Strange things are liable to happen on the road, whether they're borne from highway hypnosis or the innate eccentricities of musicians, rock bands know how to make memories at every stop along the way.
The Cringe are the first to admit they've been extremely fortunate in recent years to go out in support of some of rock and roll's greatest artists. Even The Godfather of Shock Rock, Alice Cooper, took them out on tour.
That's when Cooper took a shine to Cringe bassist Jonny Blaze, the band tells Q104.3 New York's Out of the Box with Jonathan Clarke.
"We're in Baltimore and we all kind of went our separate ways and we're looking for something to do or something to eat," front man John Cusimano recalled on behalf of Blaze. "Jonny's walking on the streets of Baltimore and Alice Cooper ... pulls over, window goes down — it's Alice and his wife and he goes, 'Blaze get in we're going to a movie, I'm buying the popcorn!' So he kidnapped our bass player for the night."
Blaze admits Cooper didn't have to insist. And while he didn't care for the movie, he was more than happy to hang out with a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer for the night.
After a few years of heavy touring, the NYC-based band came away with plenty of stories to put into its latest album, Everywhere You've Never Been.
While the new album is not about the road, Cusimano says that after writing the new batch of songs, he realized that each unfolded like a vignette from a specific time and place.
"Every song represents a different city or country we've been to," he says. "I didn't have this in mind when I started writing the songs for the album, but then once all the songs came together I noticed that every song reminded me of a city that I had been to."
For example, the first single from Everywhere You've Never Been is a song with a sentiment to which lots of city-dwellers can relate.
"Our lead single is 'I Can't Take It No More,' which is based on living in New York City, which is my hometown," he explains. "That's sort of what every New Yorker feels, like, every morning when they're trying to get to work and the subway is broken down — I can't take it no more."
Watch the full interview in the player above or here.
Get all The Cringe's tour dates here.
1 of 2 2 of 2
Here's the official video for "I Can't Take It No More":