Cruzh, formed in part, by the ashes of the Swedish glam rock band TrashQueen, stayed under the radar for a time, releasing one successful single after another in a shroud of unidentifiable human images, until they decided to reveal the all the members in the Fall of 2013 with the release of “Hard to Get”. In 2015, they signed with Frontiers Music to record their debut album which includes the previously released “In A Blink Of An Eye”, “Stay” and “Hard To Get”. This three year in the making album defines the term “poppy melodic rock”! Influenced by such 80’s and 90’s superstars as Def Leppard, Toto, FM, Winger, Danger, Danger, Firehouse and Bryan Adams, Cruzh’s debut album is filled with plenty of power pop and melodic schlock. ‘We all share the love for Melodic Rock,’ ‘but in the meantime we all have very different musical background and inspirations. This shows in our songs’. ‘When we started out, almost immediately I felt this synergy in the band,’ adds Tony, ‘and despite our musical backgrounds and differences, we all head in the same direction.’ ‘When a piece of music is coming to me and I am developing someone else’s work, I am filled with some sort of emotion that I want to convey,’ concludes guitarist Anton Joensson, ‘it’s easy to do this in a natural way with CRUZH because I could not feel more at home with our band and the music we create. This is also true with Tony and Dennis. This is who we are! Find out more about the album. Here's their singer/keyboardist: TONY ANDERSSON

How has the reaction to your CD been so far?

Mainly fantastic and overwhelming!

Kindly tell us about the writing process and what you're trying to capture with the album.

We all share the lyrics and music composition, but the process is very different for each and every song. Still, there's always full involvement from every member of the band. And since we share a common opinion of what is good or great (sometimes even magic), it's easy to use this synergy to cover all the angles and complete every composition with full satisfaction. At last we thoroughly add every tasteful detail we can find, to boost the song even further.

Do tell us something about "Aim For The Head". The rather aggressive title? (Aim for the head 'cuz she ain't got a heart?)

Haha, then you should've heard the original lyrics (!) They were much more gruesome. - "Aim For The Head" is the story of a guy and his tragic acquaintance with a she-devil.

What kind of 'sound', production wise, did you have in the back of your mind prior to recording? (the 80's?)

We didn't have any specific references. Naturally, the choires are inspired by the great Mutt Lange. But otherwise, we mainly wanted to preserve our own sound from the EP's, and improve it to the max.

What kind of input did Eric Wiss (producer) have during the recording process?

Well, he did just that: He interpreted and completely synchronized with the band, improved us to the max (and beyond), without compromising "our" original sound. He just enhanced it, like a 4:th member of Cruzh would do.

(On the record) How important is the guitar sound in comparison to keyboards?

Dynamics is the keyword here. You have to let all the instruments have their moments in order to keep the record interesting. But to answer your question, my goal would be a total of 50/50 between the guitars and keys. Where (for example) one track requires 80/20 on the guitar and another is 60/40 on the keys etc.

What's the secret behind a good production and sound?

You should really ask this question to the wizzard himself (Eric). - Personally, I prefer a producer with great EQ-skills and a passion for music. Who really listens to the music, and then knows how to make it sound as amazing as it possibly can! (Experienced at Wiss Music Production 2016)

What's the difference between AOR and Power-Pop in your opinion (your music is rather poppy at times?)

Given that the AOR-spectra is extremely wide, it basicly includes the Power-pop genre (in my opinion). We kind of used this fact (exploring the various edges of AOR) to make the album as broad as possible.

Do you pay attention to what fans/friends expect from Cruzh and your music?

Of course we do! They are our main source of fuel, who constantly raises the bar, pushing us further and ultimatly makes us a better band.

Who are your influences and heroes? (music-wise)

- "Iron Maiden" was my favorite band growing up, later on I swiched to "Pantera" and then "KORN" showed up with their killer debut!- But I altso listned a lot to "Counting Crows", "Alice in Chains" & "King's X" to mention some of my influences... - At present time I've got "Flying Colors" debut album playing on repeat at home ;)

If there's anything you'd like to add, say, please do

We sincerely want to thank all of our fans, both old ones and new... ...And to future fans: Welcome - To the New Wave of Melodic Rock!

Photos provided by the band
Band website: www.facebook.com/cruzhofficial/

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