Saturday night we spoke with Garret Benson and Charlie Duda of Crash Cuddle. Heather and I started crushing on Crash Cuddle this spring at the Big Turn in Red Wing. We happened upon them after a recommendation from Ian Prince and our ears popped liked cartoon characters. They were a festival highlight.
We had a great conversation about instrumental post-rock music, about living in the Twin Cities in shadow of the George Floyd murder and about playing drums in a homemade Muppet costume, which you can see online.
They have been playing together for 10 years and it interesting to hear about their process. They would like to be back in a room together playing music but going a few months without practicing isn’t unusual for them. I think that’s where 10 years of partnership really pays off. And you know it’s going well when both guys say the other one does all of the heavy lifting.
They have an interesting way of naming songs, which they compared to naming a kid. They make a list as cool names come up and then when the song is completed they see if it sounds like Titillation Battle Station or A Perfect Time for a Tragic Event.
We can’t wait until the day we can see them again. In the meantime you can access their album Klaxon online. In fact for the rest of 2020 they are donating 100% of digital album sales on Bandcamp to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and or another just cause charity. It’s awesome. We talked a lot about trying to be good allies to keep what looks like a actual momentum forward to recognizing legally, culturally and socially that Black Lives Matter, Native Lives Matter and we need systemic change.
We ended the conversation with talk of hope!
Mostly Minnesota 