Vanity Crash Showcases New Sounds and New Avenues

Limited seating available live and in person.

Ticket buyers must purchase an entire table in advance. We have small tables seating up to two guests and large tables seating up to four guests. The BOP STOP bar will be open and small snacks will be available to purchase. Feel free to bring your own food. Masks required when entering and moving around in the club.

This performance will also be available via livestream, with tickets here: https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/55273

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Cleveland's glam rock superstars Vanity Crash have found new ways of working creatively during the past year. And they are showcasing what they've learned on July 23 at 8PM at BOP STOP in Cleveland.

For years, Cleveland’s Vanity Crash would huddle in the basement and crank up their amps to rehearse new material and refine their theatrical performances for crowds of fans. They are popular for their outrageous live shows featuring mesmerizing light shows, video projections, and glamorous outfits complete with makeup. Well, for the past year, that wasn't happening.

Throughout a year of "Vanity Crash Pad" online Zoom shows and streaming events that more closely resembled a limited-run series than a rock concert, the band developed tricks and techniques for collaborating creatively minus the expense, risk and friction of in-person meetings.

Without skipping a beat, band members upgraded their tech, jacked into the network, and discovered new ways to make new music. And new things to write about.

"The tools and instruments have existed for some time," says leader Dennis Van Crash, "we just decided to invest in the right technology to be more creative remotely." With the aid of digital interfaces, ramped up internet plans and hybrid electronic instruments, it turns out the traditional rock & roll formula holds up well with each member contributing from their home studios.

And as they increasingly evolve to making music in person and in front of live audiences, it's possible to include additional tracks and musical ideas, syncing everything from lights to video to the inevitable megaphone.

The result? New songs across a wider terrain of sounds, grooves and emotional expression. "These new songs take Vanity Crash to places we've never been," suggests drummer/vocalist Thomas Anonymous.

The new approach is evident in the post-punk thrash of new composition Blondie, "Maybe it's how you hold that cigarette/All I gotta say is that it's driving me nuts/Something in my brain is getting totally fucked..."

Electronic beats permeate four-on-the-floor Dance Music, "Some like it hard/Some like the beat/You don't know/It sounds real neat/It's music/Dance music..."
There's the creepy Nine-Inch-Nails-meets-Rolling-Stones industrial swagger of Promise, "You make me promise/You make me lie/You make me uncomfortable..."
A techno undercurrent and finger-pointing spoken word verses enliven the revamped and Clevelandified Bob Dylan tour de force, Just Like Tom Thumb's Cleveland Blues, "When you're lost in the rain in Cleveland, and it's Easter time too/Don't put on any airs when you're down on Prospect Avenue..."

The biting social criticism of Cul-de-Sac spits in the face of the upper middle class, "Lower taxes and whiter schools/How did that work out for you/Overdosed on processed food/An IV drip of cable news..."

The post-pandemic Vanity Crash has a lot to say and totally new ways to say it.
"This new one's for you... yeah you," shouts vocalist and percussionist Virginia Plain Crash, reveling in the transgressive post-punk attitude on the new material that sounds to the ear like power pop turned up, twisted around and thrown into the mosh pit.

Vanity Crash plays indoor and outdoor gigs this summer and joins host Thomas Mulready for more behind-the-scenes presentations on some of the most important artists and cultural movements of our time.

Their BOP STOP appearance will feature new music by Vanity Crash, with each member taking the lead for a song or two.

The new songs, and new sounds, all bear the trademark Vanity Crash signature hard-edged punk-pop vibe, and their new working method was surprisingly amenable to the players. "I love this band because there's no drama... except on stage, where it should be," laughs lead guitarist Matthew Angel.

And they wear their influences on their well-tailored sleeves, betraying their own influences with music from recent presentations: The Pretenders’ epic fuck-you thrasher Precious; The Velvet Underground’s Rock and Roll by way of Mitch Ryder; and a punked-up Back in the USSR that jumps off the grooves. Vanity Crash will also feature songs from their five albums of original material. And you can bet they will look glamorous doing it.

VanityCrash.com