The Crusties formed around 1983 in Milwaukee, WI and almost immediately gained respect from local fans for our melodic hardcore that included occasional trumpet licks, fire breathing & chainsaw destruction all from our frontman Tim. We constantly filled local clubs on our own after being well placed on most headline bills that came through Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay. From Motorhead to Dead Kennedy's to Circle Jerks to Meat Puppets and truly dozens more. Jello Biafra considered us "a breath of fresh air" along their 1985 tour. The Circle Jerks twice requested that we support them for three or four cities at a time when traveling through Wisconsin. The Motorhead show was unusual but it was not surprising to find us lined up with GBH, Exploited, Asexuals, Hüsker Dü (who used Tim's trumpet on at least one album), Samhain, Suicidal Tendencies and on and on. What was more important to me was the local scene that respected us for not losing our heads as our popularity grew. Often times, our shows would be a premature ejaculation for the crowd who'd find themselves leaving after we'd finished. Many of those "national" acts were forced to play in front of only a few dozen left over fans. We did short Midwest tours in 1984 and 1985 to prime ourselves for a winter tour of the Southern US in 1986. We were backed up by The Offenders, Asexuals and without the great support of Die Kreuzen for booking some of our shows, we would have been much hungrier during those sparse Monday/Tuesday shows. After the '86 tour, The Crusties came home and spent one more year courting various record labels. Ultimately, the best offer we refused was from Touch and Go records when they required that our band drive 8 hours to Detroit two to three times per month in order to put together a scene in two cities at once. By then, the Milwaukee scene was waning and we had no reliable transportation to get us to Detroit nearly every weekend. The band managed to play semi-annually after Tim moved to Texas and with Beer City picking up our early recorded works we put out two singles and a full length cd of old and new material starting in 1995 through 1998. |
DISCOGRAPHY Releases YUK PARK tape (1984) CRUSTUNES tape (1985) DON'T YOU THINK 7" (Beer City, 1994) JUNK YARD DOG 7" (Beer City, 1998) THE CRUSTIES CD (Beer City, 1998) Compilations AMERICA'S DAIRYLAND tape (Last Rites, 1983), "Stakin Muckworm", "Dairyland Youth", "Who Cares So What", "Farmer Vick" BLACK EYES AND BROKEN BOTTLES (Beer City, 1998), "Dying to Know" INFO Interview on Beer City Website A brief interview from the late 90's. Article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel A 1999 article on the Crusties from a Milwaukee paper. |