Interview: Hayley and the Crushers
Hayley Cain Talks About Their New Single & Classic SoCal Punk
Hayley and the Crushers call Detroit home these days, but their snarling sound has roots in sunny SoCal.
That’s where Hayley Cain cut her teeth in the early 2000s as a music-obsessed teen in Redondo Beach, California. Local ‘80s hardcore punk legends like Black Flag still loomed large at the time, but Cain was more drawn to bands like X, Sex Pistols, The Clash and Operation Ivy.
“I enjoyed a lot of the locally celebrated ‘iconic’ hardcore bands, but as a sensitive and artistic girl, I never felt super connected to the bro energy or violence that could come out of those shows. I had girlfriends that did connect more with it, or identify more with that fist-throwing vibe, and they were bad asses and very tough and cool. Cooler than me,” Cain told me for the interview below.
“Circle Jerks still make me smile a lot. The humor is spot on. My appreciation for Descendents only becomes richer as I age.”
Those SoCal roots are front and center on Hayley and the Crusher’s excellent new single, “Alleyways.”
Equal parts sparkling pop and snotty punk, this track is a nostalgic nod to the freedom and abandon of those early years playing gigs with her first band Ballroom Burlesque, swaggering drunk down dead end streets, and falling in love in mosh pits.
“Our first gig was at the Redondo Teen Center but we played backyard shows and went to backyard shows a lot! I always played so fast I blacked out from excitement and nervousness! I wish I could go back and have a recording of just one of those nights,” Cain said.
I caught up with Hayley Cain as the band prepares for the release of their new EP, Unsubscribe from the Underground, available in September from Kitten Robot Records.
Hayley Cain Interview
Congrats on the great new single and EP. Can you tell me a little about how this collection came together?
Hayley Cain: Thank you! In 2022 we had just moved across the country from San Luis Obispo, CA to Detroit and had these extra songs burning a hole in our pocket. Our album Modern Adult Kicks came out right as we crash landed in Detroit, an album that allowed us to try every fun trick in the book. It was our first album on Kitten Robot Records in LA, produced by Paul Roessler of The Screamers and 45 Grave. It was a magical experience that allowed us to experiment with that ‘wall of sound’ concept, and play with fancy equipment and new ideas.
In Detroit, a lot of things went wrong immediately. As we tried to figure out our living situation, we had no idea what direction we’d be taking the band. Due to some unexpected turns, we had these new band members, one of whom, our new lead guitarist Ryan DeLiso, had a basement DIY recording studio and practice space. So we tracked some of the new songs there and then went back to LA to record vocals with Paul. The result is something more raw than Modern Adult Kicks, but still very Crushers. It might be a new chapter, it might be a side quest, only time will tell.
The first single, "Unsubscribe," delivers some world class snotty and poppy punk. What was the inspiration for that song?
Hayley Cain: No one thinks we are punk enough. The so-called punk magazines especially. I wanted to write from the perspective of a holier-than-thou scene veteran annoyed to see bands like us doing what we do. It was fun to be mean!
The latest single, "Alleyways," leans a little more in an '80s pop direction, bringing to mind Josie Cotton and The Go-Go's. Who are some of your biggest influences?
Hayley Cain: I grew up on KEarth 101 oldies radio in Hermosa Beach. That was the first ten years of my life living a few blocks from the strand, and that’s also when I discovered my mom’s copy of Beauty and the Beat by The Go-Go’s, along with Elvis Costello and other pop oriented ‘80s melodic music. Sunny California pop music from the ‘60s-’80s was omnipresent at all times, it was just in the air!
My first punk albums that I actually owned were Operation Ivy’s Energy, Sex Pistols’ Nevemind the Bullocks and Los Angeles by X, and then London Calling by The Clash, the latter two given to me by my guitar teacher in San Luis Obispo (my family moved up there briefly). I was into Billy Zoom’s guitar style, which is why I play a sparkly Gretsch today. When I was 16, I moved back to Redondo Beach and went to Redondo Union High School. Shaved my head. I was in an all girl band called Ballroom Burlesque and we pretty much exclusively listened to iconic British punk bands from the ‘70s and ‘80s, often going to Hollywood to see the reunion tours of such bands like The Lurkers, Anti-Nowhere League, Abrasive Wheels.
I loved bands like Agent Orange too, and the whole SoCal surf punk sound. Adolescents, all that Dick Dale sped-up aggressive stuff. Of course, Black Flag and Circle Jerks were a given. You could see the Black Flag bars hop from body to body, a tattoo you are mandated to get when you ‘came of age’ in the South Bay. My first tattoo was X, they always spoke to me more personally.
I grew up in the '80s/'90s South Bay punk scene. My friend likes to joke that when you turned 12 they’d hand you a skateboard and a Black Flag album. I'm curious if that was still true for your generation in the 2000s?
Hayley Cain: Ha! Yeah, absolutely. Twelve seems pretty young, but Gen X started young with everything. I’m a vintage Millennial myself! Black Flag was still huge, godly. I remember the ‘cool dads’ and older guys still skateboarded into their old age. It was already sort of like classic rock to us in the early 2000s. Not in a lame way, just that we hadn’t lived it. Black Flag never belonged to us generationally, but the angst certainly still connected, and still does today. We knew it was part of the heritage and history. Our song ‘Church of Flag’ is about getting your first Black Flag cassette and your world changing instantly.
What are some of your favorite memories growing up playing in punk bands along the SoCal coastline?
Hayley Cain: I only played in one band actually, with my Redondo Union High School girlfriends, and those were backyard shows in Wilmington, Lennox, Lawndale, Hawthorne. Someone’s grandma would be taking a dollar for the keg. An older brother with a gangster attitude running ‘security.’ Police helicopters overhead, borrowed crappy gear, playing outside surrounded by chain link fences, fun mosh pits that kicked up dust. Eating the best Mexican food after and ‘popping a squat’ (peeing) in the alleys laughing. Sometimes the cops would shut it down and that would be exciting/scary.
I'll end the interview with a question about the last track on the new EP—a cover of the Juice Newton classic "Queen of Hearts." What inspired you guys to do a revved up version of that song?
Hayley Cain: That was my husband Reid’s idea (Dr. Cain ESQ, our bass player). He had a crush on Juice Newton, I think. He loved that song as a kid and he thought it would be a fun wildcard cover. We used to play country music together and we both really love the genre, especially the ‘70s stuff. He was supposed to sing the tune but then I went in the booth and tried it, and we ended up using one of my first takes. Reid really loves rowdy gang vocals so we took it over the edge and made it into a party song. Would it be a Crushers release without confusing at least a few reviewers? ; )
The third volume of our semi-annual music journal features some of today's best music writers and the most talented modern musicians:
Carl Cafarelli on Ramones
Jordan Oakes in Conversation with Paul Collins (The Nerves/The Beat)
Rich Tupica on Big Star's Radio City
Mary E. Donnelly in Conversation with Stina Tweeddale (Honeyblood)
Blue Broderick on The Apples in Stereo
Kevin Alexander on The Yellow Melodies
Dan Epstein on Redd Kross
Jim Ruland on The Last
James Harding on New Zealand Guitar Pop
S.W. Lauden on Weezer