Those Damn Crows: Crossing The Divide

Today’s news is tomorrow’s chip paper, so the saying goes, alluding to how quickly current affairs develop and move on. What has occurred with THOSE DAMN CROWS since vocalist Shane Greenhall sat down with Distorted Sound, though, borders on the unbelievable. At the time, they were on the cusp of releasing second album Point of No Return and embarking on a tour that had sold out practically every date up and down the country. Since then, the album has not only been critically acclaimed from all areas but bulldozed its way to #14 of the main UK charts, which is a superb achievement. One question however still maintains its relevance – do the band sit back and truly wonder how five blokes from Bridgend have managed this?

“A little bit!” Shane admits as he chuckles at the question. “We’ve haven’t had much downtime really to think about it but the more interviews that you’re doing, you do pinch yourself and think ‘yeah, five boys from Bridgend in South Wales, how did we do this? But yeah, I guess it’s all down to the momentum of this band; the more you do and the more people you work with and the more gigs you do, the more chance you have to impress people.”

One person who was impressed from the very beginning was celebrated producer Colin Richardson, who eagerly jumped at the chance to produce Point of No Return, but he didn’t go it alone; not only did he bring partner Andy Sneap on board, but they were also joined by MUTINY WITHIN frontman Chris Clancy, and Shane has nothing but the highest of praises for all three. “You must be doing something right if you’re getting those big hitters involved! Honestly though, we were so excited to go to Andy’s studio for a start (where JUDAS PRIEST recorded 2018’s brilliant Firepower) and to just even stand in the same room that [PRIEST] had been in and rehearse in there before actually recording, it was incredible.”

Another thing that the triumvirate brought to the table was helping THOSE DAMN CROWS with new ideas that Shane agrees will be of utmost help going forward. “That glass ceiling was smashed to smithereens, where once we would have thought ‘we can’t do that, we’re a rock band’, all of a sudden there were sounds and piano tracks coming up along with atmospheric interludes that we had never thought about including before now, so when they suggested something we gave it a go and nine times out of ten it worked, so we will certainly look to incorporate those on future releases.”

Shane is also quick to quash the idea that he felt any pressure recording, something that can befall bands who find themselves having far less time for their sophomore release than their first. “You have to understand that when we signed to Earache Records, they wanted to re-release our first album before we could record our second, and I was honestly chomping at the bit to write new material and release it for the fans because whilst I wasn’t getting sick of singing the songs from the first album, I wanted to record new ones, you know? So I was very excited to get into the studio and begin the process.”

That excitement clearly bled into the recordings themselves, because Point of No Return is a hugely infectious and raucous hard rock album that is stuffed full of huge choruses and riffs from beginning to end. The fact that THOSE DAMN CROWS have taken the advice from their producers and helped expand their sound is also indicative of the way rock music can be pushed down a number of different avenues. However, Shane feels that there’s one area that needs to be addressed in order for this to have full effect. “If anything, the only thing that needs to be changed is the mindset of the people who are listening to it. I think that if a song is a good song, it doesn’t matter what genre or sub-genre you want to class it as. We put as much effort as we can into every little area of our songs and the craft of the producers in making those songs soar is exceptional. We know that everyone’s a critic but I hate the elitism in rock music and the instant discarding that happens along the way which can completely derail a band before they’ve got going. If we can silence them and change their outlook, we’re doing something right.”

Judging by their impact in recent weeks, THOSE DAMN CROWS definitely are doing something right, and it seems only a matter of time before their venues grow larger and their fanbase swells considerably. The future isn’t just bright for this Welsh quintet, it’s utterly blinding.

Point Of No Return is out now via Earache Records.

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