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We formed in the summer of 1999 as a three-piece (2 guitars and drums, no bass yet, quelle modern!) when Hellskiss, Ernesto and Chris first met in a fateful New Jersey practice space (NJ being the former homeland of Hellskiss) and bashed out our very first song together, "Walking In Squares". From there it was like the proverbial house on fire and song after song came popping out and we debuted them at early shows in the NYC/Brooklyn area. And there was even dancing at those shows! In New York! Really! We dubbed ourselves The Crowns and continued on our mission to rock. And possibly roll, too.
Before you knew it we had enough songs to record and sought out the engineering skills of one Hillary Johnson. We session-ed with her in a little basment studio in Queens where we slyly suggested she add some keyboard parts to the album and hey, maybe she could play a show with us every now and then if she was free. Little did she know she was being ensnared into our lovely band family and she quickly became a permanent member on keyboard and backing vox. And then suddenly both fortune and misfortune struck and Ernesto headed off to L.A. to write, direct and produce fabulous movies (such as Better Luck Tomorrow) as was his lifelong passion. We agreed to put out our recorded album on his indie label, Heartcore Records and we bid him a fond, if bittersweet farewell.
We made one show's worth of a go at being a three piece with only one guitar and decided it sucked. Should we try to get another guitarist like Ernesto? It wassn't possible to replace him. But we all had been longing for a bassist and even discussed getting one before Ernesto split. Enter Jed, the first Crowns bassist and also doing some singing of his own. He was a great addition and we set to work adding his bass parts to the already recorded, now growing dusty first album. We also discovered a band in Canada had already snagged the name The Crowns, so we had to swtich up our name. But what to pick? We liked the "Crowns" part but it needed something more. Then Hillary had the genius to remember the Stars on 45 singles of the 1980s and with that we dubbed ourselves Crowns on 45. It was more than perfect and suited us to a T. Soon we finished all the work needed to release our first CD, Not On The Menu, which had the unfortunate release date of 9/11/01. But at least it was a tiny solace to us in such grim times.
So we played and we played and we played all over the NYC area and had a blast doing so. We wrote new songs, got tighter as a band and got to do a rad live set on the beloved WFMU radio station. But soon, another Crown would depart. Jed left in a flurry of accusations that we had tried to hire a model to pretend to be him in our dozens upon dozens of music videos. Or maybe he just needed more time to devote to his fabulous, one-man musical juggernaut, My Teenage Stride, it was never clear. Jed was followed by two interim bassits: Greg, who helped write even more new songs with us and Doug of WFMU fame who went on a mini East Coast tour with us and learned our whole set in a shockingly short period of time. At some point Hillary added a theremin to her repetoire and even took on the role of lead vocalist on a new song! She may not ever sing for you now, but she did back then. And soon we would find a new, permanent bassist in the form of Aisha. She was the perfect fit and our sound was tighter, hotter, wetter and well, just generally more Crowns-ier than ever. We played a bunch more shows and even toured the West Coast/Pacific Northwest and shared the love with our other coast brethrens and sistrens.
But alas, after 3 years together we were too hot to handle and too cold to hold. We decided it was time to call it quits but wanted to go out on a high note instead of something sour. We ran into the studio - with Hillary at the boards once again - and created our second and final CD, Insert Here, Sparks Fly!. It was a time capsule of all our hard work and growth as a band, with songwriting contributions from both present and past members. We loved our baby, even if it was a little bit sad to know it was all ending. And so here we are making this little page out of the sake of nostalgia and wanting to present a snapshot of a moment in time. We were caught in the middle of the twin explosions of the Electroclash scene and the postpunk/garage boom in NYC and Brooklyn and the world. We never got as huge as some of our peers, with our love for New Wave, Devo, punk rock and dance moves, but we had a loyal audience who we loved to play for and loved to make dance even more. Hellskiss and Aisha are currently the recording duo behind Addicted 2 Fiction and have a new band in the works called We Float. Chris is the drummer for the Bay Area power trio Ex-Boyfriends while Hillary is still a recording engineer par excellence as well as a web designer, hot NYC nightlife DJ and the new keyboardist for Bell Hollow. Jed is still the mastermind behind My Teenage Stride and Ernesto continues to make the movie world a better place. We hope you come visit our little page o' nostalgia and check back, we'll be rotating in new songs every now and then.
Check out some videos here!
We still have both our CDs, Not On The Menu and Insert Here, Sparks Fly! available for $7 + shipping.
X's and O's, Crowns on 45!
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