Crushed Out @ The Demo, St. Louis, MO

Words and pictures by Duane Clawson
Surf rockers unite.  Crushed Out was in town, finally.  The members of Crushed Out, Frank Hoier (guitar/vocals) and Moselle Spiller (drums/percussion), certainly did not take the easy road to get in to town.  To play a 30-minute warm up set, the band drove 19+ hours, made soup over a campfire, and all of this after playing until 1am the night before in New Hampshire.  Whew!  I'm tired just hearing the story.  Such are the trials and tribulations of a band attempting to become a bigger shark in an ocean full of big fish.  Crushed Out began their career as the band Boom Chick but due to some copyright issues, a name change was needed. The term crushed out is an early 20th-century term for breaking out of jail.  I guess this term could be applied to Frank and Moselle as the attempt to break out their brand of music; a brand of music that is a cross blend of Dick Dale meets Hank Williams. 

As for this quick stop in St. Louis, the duo seemed a tad bit slow to get their set going, as there were some technical difficulties with a vintage Echoplex that kept providing Frank with a mild shock through his microphone.  As Frank was doing his best to avoid electrocution, Moselle did a great job of picking up any voids in their music with her furious drumming.  After meeting Moselle before the show and finding her to be a little shy, it was entertaining to see her aggressive behavior behind the drum kit.  The band hit their sweet spot with songs such as “Sharkbite” and “Ghost of Bo Diddley”.  Closing the show with the latter song, Moselle let the confines of her drum throne to wander about the floor of the Demo, while shaking a tambourine, an act that truly defines the true free spirit of this band.  Thanks to Angie Carlson and Crushed Out for allowing MTC access to this show.  Pictures of the show are below:

 Contributed by Duane Clawson
Crushed Out @ The Demo, St. Louis, MO Crushed Out @ The Demo, St. Louis, MO Reviewed by Scott Rowe, Editor on June 13, 2013 Rating: 5
Powered by Blogger.