Crushed By Waves: The New Face of Alternative Rock

In the music video for their debut single Ceiling, Manchester-based alternative rock band CRUSHED BY WAVES set a birdcage on fire. “Now, that was just a prop. There wasn’t a real bird in that cage,” lead singer Arran Prime jokes. “It was a fake bird, but the birdcage on fire became a theme. At the end of the video for our song Appetite, there was a smoking birdcage. It was a throwback to the Ceiling video. So our album cover has a phoenix bursting out of its cage, starting something new.”

The band – completed by guitarists Andy Hoskinson and Dan Collict and drummer Tom West – have had a whirlwind start to their career since their humble beginnings in late 2020. 2023 saw them playing multiple festivals, including Download and Takeover. “The whole time, we were in disbelief,” Arran confesses. “It did start to have an affect on the way we were writing our music and the way we saw ourselves as a band. There was a lot of imposter syndrome as we were comparing ourselves to the bands who are smashing it. We felt weird and out of place, but we’ve slowly come to terms with the fact that we do belong alongside these bands.”

“We all love the recording process,” he says, “but the live sets are where we come alive.” He explains that the recording process is an intimate one for the band as they go into a musical hole for a couple of weeks and lose themselves in being creative and making music. “But the best bit is the pay off when we get to play it live.”

Optimism and keeping one’s head up during hard times are major themes of not only their debut album, More To Life, but also the band in general. The band released Ceiling in late 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, so they couldn’t go out and play live shows. However, Arran says that if it wasn’t for the band’s manager Marianne Harris, who “has been a huge part in our development. She has helped support us through everything. I think she saw something in us that we didn’t see in ourselves.”

However, being a small band is not all touring and fantastic support. “We’re stuck in two worlds at the minute,” Arran admits. “We’ve got one foot in this live music scene, but we’ve also got to pay bills and working jobs and doing things that keep us away from the music to keep the lights on. The title track of our album is about creative people being stuck in jobs that they don’t like, and taking the risk to put it all on the creative industries. It’s what we as a band are doing, and hopefully it can be something that we can rely on full-time.”

“The life to band balance is tough and expensive. We put everything into the band out of our own pocket, and touring is so expensive, as we have to book hotels, buy fuel, and various other expenses. But we absolutely love it to our core. So even whilst we’re spending all that money, it doesn’t feel like money, it feels more like band tokens,” he laughs.

Thankfully, the reception towards CRUSHED BY WAVES has been positive, as they have had fantastic responses to their album, and they have been welcomed by fans during live shows, and have even been asked back to some venues.

But whilst listening to the band, it is easy to see why they have become so beloved. Their brand of alternative rock is truly unique and hard to pin down. Whether it is the sultry synth-rock of You Know, the euphoric rock of More To Life, along with some electronic parts that Arran writes and post-hardcore. Then again, with influences from bands such as LINKIN PARK, DON BROCO, WHILE SHE SLEEPS and BRING ME THE HORIZON, who are all bands who have carved out their own sound in the music industry, why shouldn’t CRUSHED BY WAVES do the same?

“No one will ever beat what LINKIN PARK were able to do, but for us, it is about taking a small influence from that and trying to bring that into our own little world and create CRUSHED BY WAVES as a sound that people recognise. Finding something that is unique in this day and age is really hard as well, so having a style that cuts above the noise is important,” Arran explains.

It is clear that CRUSHED BY WAVES are passionate about their music. Even though their debut album has just been released, the band “are already back writing and doing what we can do to see what is next.”

But for those who are new to the band, Arran recommends listening to their song Dangerous because “it has a bit of everything. It’s got the whole package. It’s a good punch in the ears for anyone who wants to listen and see what we do. But it’s hard because everyone has so many different favourite songs. Some people really like You Know, which was such a curveball for us as it is really electronic, atmospheric and weird and sensual. But other people really like the heavy stuff, such as Faces. Then there are people who are in the middle and like songs such as Dangerous and More To Life.”

The future for CRUSHED BY WAVES is unknown, but that is because they are so focused on enjoying it. Arran explains it best. “As long as we’re enjoying playing and writing the music and being in the band, we’ll just continue doing what we love, and the opportunities will hopefully present with each new chapter of our band.”

More To Life is out now via self-release.

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