Crimson Bile in the Pulse Magazine
Crimson Bile
By Mary Ouellette
“Stand up, never backing down no! Just raise your fists up to the sky and let them know that you won’t die!” Not only is that the chorus to Crimson Bile’s track “Stand Up,” from their upcoming album “Out of the Ashes,” it could very well be their personal battle call. Embracing the challenge of combining the elements of rap and rock, Crimson Bile has had to “Stand Up” on more than one occasion to prove that their musical fusion is a formidable force.
Born from the ashes of a hip-hop side project started by emcee Crakd (Anthony Santilli) and emcee Ice-Pic (Matt Joyce), Crimson Bile ~ now familiar faces at Worcester favorites The Lucky Dog, Tammany Hall and Club Oasis ~ had very humble beginnings. The two put together a concept-based rap album and thought that was the end of it, but when the underground scene took hold of it and wouldn’t let go, they realized they may have stumbled on to something bigger.
Crimson Bile soon evolved into something larger than life, not only did the duo adopt a full band to back their rap and vocals (Greg Burrows on drums, his brother Chris Burrows on guitar, and Donny Hayes on bass), but they went even further and added a third emcee to the mix (Frantik/Shane Nadeau). Adding these missing parts has given the band additional depth, allowing them to reach new heights as a cohesive unit with their new songs.
Their new album “Out of the Ashes” is scheduled to drop in 2008 and, according to emcee Frantik, “It’s about real life situations that everyone has to deal with.” Understanding each others’ musical strengths seems to be a key contributing factor to the overall success of their writing process. “95 percent of the time Ice-Pic and the band members start working on the instrumental parts and after that we all sit around and decide what kind of mood the song is. Ice-Pic has a great voice so he’s the one that sings all of the choruses, as well as having a verse in each song. Crakd and I are lyricists at heart so we stick with doing the verses and the occasional chorus.” reveals Frantik about a typical writing session. This kind of symbiotic songwriting leads to well-crafted songs that deliver like a sucker punch to the gut and win over live audiences instantaneously.
Pushing the envelope in an industry that is drowning in wannabes and copycats, Crimson Bile waves their flag of individuality loud and proud. While the concept of mixing rap and rock is not a new one, it’s definitely not one that is easy to pull off on any level, and Crimson Bile seems to have it down to a fine art.
