About Sound

Andrew’s (Brew) story:

As Britpop withered on the late 90s vine, looking back it would be easy to believe that the new scene of Travis, Coldplay and a plethora of bedwetting indie bands immediately took its place while the new wave of New York garage rock was about to find its feet. But in Bristol there was Crashland, a bottle of fizzy pop rock shaken to the verge of explosion with driving riffs and crashing drums. Alex Troup’s Wenglish charisma delivered urgent rhyme after rhyme over hook laden songs.

I first saw them, with my brother Matt Strong, at Bristol’s legendary live music venue The Louisiana on the banks of the Avon in late 1998. It was an awakening for a 15 year old me to what live, local music could be like. You were seeing the development of musicians who you just knew were going to go on to be huge and it felt vital to tell everyone you knew about what you had seen. We did so with an unofficial website (no social media back then!) and writing in handmade and photocopied fanzines. But, in Crashland’s case, the success we predicted never happened. Despite support from Steve Lamacq on the Evening Session, which he still occasionally expresses on his weekly 6Music show, and major US airplay, the band did not trouble the UK charts and, it seemed, their fate was to be forever described as “NME’s next big thing for four seconds in 2000”.

So their return to the Louisiana to launch a vinyl of previously unreleased tracks, coinciding with a flying visit down south, had to be part of my weekend plans. A nostalgia filled and surprisingly emotional experience, it was fantastic to see Alex playing those songs again and to tell drummer Marc Childs how much we loved them. Their songs do not appear to have aged, despite being nearly 30 years old, and given a different tone in an acoustic setting. While the energy might be different, it resonates the same. I hope they don’t leave it another 25 years before we hear from them again.

Gav’s (Gav) story:

Brew got me into Crashland circa 2000, around the time of the release of their debut (and only) studio album to date, Glued. At that time, we were studying for our GCSEs and it was genuinely exciting to be into a band who sounded like they were going to be massive, but were also within touching distance. They would’ve been one of the first band’s I ever saw live. That is, if we had bought advance tickets or turned up early enough to pick up the remaining door tickets, or had we not been 16 and lacking the charm or nous to just blag it. Instead, the four of us young lads had a drink (probably a coke) in the downstairs bar area and then made our way to Pizza Hut whilst chaos ensued upstairs in The Louisiana. I never got to see Crashland and never thought I would.

Fast forward 26 years and there we were once again in the downstairs bar of The Louisiana, this time waiting for a stripped down Crashland to play a matinee show on a Sunday afternoon. They were there to play acoustic versions of their classics, as well as a few off their “The Famous Five Session” EP, recorded in 2001 with producer Richard Jackson and released last week. It’s funny how the world operates at times, isn’t it? Convince me we’re not in a simulation. Better have another Black Gates Nitro Stout to keep me levelled out.

Despite only featuring singer/songwriter Alex Troup and guitarist Nick Fowler, the other two band members were amongst a crowd consisting largely of friends and family, many clearly not born at the time of the band’s initial existence, let alone able to recall on memories. The atmosphere was special, and the emotion in the room before, during, and after the set was palpable. It was an honour to witness, and despite my near miss experience a generation ago, this felt like a fitting way to see this band and hear those songs played live for the very first time.

What happens next for Crashland remains to be seen. Troup has spent much of the last two decades in the US and whilst you would suspect opportunities for a full band reunion to be limited, in this age of the reunion and the demand for this band  who are loved by so many, I wouldn’t bet against it!

“The Famous Five Session EP” is out now on all of the usual streaming platforms and also on limited edition vinyl via Bristol Archive Records

https://bristolarchiverecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-famous-five-session

Gavin Facey/Andrew Strong – 02/02/2026

(Photo credits Andrew Strong, except for the beer tap one)