold out.
Sixteen years passed until Crumbsuckers reunited once again on August 3, 2006, at B.B.Kings in New York City, to commemorate 20 years since the release of their debut album Life of Dreams.
Once again, Alex Meissner helped initiate the reunion, having rebuilt broken bridges between some of the original band members. The sold-out venue witnessed an appearance by original members Dave Wynn and Dave Brady on the classic track "Hub Run." Around 2000, fans gathered that evening to celebrate the anniversary, including a significant number of old friends of Crumbsuckers from the early days. Everyone considered the evening to be the equivalent to a "big old class reunion," with Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy making particular reference to the evening on his personal website.
On December 24, 2014, it was announced that the band would reunite once more, to play the Black N' Blue Bowl in May 2015. The lineup of Chris Notaro, Gary Meskil, Chuck Lenihan, Adam Phillips, and Dan Richardson successfully took to the stage on May 17, 2015.

Musical style

Crumbsuckers' combined styles earned them respect among the CBGBs matinee crowd. In 1985, they recorded a second demo at CBGBs, with a new five-piece line up, featuring budding drummer Dan Richardson and began searching for a record deal. It was during this time that long-time vocalist Dave Brady left the band.
Notaro, known for his gruff vocals and high-energy stage antics, was a founding member of the Long Island band Krakdown, contemporaries of the already well-established Crumbsuckers. Getting Notaro on board was a natural fit and very much in keeping with the Long Island vibe.
Crumbsuckers' musical style has been assigned many genres, including Hardcore, Speedcore, Thrash, Crossover and Speed Metal.