BandWagon Magazine - May 2024 - Crowe Boys

CROWE BOYS

TAYLOR SWIFT’S, TORTURED POETS

DEPARTMENT, ISN’T

GREAT.

A NOT SO TYPICAL REVIEW BY LANDON UNGERMAN

With the sudden release of Taylor’s Swift recent double album “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT”, and it’s second half, “THE ANTHOLOGY”, which released two hours apart on April 19th, 2024, an uproar of conversation about the album took over social media. While the album shattered first-day streaming records, becoming the most streamed album in one day on Spotify, fans who weren’t desperately defending Taylor and the album were flooding their feeds with memes critiquing the awkward songwriting and unfinished sound of the album. “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT” (TTPD) explores a familiar synth-pop sound with folk stylings, and aims to tackle Taylor’s self-aware psyche amidst becoming a global icon. But, the album fell short. The writing was poor, the arrangement was confusing, and stylistically, it just felt like a sloppy, synth-pop leftovers of Taylor’s last album, “Midnights.”

THE WRITING

Between the endless web of awkward metaphors, directionless arrangement, and the daunting 31 songs (TWO HOURS) worth of listening, TTPD is poorly written. In seemingly every song, there were a few lyrics that just didn’t land:

“You smoked then ate seven bars of chocolate / We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist / I scratch your head you fall asleep / Like a tattooed golden retriever”

“Touch me while your boys play Grand Theft Auto”

Pair these absurd lyrics with too many murky metaphors, ranging from figurative alien abductions to insane asylums, and listeners are left with lengthy songs that seemingly say

nothing (Granted, Taylor intended for TTPD to an overwhelmed state of mind). The track “But Daddy I Love Him” takes on the Romeo and Juliet narrative (Love Story much?), but does so in 6 minutes using words like “sanctimoniously.”

The unnatural edginess of Taylor’s writing style on this project distracts from its solid musical moments. Hearing “Screaming ‘but Daddy I love him!’ / I’m having his baby / No, I’m not, but you should see your faces” on top of any amount of synth isn’t particularly pleasant.

THE STYLE & SOUND

A little cringe here and there doesn’t make an album bad, but “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT,” fell short in its musical style. Over-synthesized pop motifs that felt derivative to not only “Midnights,” but recent hits from Arianna Granda and Lana Del Rey smothered the first half of the album.. One of Taylor’s established collaborators, producer Jack Antonoff, is credited as the producer for the first half of TTPD, while Aaron Dessner produced the second half, “THE ANTHOLOGY.”. It is clear that Antonoff had a very strong sonic idea for the album and rarely strayed from it, even when it sacrificed a song’s style. For example, the track “So Long, London” was crying out for warmer, acoustic instrumentation like that of Taylor’s recent folk releases, but instead forced a staccato, grassy vocal melody onto an instrumental that should’ve been much simpler. An anonymous Swifty had this to say when asked about Taylor’s voice on TTPD: “LIKE, OMG JACK. LET TAYLOR BE THE TWANGY POP GIRLY WE LOVE AND PUT THE SYNTH AND VOCODER AWAY.”

This project featured two artists, Post Malone and Florence Welch, on tracks “Fortnight” and “Florida!!!” respectively, and both collaborations missed the mark. Post Malone’s feature was complementary at most, as though any other male artist could have filled the same void on the track (perhaps Charlie Puth???). As for “Florida!!!” with Florence Welch… it simply shouldn’t have happened. The vocal style of Taylor and Florence blend like sriracha and waffles; they don’t go together at all.

ALBUM HIGHLIGHT

Taylor Swift has written incredible songs over the course of her career, and it’s clear that the writing on TTPD was more personal and raw than her recent albums. The track “How Did It End?,” produced by Aaron Dessner, begins with a simple piano riff before developing into a clear soundscape that supports the raw, unfinished nature of the lyrics well. This was the most refreshing musical moment on the album, and had Taylor and her producers

scaled back the production on the rest of the album, it would’ve been much stronger.

OUR RATING

Taylor Swift’s “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT” is tired. The production is lackluster and the writing feels unnatural. This album is far from her best work. Despite its shortcomings, TTPD will undoubtedly shatter the charts for weeks to come, as the Swifty army is not one to be messed with, and that’s exactly the point. This album is meaningful for people who like Taylor Swift, but many fans agree that it should have developed for longer.

CROWE BOYS

TWO BROTHERS TAKE ON THE WORLD

Two brothers from New Orleans are strumming joy and singing life loud enough for the world to hear. Flying under the banner of alternative-folk, Crowe Boys, made up of Ocie (lead singer, guitar) and Wes Crowe, are on the road with a fresh look and perspective, releasing some of their truest work yet. Fans can’t help but congregate around the honest, all-too-relatable tales of the Crowe Boys.

With roots in the bayou, the Crowe Boys are immersed in the vibrant, folk tradition of New Orleans, home to the brothers’ project. The two are no strangers to life on the road though. The Crowe family is known well in the area as the family-band spreading gospel tunes in a town every Sunday. “New Orleans is a special place to us,” Ocie explains. “They’re just in love with the music and the feeling.” Today, the Crowe legacy continues on the national stage, but this time around, the music has taken on a starkly different meaning for the brothers.

Crowe Boys aren’t just writing songs that we want to hear, “hits” as Ocie described it, rather, they’re using songwriting as a means of finding peace in their lives: “Writing music for us is a big way that we process life… we’re just talking about things we’ve gone through.” After losing their mother to cancer in 2009, music became the way that Crowe Boys (including brother and former drummer, Jacob) leaned on each other for strength. Recently, their songwriting has turned back to times like these, but through the lens of something that has always been there for them: music. “A lot of our recent music comes from past depression and things we didn’t do a good job of processing. Everything we write is real life.”

As it turns out, authenticity is exactly what listeners were waiting for. In March of 2024, Crowe Boys hit a milestone, as their latest single “Where Did I Go Wrong?” became their first to reach a million streams on Spotify, a metric that has nearly

doubled since. In it, the brothers channel the angst that comes with becoming an adult. “This song is how it feels to grow up,” explains Ocie. The most refreshing part about the song is that it doesn’t turn to imaginative figurative language to decorate what is a pure and powerful song. Whether they’re ranting about how “The government took [their money] all away,” “stressing over politics,” or wishing they “weren’t so focused on money,” the young artists are speaking the listeners' language. The Crowe Boys masterfully sing about what is right there in front of them, and evidently, that’s all people really want to hear.

“Crowe Boys isn't really about being artists as much as it's about providing a space for people to come

into our show and be safe to learn themselves and let their guards down.”

Exciting things are on the horizon for the brothers this year. Their next release “Bootstraps,” is set to be ours on May 2nd, just in time for the Colorado leg of their tour, which will bring them through Colorado Springs, Greeley, and Denver. This time around, it is just Ocie and Wes taking the stage each night, so fans can expect a much more intimate, personal experience. Ocie provides that the tour and the songs they’re screaming on it are exactly that; personal. “We need to write the music for ourselves first in a way that we connect to what we’re saying before people congregate around it.” The Crowe Boys that we’re seeing today is truly focused on making meaningful music in the studio and meaningful memories on the road. Their act is pure, and they’ve built an unwavering foundation for personal growth by taking the music back to its roots.

THE INDUSTRY DISRUPTOR BRINGING POSITIVE CHANGE FOR CONCERTGOERS

It’s that day of the week. Payday. Your paycheck hits, your pockets can breathe, and the time has come to splurge on concert tickets. The group chat is buzzing about everything from coordinated outfits to hotel bookings. After all, you’re four months and two clicks away from seeing your favorite artist, live in concert, with all of your friends. The queue shrinks as your pupils follow that little loading icon around, and around, and around, and–YOU’RE IN! One ticket for you ($40), one ticket for a friend ($80), plus one special dilemma: shell out an extra $80 in ridiculous fees, or pay your rent by the first. The machine wins yet again.

Concert tickets are the talk of the town in 2024. Everybody from sad Swifites to POTUS is giving their two cents on the debacle, but nonetheless, fans are willing to spend a pretty penny on live music experiences. Last year, ticket revenues hit record highs—the cherry on top of the all-too-familiar tale of consumers participating in something that seems to be growing increasingly more expensive. While legacy industry titans juice every last dollar out of a dated system, fresh entrants like Tixr, a Santa Monica-based ticketing platform, are rewriting the script. A future where concertgoers, artists, promoters, and venues are on the same team is closer than it seems, and ticketing is the vessel.

In the past decade, countless industries (media streaming, food delivery– the list goes on) have revamped their services through innovation, and Tixr is pioneering that reformation for ticketing. Founded in 2013, Tixr began as a music-focused ticketing company and has since expand-

ed to serving a diverse plethora of live experiences including sports, comedy, and pop culture, among others.s. Last year, Tixr established an official partnership with BandWagon Presents, an independent Colorado-Wyoming concert promoter that fuels the magazine that you are currently reading. With one or two household names dominating the ticketing market with outdated technology, independent promoters like BandWagon, and humble, local venues like The Moxi Theater in Greeley, CO, often feel powerless in giving their customers a modern, memorable experience at a fair price. However, since integrating with Tixr, BandWagon, The Moxi Theater, and countless other Colorado partners are reclaiming that power:

“CONCERTS SHOULD BE ABOUT TWO THINGS: THE MUSIC AND THE FAN. TIXR EMPOWERS OUR TEAM AT BANDWAGON TO CATER TO PRECISELY THAT. THE TECH, THE TOOLS, THE TRANSPARENCY– FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OUR 10+ YEARS OF OPERATION, WE FINALLY FEEL THAT OUR TICKETING IS FAN-FOCUSED.”

- Ely Corliss (BandWagon Magazine, BandWagon Presents, Moxi Theater)

Tixr’s consumer-facing technology allows fans to purchase tickets on event pages tailored with the aesthetics of the venue and artist, immersing fans in a unique experience before they set foot in the building! With modern architecture, design, and technology being the focal points of Tixr’s operations, features like pre-ordering merch, earning rewards for helping sell tickets, no-interest payment plans, and a pre-authorized waitlist system for sold-out shows are just a few of the ways that they are revolutionizing the game.

There isn’t an industry in the world as volatile and exciting as live music ticketing. While legislation and debate float around in state assemblies, the House, and even the Oval Office, the music perseveres. Rarely will an industry herald disruptor bring positive change for the everyday concert-goer, yet Tixr has emerged as such a force, and at BandWagon, we are elated to join this journey with them.

VISIT TIXR.COM TO CHECK OUT THE AMAZING EVENTS THEY ARE TICKETING NATIONWIDE AND AROUND THE WORLD, AND VISIT BANDWAGONPRESENTS.COM TO GET A SENSE OF THE WAVES THEY ARE CREATING IN YOUR COMMUNITY!

BANDWAGON PHOTO OF THE MONTH | TAYLOR LYONS-BENNER @4DNORTH KRIZZ

| MOXI THEATER - GREELEY, CO | 4/14/24