Crows’ third album Reason Enough finds the London mob adding a more personal touch to their political post-punk. And even if things still feel raw, they’ll never lose the spark that keeps them going…
For many people, being in a band is dream job. At least, it used to be. These days, it’s a lot harder than it was to make it an actual career. Except for the increasingly lucky and increasingly few, music has become something most bands have to do in addition to a the grind of a nine-to-five.
Crows, the London-based four-piece – vocalist James Cox, guitarist Steve Goddard, bassist Jith Amarasinghe and drummer Sam Lister – aren’t one of the lucky ones, but they’ve found a way to incorporate that into their songs: by writing noisy, nihilistic and abrasive post-punk anthems that decry the fact capitalism sucks most of the joy from life by forcing humans to work.
That involuntary subordination to the system was very much reflected in Crows’ first two albums – 2019’s Silver Tongues and 2022’s Beware Believers – both of which perfectly captured personal suffering at the hands of that inhumane power structure. The former was released on Balley Records, the label formed by Joe Talbot, something that came about because James had been working at a food truck at Latitude Festival in 2018, and had messaged the IDLES singer after their set. It turned out Joe had been a fan for a while – not surprising given their shared political values and disparaging thoughts about the state of the UK – and subsequently released their debut record.
Some five years later, Reason Enough, the band’s third LP, displays a more personal side of Crows – a vulnerability hitherto obscured by their boisterous belligerence. It comes after a particularly rough few years for James, and while he doesn’t go into specific details, it’s clear that whatever did happen had a profound impact.
“This album came out of a pretty rough year of mental health,” the singer admits. “I went through a lot of big life changes, and a lot of it was written at that time. It’s still pretty political, but it’s also definitely more inward-looking and self-reflective. It’s probably the most honest I’ve been on a record.”
Though that was incredibly helpful, he’s also aware of the problems it’s already caused, and will continue to cause, every time the band play live.
“It’s an amazing gift to be able to write music and it help you through difficult times,” he continues. “But then you have to keep singing about it, and keep reminding yourself what you wrote about it. But I’m in a much better place – life’s good and I have no complaints, really.”
Though he says “no complaints”, the truth is that by channelling and acknowledging the reality of their situation – unlike most bands who ignore the limits of their expectations – Crows have created an incredibly important and insightful depictions of modern life.
“We really enjoyed recording this album,” says Sam, “and I’m really proud to add it to the canon. Because even if it’s not a million people, I hope some people really enjoy it.”
“We’re all a bit older now and we’ve been doing it a long time,” adds James. “We’ve achieved loads of stuff that we’re all really proud of, but I think we’re being a bit more realistic that we’re not going to blow up and being the next huge band.”
“With shows,” continues Steve, “we’re doing bigger places each time. Even if we’re not going to be fucking massive, it still shows a progression, and that’s a reason for wanting to keep doing it.”
“You could say,” says James with a huge, knowing, shit-eating grin on his face, his timing perfect, “that it’s reason enough.”
“And we’re out,” concludes Sam. Everybody laughs and sighs at the same time.
Reason Enough is out now via Bad Vibrations Records
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