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Quick & Dirty: The Crystal Casino Band Comments on Everything Except Music

The Crystal Casino Band guitarist Jarrod Hendricks joins us for a Quick & Dirty interview about random topics, and everything except music.

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The Crystal Casino Band, photo by Cagla Akcadag

With several singles initially released as a tease of the full package, The Crystal Casino Band finally released their latest record Maryland House at the end of last month. Following the release of “City That Sleeps,” “Twenty-something Socialist,” “Jamie,” and a few other songs, the full 13-track collection has now dropped, an album that the band is referring to as their most complex, diverse, and complete one yet. The quartet worked extremely hard on this record, spending a full two years perfecting and finalizing its sound, collaborating more closely in ways they previously never had.

As a whole, Maryland House pays tribute to the indie rockers’ homeland, more specifically, the DMV area, which comprises their hometowns of Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. This is where they grew up as children and now as they have transitioned into young adulthood, they felt the need to honour the memories and the culture of where they grew up. Amazingly, it is now their sixth proper album since forming in 2015, and it is the first Crystal Casino Band release to feature every single band member on lead vocals. It’s been a real musical evolution over the years, and for now, this is the culmination of that journey.

Joining us today for a session of Quick & Dirty is guitarist Jarrod Hendricks to discuss a lot of random topics and thoughts in our series of mostly ridiculous, but still compelling, questions.

If you could erase one thing from your memory what would it be?

Jarrod Hendricks: “The film Your Name. It’s one of my favourite movies of all time, and I would love to experience the climax without any prior knowledge again.”

What’s something you know isn’t real, but wish existed?

“That picture of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia with Yoda signing the UN Charter in 1945. It goes pretty hard, in my opinion.”

What’s your favourite article of clothing that you own?

“A vintage ’90s windbreaker that came with matching pants that I thrifted for 8 dollars total. It’s warm and comfortable, and I’ve gotten a bunch of compliments for wearing it. I even tried to wear the whole outfit for our album cover shoot (the rest of the band shut this idea down, unfortunately).”

What historical event would you most like to have experienced firsthand?

“Swimming at the Beijing Olympics. Seeing Michael Phelps with eight gold medals must have been a sight to see in person.”

What always makes you nostalgic?

Calvin HarrisFunk Wav Bounces Vol. 1. My friends and I had it on constant rotation during the summer of 2017 when we were college orientation leaders together, and it will always remind me of the shenanigans we got up to at the time. Offset’s line in ‘Slide,’ ‘Need your information, take vacation to Malaysia’ is especially memorable for me because I went to visit my friend in her home country of Malaysia that summer, and we’d always joke about that line when the song was playing before I went back home with her.”

Beer, Wine or Liquor?

“Liquor. I got really into mixology in 2020, and there seems to be limitless options with what you can do with the countless types of liquor available. I love a good gin martini or old-fashioned and love making drinks for friends when I’m hosting!”

Must-have non-musical item when you’re on tour?

“Neck pillow. They’re an absolute must-have for sleeping while on the road.”

What three things would you have to have in your bag on a road trip?

“Allergy meds, moisturizer, and deodorant. Gotta be looking and smelling nice!”

Artwork for the album ‘Maryland House’ by The Crystal Casino Band

Artwork for the album ‘Maryland House’ by The Crystal Casino Band

Cats or Dogs?

“Cats, 100 percent. I wasn’t really an animal person at all until my then-girlfriend got a cat early on in the pandemic. Now, I’m a big fan of them and am seriously getting one myself! I’m also the cuncle (cat uncle) to at least five of my friend’s cats now.”

Favourite movie?

Your Name. It’s an anime with such a great plot and characters. The art is fantastic and the soundtrack was done by just one band, which is something I would love for us to do one day. I love to show it to people who are skeptical about anime because it shows them that anime is much more than shows like Naruto and Dragonball Z.”

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