Dan MacIntosh
The story of The Crucified’s brief, but pioneering musical fingerprint, can rightfully be viewed as one of music history’s best kept secrets and potentially a true crime mystery. Yet you need not be a CSI forensics expert to gage this Fresno, CA act’s unique impact. The band formed in late ’84 under the name KGB and recorded a KGB demo in ’85. Shortly thereafter, The Crucified, a true punk band both in substance and attitude, recorded its first album, Take up Your Cross, in 1986, partially because it was simply impossible to purchase the music these punk rockers heard in their heads. After all, necessity has always been the Mohawk-ed mother of invention.
The band went on to record four more full-lengths, capping of its initial studio career with The Pillars of Humanity, considered by many to be the group’s crowning achievement.
“I think it’s special because it was our first album with any real focus,” explains vocalist Mark Saloman. “Everything else we’d put out up to that point was just a collection of songs — with Pillars we tried to write an album. Also, our style had finally come into focus — helped show our identity as a band. Plus, I think that was the kind of music people were looking for at the time.” I think it was much more mature, both musically and lyrically,” Minier concurs. “I also think the album was more cohesive musically.”
The Crucified played with several high profile groups back in the day, like D.R.I., G.B.H., and Pantera. “We gained a lot of fans at the G.B.H. show,” recalls drummer Jim Chaffin. “It was an “out of town” gig in Phoenix. We weren’t sure how it would be and the crowd felt the same. We kicked butt and they loved us, good show.”
And now the band’s music can be heard with the high fidelity it deserves on a newly remixed, three CD/one DVD, box set. “I would love for fans to have all our music available,” says Soloman. “We get requests for Pillars and Live at the New Order all the time. Now it will be available.” “Most of our fans never got to actually have a copy of Pillars of Humanity,” Minier bemoans. “I want old and new fans to be able to have the music and take a look inside (DVD) as to how things were then.”
The timing of this release couldn’t be any better, as the sort of thrash music The Crucified pioneered is going through a kind of modern renaissance. There are a few key contemporary record labels leading the surge in the new thrash movement, including Earache Records and Heavy Artillery Records. Some of the more popular acts include Municipal Waste, Merciless Death, Avenger of Blood, and Phantom. Even so, The Crucified isn’t in any hurry to join a stylistic bandwagon, whether it is something new, or the revival of anything old. “We started off playing punk rock,” Greg Minier explains. “As we became more proficient on our instruments, we added more metal influence. Our style would have been most likely considered “cross-over” (a mix of punk and metal).” “I honestly don’t care what style we’re aligned with,” adds Saloman. “I just like to say we played hard, fast, powerful music and people can call it what they like.”
Best of all, however, is that The Crucified’s story may not be completely over – yet. “We’re seeing if there’s another spark there or if there are any open doors,” says Chaffin. “If things go well, it’d be great to play some shows again and enjoy that time. When things had ended, I thought – musically – we were doing a whole lot better. And now, we’re way more mature musically. You never know what will happen until you give it a try, so I think we’d all like to give another shot at it.”
