Interview: Crescent

Hartlepool psych‑rock outfit Crescent return on 3rd April with Lamentations, a six‑track EP that emerged from a turbulent recording process into their most complete work yet. After early mixes fell short, the band brought in drummer Christian Tunney, whose instinctive playing reshaped the record and gave it new life. A final touch came from Jon Sevink, who mastered the EP on his vintage valve setup, adding the warmth the band had been chasing. The artwork — an oil‑on‑board portrait by Hartlepool artist Michael Crane — roots the project firmly in the band’s hometown.

Sonically, the EP leans into a sixties haze, echoing Shocking Blue, Jefferson Airplane and The Guess Who, all hypnotic riffs, crashing rhythms and wide‑open soundscapes. Milo Gathering Pt. 1 drifts like a desert wander, while Pt. 2 casts you onto choppier seas. Buffalo skips into a sprightlier folk lane, Green Veil radiates big Joplin‑meets‑Cream energy, and Sin Again pulls in those Iron Butterfly‑style guitar and organ flourishes. It all closes with Bells Palsy, a roadhouse‑ready stomp in full Doors mode. And despite the vintage tones running through it, the production carries a crisp, contemporary edge.

Here, we caught up with the band, who perform at Stockton Calling on 4th April, to find out more…

How did Crescent come together as a band?
Crescent started because it sort of had to. Back when we were in college, the rest of the college bands wanted to play Scott Pilgrim songs, while we wanted to play How Many More Times by Zeppelin. Then the typical fallouts over daft band drama happened and the line up moved around. Crescent now consists of Caleb, Millie, Adam and Jake. Jake was the first addition coming in on the bass and he’s the glue now, he’s been with us over two years. Regular small-town buffoonery brought him to us as we had jammed years earlier and had the same guitar teacher, Mark Sandles, way back when… Adam joined us only recently, having met him at uni in Sunderland, and recently going through just about every drummer in the Northeast, we could see that Adam was a fit. The way that we’re working now evokes great confidence in us because we’ve never had this much fun!

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned as a band over the past year?
There’s definitely a few, the learning curve in the music industry is insane. Me (Caleb) and Millie were 16 and 18 when we dipped our toes in and made a start with the pub circuit. Two and a half years later and we have signed label deals, released music, sold merch, booked over 100 gigs, and supported The Futureheads. So you’ve gotta learn to swim. Quick! Overall… strike first and strike hard. Good opportunities have proven hard to come by, but when you get an inkling that there’s one on the way. Seize that mofo. It seems that everyone of importance in the industry is super busy, so we found that you need to get in there as fast as possible and show ‘em you’re the shit.

Which artists or records have inspired you as musicians?
This changes for all of us all the time. And since Lamentations was recorded over a year ago now and written well before. The answers for that and what I would tell you now would be drastically different. But I’ll save that for the next EPs interview. To list a few that shaped the writing stages, I would have to say, The Groundhogs, Jefferson Airplane, Gomez and those first few KOL albums. There’s definitely a mix there, but I think someone who knows those artists well will see exactly where I’m coming from. 

Crescent started as a college project and grew through the pub circuit — how has that long, gig‑heavy apprenticeship shaped the band you are now?
It helped massive amounts! Made us super comfortable on the stage, got our name out there and grew our socials following, made us all round better musicians, gave us a bit of cash, and most importantly showed us what does and doesn’t work. Old men in a pub thirty miles from home, in some Northern village called something like sh****ck-c***shole, will have zero problem with telling you how it is. That eight minute guitar solo too long? No worries Keith and Phil are there to heckle you into an early finish. Not such a bad thing though, really does help sometimes. As for starting in college, we really cut our teeth there, using their selection of four microphones to record, mix and master our first EP that we used to show everyone we weren’t just four stoned teenagers. Eventually, Ed from our label convinced us it was shit and needed redoing. That’s Lamentations. 

What does a typical songwriting session look like for Crescent?
I (Caleb) will usually have lyrics and either a riff or chord progression written. Then I’ll take that to the band folk, and we will sort something out. I try to have a song to go with it so I can put forward what I’m going for, so our influences are usually being played throughout the writing sessions, in a weird way it helps with creativity too because you’re not going to make anything to like its predecessors. Unfortunately, we don’t have any cool, spiritual, hip settings where we transcend to for writing, since we tend to play at my place. But if I’m writing lyrics, I’ll do it when I’m on the go. Having a busy mind helps me splurge out more random metaphors…

Tell us about Lamentations. What are some of the themes that run through it and do they tie in with the title of the EP?
Lamentations ties in directly with the liturgical themes of Sin Again and the rest of the EP works in a way of sorrow. The entire thing is minor or modal so that helps to. The name was dropped by Christian and we knew it worked. One of the harder decisions to make was the name, since it came last. But Lamentations and its themes of yearning and grief works well with what most of the music is putting across. It sounds pretty badass too, I think.

Sonically, how would you describe it?
Psychedelic blues prog garage rock avant-garde chill angular proto the next big thing. Hopefully…..

We have had all sorts of comparisons, some great and some just weird. The same with reviews. Naturally, we get Jefferson Airplane lots with being female fronted and I think that stands pretty well. Mix up some Rory Gallagher type guitar licks in there, bass licks that were written by a guitarist and proper ADHD drums, that’s us. One guy on X ages ago told us one of our tracks sounds like Jefferson doing a cover of The White Stripes in a bathtub at an afterparty. LOL

The EP had a pretty turbulent journey. When did you realise the original recordings weren’t working, and what ultimately pushed you to rethink things in the studio?
To be truthfully honest, we had a big row with our old drummer regarding not charging enough for gigs, followed by him leaving us the day before a gig, a nightmare we know. Thankfully, our old drummer was back from uni and stepped in last minute, this was followed by a talk with Ed, when he expressed that the tracks weren’t moving enough still, even after all the added percussion to try and get it to lift. We then made the decision to bring in Christian Tunney, whom we didn’t know at the time, but he completely changed the game and resurrected the tunes.

Bringing in Christian Tunney and re‑recording the drums was a big shift; how did his playing change the direction of the EP and help the songs finally click?
Christian puts his back into it to say the least; he comes alive behind that kit. He takes the most dangerous ideas and executes them perfectly. It just gave the rhythm section the lift it needed and brought everything else up with it. It’s a miracle it sounds as good as it does with him being recorded last.

The EP artwork is a painted portrait of the band by Michael Crane. How did that collaboration come about and what does it add to the overall project?
We were umming and ah-ing about what the covers should be as we didn’t want it all to be photos (plus Millie was sick of making all the covers). But one night I think Millie was pissed in The Fisherman’s Arms (Hartlepool) and discovered our pal, Mog (Michael) was an oil painter, and she was set on it. We then gave him a call in the morning when we were sober and met in The Fish. He then came out with loads of ideas, colour schemes and references. Two weeks later we met back up, and we traded the painting for pints. We were buzzing with it. The colour scheme and the wild faces were a perfect fit for the album… hippie, happy and trippy!

What’s next for you?
We’ve got a mega year planned! Loads of gigs already booked in like Maraplooza, Stockton Calling, Aleius fest, Fish and Ships fest, and some super exciting ones TBC. After this EP is done, we’re on a promotion madness. Going to be doing everything and more to get the name and our vibes out there. We definitely aren’t done with the music too, expect something coming later in the year. However we’re doing things, it’s always gonna get bigger and better!

Lamentations is released on 3rd April. You can pre-save it here.