From Gainesville's Satellite Magazine, May 2004 Issue, Jay's Jumpstart Column by Jay Maggio:
"Of course when bands stick around for a long time, there can often be line-up changes. The poppy-punky Crash Pad lost longtime frontguy Adam Unhinged and gained Russell Johnson (Allstar 69, Sick Dick and the Volkswagens). Yet Brian Krashpad is in for the long-haul and will continue playing indefinitely (or at least until he runs out of potential Crash Pad members)."
From the Gainesville Sun's Scene Magazine, both by Douglas Jordan:
"Punk rock at Lillian's? Say it isn't so.
That's right, apparently Crash Pad has wormed its way into a battle of the bands show Monday night at the longtime classic rock watering hole located downtown. Also on the roster is the hard-rocking Long Strange Day, which is sporting a new vocalist, former Demoniques frontwoman Monique. This should be an interesting night indeed. In fact, there's even another punk band on the list, Orlando's The Hybrids.
Crash Pad guitarist Brian Kruger (aka Krashpad) sums it up on www.gainesvillebands.com: "A true sign of the End Times if ever there was one.""
June 11, 2004.
"Brian Kruger may well be playing in a rock band when he's 100 years old, with his staying power.
Kruger - better known on the music scene as Brian Krashpad - is celebrating a birthday today, and he's topping it off with a "17th Annual 29th Birthday" performance at Eddie C's.
Crash Pad has stuck around town in various incarnations for years, an anomaly on a scene where bands come and go like the seasons.
With influences that rely heavily on old-school punk (think Ramones, Sex Pistols, Clash) and sing-along garage rock, the band's sound has remained fairly consistent over the years, thanks to Kruger's infectious rock posturing and never-grow-up attitude.
Put simply, Crash Pad is a blast."
May 14. 2004 .
From "Ten Bands To Watch", Moon Magazine, February 2002, by Jay Maggio:
"Crash Pad play punk-rock old-school style. Whiney yet melodic, abrasive yet funny. Crash Pad puts on a great show. If you ever loved the Descendants, the Buzzcocks, or the Ramones, check out Crash Pad."
"Crash Pad Lands Once Again" Gainesville Sun Scene Mag, January 11, 2002, by Douglas Jordan
"Crash Pad Bring It Old School..." by Heather Ross, Detours Magazine, October 4, 2001
Moon Magazine, November 1, 2000;
Alligator Detours magazine interview, September 14, 2000, by Phillip Crandall.
Gainesville Sun Interview, January 14 2000, by Patrick Hughes
from The Orange and Blue Newspaper:
"Crash Pad plays three-chord progression punk rock reminiscent of Naked Raygun, Social Distortion and Pegboy. Highlighted by crunchy riffs, solos, sing-alongs and pick slides, Crash Pad has a tougher sound than the recent Gen-X bubblegum punk novelties. Cut from a gritty cloth, the band performs timeless ditties about girls and perserverence."
Joshua Krause, A & E Ed., Jan. 10-18 edition, 2000;
Fullmoonfever.com Interview, December 1999, by David Left
Favorite Overall Band
Crash Pad
This old-style Gainesville punk rock band works hard both on stage and off the stage. They play frequently and e-mail announcements about themselves even more often. An entertaining, energetic outfit, they proudly carry on a tradition of hard rocking, catchy punk bands that has been going on in Gainesville for longer than my 17 years here. Their devoted followers support them strongly, casting enough votes on the Internet to chisel them a spot in the 1997 Alachua Music Harvest.
(Photo Caption): Crash Pad's loyal fans nominated them for Favorite Overall Band, Favorite Rock Band, and Favorite Punk Band.
from WorldWidePunk.com:
Crash Pad - Nine Minutes of Pleasure (Demo-CD)
"Gainesville Florida's Crash Pad recently released this 3-song 9-minute CD as a teaser for their (hopefully) upcoming full-length album. It all starts off with a pretty standard goofy punk rock love song called Emergency Gurl which seems to take influence from the Ramones, or even legendary Canuck punks The Wet Spots. Anyway, the second song takes on a more serious tone with an increasingly distorted sound. Fits in quite well with a song titled Down on Me, doesn't it? Yes. Finishing it off is their most unique and experimental tune, Spanish Moss. This one is easily my favourite on the CD. In fact, each song on this CD gets progressively better. Spanish Moss still has that fuzzed-out punk rock sound, but with some really neat echoey guitar sounds that are as if someone is stabbing the guitar with a knife. Different, yet quite good. The vocal and instrument sharing this band does also tends to keep things energetic and different throughout. Good stuff."
1999 BK interview on the G-Note website
INsite Magazine "Local Buzz" column interview:
The second incarnation of Gainesville's quirky punk outfit Crash Pad has taken form and is bound to freshen the air in local live venues and in the minds of local scenesters. This quartet, who have been described as Green Day meets Flipper and moves in across the street from the Ramones, hasn't let their frequent line-up changes hinder their ability to rock out.
Co-frontmen Brian Krashpad and Adam Unhinged, who trade off singing and guitar duties, recently added e on bass and Vinny Unhinged on drums. With a brand new rhythm section in tow, Crash Pad is prepared to bring you rootsy punk rock songs with anthem guitar solos about everything from cops and punks to Spanish Moss.
INsite: It seems like so many punk bands in this town are frequently changing line-ups. Why do you think that there is such an inconsistency within the local punk scene?
Adam: Gainesville is very incestous. Everyone plays with everyone else. I think it is leaning a lot further away from the roots of punk like the Ramones. It is heading into the hardcore and metal realm, like NoFX and Hum. It is unfortunate that it is beginning to take on the "punker than thou" attitude.
INsite: Do you think that causes some bad relations between bands that classify themselves as punk but to some may not be punk enough?
Brian: I like listening to all different kinds of punk, and a lot of different kinds of music. Not every band does the same thing, but they all do [what they do] really well.
Adam: I don't think it causes any bad relations. I think musicians support other musicians even more so than fans do. Everyone has to work together.
Brian: On a couple different levels it's dumb to start all that interband stuff. It's just bad karma. And from a totally materialistic standpoint, it's even stupider, because those people can be the ones who get you gigs.
INsite: Does having two singers with totally different styles benefit or hinder the group?
Brian: I think it's a positive thing. I've always liked bands that did different things.
Vinny: I think it's a positive thing. Coming in fresh and learning Brian's and Adam's songs is great.
INsite: How do songs get written?
Adam: I usually come up with a riff in my head and I'll hear what kind of beat Vinny has and what e has on the bass and I'll just get a melody in my head. Brian , though, will sit down and write a whole song and bring it to the band.
Brian: I tend to write things whem I'm not at practice. I've written at least three songs in their entirety while I was mowing the lawn. "Spanish Moss" was written because there is Spanish moss in my yard. It is actually a lyrically serious song. Usually, though I like to break songs up with some elements of humor. Adam tends to write the more serious songs.
Adam: It has a lot to do with different influences, too. I just like music with a harder edge. If the music isn't fast and heavy with a spark, then chances are I'm not going to listen to it.
INsite: What was your reaction to the buyout of 97X, and how did you get involved in the 97X Appreciation Night back in March?
Adam: [The buyout] was basically a nail into a coffin. Gainesville doesn't have very many good radio stations. It's the same music over and over again. You can only listen to the Who so many times.
Brian: Pop Canon actually started what we call the "Anti-Suck Coalition" and got an extensive e-mail list of most of the people in town who were in bands that played original music. Before I knew it, they had something set up at the Covered Dish, but it was the same night we were playing at the Hardback. So it was just like "Why does it have to be just at the Dish? Let's make it everywhere!"
Adam: The Hardback, the Covered Dish, the Blowhole, Common Grounds, etc. Anyone and everyone was basically supporting the local music scene. [The lack of good local radio] is the biggest detriment that Gainesville has.
INsite: Is being on the road and playing music for a living ultimately what you are looking for?
Adam: Well, music really is a way of life for me. If I don't have a guitar or bass in my hands at least an hour out of the day, then I'm doing something wrong.
INsite: So where do you stand as far as label interests go?
Adam: We have contact with decent-sized punk labels through the Internet.
Brian: You can't force things to happen. All you can do is do what you can and just wait for it to happen. All we're trying to do is get the word out about Crash Pad in as many different ways as we can.
Jenny Rubens, July 1998 INsite Magazine
Crash Pad, the Habituals, and Alvarez and Scorpio get together Saturday night at the Civic Media Center in a benefit for Free Radio Gainesville, the group that's trying to start a new community radio station here in town. The quirk-punk band Crash Pad just became a four-piece after a major reshuffle.
"We've been rebuilding for the better part of the past year," said Brian Krashpad. "We went through a succession of exploding drummers. It's the typical Gainesville band thing: you need a chart to figure it out."
In short, guitarist Adam Lishawa, who had switched to bass after the band lost two members, switched back to guitar when his Unhinged bandmate Vinny Unhinged (catching a pattern here?) joined Crash Pad and brought along lower case e, the bass player he'd been playing with. (I don't make this stuff up.) Crash Pad played their first show last month at the Down-Lo and Krashpad says it went pretty well. They're looking forward to another crack at it Saturday.
Alisson Burke, Gainesville Sun, July 24, 1998.
The G-Note 1998 review of tape by trio version of band:
Crash Pad in two words: pure punk. These guys... have great energy and grinding rhythms to fuel it. Not only do all three memebers of Crash Pad contribute vocals, but Crash Pad have the interesting practice of swapping insruments. Crash Pad succeeds in harnessing the group's unique feel, and for a debut recording shows great promise. Fifteen Minutes, the first song on Crash Pad, is one of my favorites. When the chorus kicks in you can't help but want to sing (yell) along.
Crash Pad is one glorious punk song after another... If you ever invited Crash Pad to a party, they would sure know how to make an entrance and an equally impressive exit. Starting off with Fifteen Minutes and ending with Buffy's Dead, Crash Pad leaves the listener with a complete punk package of sharp guitar riffs, hard-hitting drum fills and screaming vocals that will be pounding around in your head for days to come.
sMITH
The World Wide Punk Review:
Here's a cool tape full of punk rock that doesn't sound like everything else out there. Sure, Crash Pad have their influences, they manage to sound unique. It's punk rock, plain and simple. Their songs display the enery of the Stooges, a Ramones-influenced buzzing sound..., and drumming that pounds along quite nicely. And these guys know what fun music is. They inject a healthy dose of goofiness into some of their music without spoiling the songs by making them overly stupid. "Fifteen Minutes" and "Buffy's Dead" are great songs. Two Thumbs Up, and all those other good sayings!
Vic Gedris