From the opening burst of brutality of “Go It Alone”, the first track on ‘Love and Betrayal’, it’s overtly apparent just what Still Crossed has in store for listeners. The record is a briefing in straight-up old-school inspired hardcore. Yet, don’t let this evaluation fool you: the five guys in Still Crossed have more up their sleeves over the course of the record, adding bits of melody here and there, especially on the standout (for Yours Truly, at least) “Lines in the Sand”, a song that, because of the intricately-constructed intro featuring quite beautiful guitar work followed by an affecting full-band arrangement, is like no other on the album. Yet, by the time the one-minute, 45-second mark is reached, the guys revert back to their roots with some more harrowing hardcore vitriol.

Vocalist Tony explains the inclusions of such melodic flourishes sporadically placed throughout the record thusly: “Everyone in the band…really [likes] all different kinds of music…so we don’t want [our compositions] to be just one thing. We play around basically with all the stuff we do. We try, [but] anything we like will end up sounding like us anyway.” He adds that even when ex-guitarist Rich wrote the song, it was cool “to have something that when you listen to, when you put on a record, you’re not always necessarily listening to the words all the time, you’re listening to the music and you just kinda get a different vibe from every song.” He feels that all too many times when he’s listening to records, the songs just seem to sound too similar, that you can’t distinguish when one song ends and another begins. This hankering for some diversity is the main reason for Still Crossed’s varied approach to songwriting and the fresh sound of ‘Love and Betrayal’. “We like to play different stuff instead of…heavy, fast mosh parts all the time. It’s more fun [and] breaks it up a little bit,” he declares. Another song that features much melody is the pensive finale “Call Me Nightmare”, which ends with highly-emotive instrumentation.

Lyrically, Still Crossed touch upon many subjects, but the main theme according to Tony is being yourself, “going your own way, [and] finding ideas and truths for yourself,” tying in the lyrics to “Faded” (a song that pertains to the realization that perhaps people we look up to are not all they’re cracked up to be – or that perhaps how we perceive them, holding them and certain aspects we see in them up to unsubstantiated ideals, and in turn attributing characteristics that maybe they don’t actually possess, is unwise – a lesson the vocalist has learned after enduring disappointments during his lifetime), “I stand the strongest when I stand on my own two feet,” meaning that we must rely on ourselves for ideas and answers to our own lives and not look to others, as they may not be as sincere as they seem. 

Nevertheless, despite this central concept of the band, the vocalist admits that ‘Love and Betrayal’ is a VERY fitting title for the album, lyric-wise. “I think the name of the record really hit the nail on the head. There’s songs on there about obviously like love. We love hardcore, we love straight edge,” as well as offerings pertaining to friendships and, yes, betrayal. But, also his lyrics were inspired by everything that was going on with the bandmates and stuff that was going on in Cincinnati. “A lot of [the lyrics were] fueled by just problems we were dealing with, so a lot of it might even be a little repetitious at times ‘cause there’s really like a couple big things that were going on.”

And just the overall quality of the album – their initial release on Indecision Records – is amazing, especially when taking into account the fact that the guys – drummer Robby, guitarists Zack and Jon, bassist Jonah, and of course Tony – spent all of four or five days to record it AND that it’s the band’s first recording. They didn’t even have an EP out before ‘Love and Betrayal’. Appropriately, Tony is quite pleased with the results, but would’ve liked to have had a bit more time in the studio. In any case, he’s adamant that the guys took much away from the experience and therefore, “wouldn’t change anything” about the record, though like most people who are understandably critical of their own work, they “might listen to certain things and kinda cringe a little bit.” Still, he states, “We learned a lot for the next time [we’re in the studio],” adding, “The next time we go in we’ll definitely have that experience under our belt and we’ll know what to do and what not to do.”

And next up for the Cincinnati five-piece is a split release with a band called Against from Australia. They’ll be contributing two songs and a cover and it will be released on his friend Mike’s label Best of Times, and in Australia, on Common Bond Records. How the hell did they hook up with an Australian act you may ask yourself. Well, turns out before they were called Still Crossed, the guys went by the same moniker – Against – and had heard from the Australian band because they were receiving e-mails from kids asking about the American band. As a result, and also because some of the guys weren’t too thrilled with the then-current name anyway, they changed it to Still Crossed AND made some friends in the process, maintaining contact with the Aussies. “They wanted to put something out here [and] we thought it would be cool to put something out down there and maybe have a possibility of going to Australia and playing,” explains the frontman. Also in the works is an EP that will be released on Indecision later this year for which they will be writing songs this month.

As for touring plans, Tony says the only thing that is finalized so far is a six-week full U.S. tour (that will also include some Canadian dates) from mid-July to late-August with One Up, a band from Philly. And though they’ve played around much, going out to California where they, along with With Honor, played some of Shai Hulud’s final shows out on the West Coast (Shai Hulud have nothing but praise for Still Crossed), going down to Florida and heading out on weekend treks all over the Northeast, they’ve still yet to play NYC, Philly, and Boston, but are planning on hitting these places among others during a stint in June. “We’re just doing what we can to make our way around,” avers Tony, continuing, “[trying to] stay out as much as possible and keep going through and playing as much as we possibly can.” Why should we come out to see them, though? Tony makes a good case: “We have a lot of fun when we play, a lot of energy. We try to get everyone involved as much as possible and hopefully try and make everyone have as much fun as we’re having…I think when we play it’s a good atmosphere, a good vibe in the crowd. If you’re down to have fun come on out,” he says with a laugh, “We’ll hang.”

All Tony desires people to know about the band is that they have a great love of hardcore, straight edge, and of being a part of the scene. “I think all those things are why we came together, like these five people, we all have the same passion [for all of that].” And he gives much thanks to everyone who’s helped Still Crossed out in any way, whoever’s gone to their shows, bought their record, and supported them, and avows (yet again!) that they’ll “try to make it everywhere as soon as possible.”