Crumbsuckers

The album cover for Life of Dreams

The band recorded their debut album Life of Dreams at Systems Two Studios in Brooklyn, New York City, in 1985, which was released through Combat Records the following year. Produced by Norman Dunn, the album contained 16 tracks clocking in at less than 33 minutes. Life of Dreams delivered a collection of 158 punk/metal-style riffs, with metal-style and blues-style guitar solos, frequent time changes and Chris Notaro's gravel-style vocals. Life of Dreams met with very mixed reviews in the music press.

The album's cover artwork was designed and painted by Sean Taggart,[4] a local New York artist who had provided gig flyers for NYHC bands, as well as providing album covers such as Agnostic Front's Cause for Alarm, Carnivore's Carnivore and Retaliation, Prong's Primitive Origins and Whiplash's Power and Pain.

Crumbsuckers recorded videos for three tracks from Life of Dreams "live" at CBGBs in 1986, with only one track, "Trapped," being commercially released. (The other two tracks, "Bullshit Society" and "Return to the Womb," disappeared for many years but have since surfaced on YouTube.) "Trapped" originally featured as the opening song on an underground video compilation of English and North American punk bands called Hardcore, released by Jettisoundz in 1986.[5] The track is now widely available to view on YouTube.[6]

In the spring of 1987, guitarist Dave Wynn left the band and, after a few guitarists came and went, Robbie Koebler stepped in to help record their sophomore album Beast on My Back[1] (the acronym B.O.M.B. being assigned to this release).

The album opens with a gloomy piano passage, played by Lenihan's cousin, Mike Francis. The piece had originally been written on guitar (and performed later as such in the live arena), but offered a surprise to those listeners who had become familiar with Life of Dreams, and differed from other metal/crossover albums of the era. The guitar-driven instrumental tracks "Rejuvenate" and "Initial Shock" were penned by Matt Cardin, a fellow Baldwin native and guitarist, although no credit was actually given on the record sleeve. (Cardin had also contributed ideas to a few tracks that found their way on Life of Dreams.)

The band was nominated as the "Best Hardcore Rock Band" in the 1988 New York Music Awards.[7]

By now, Crumbsuckers were rubbing shoulders with some of their musical peers, including high-profile bands such as Anthrax, Megadeth and Metallica. The shoulder-rubbing also extended to lesser commercially successful artists, such as Agnostic Front, Bad Brains, Cro-Mags and Carnivore. It was during this period that Marc Piovanetti (from Carnivore) joined Crumbsuckers as a full-time guitarist, following the long-standing vacancy left open since the departure of Dave Wynn (and the subsequent entourage of stand-ins).

Following a successful U.S. tour to promote Beast on My Back in 1988, playing with such bands as Sacred Reich and Pantera, Notaro decided this was not for him, citing "musical differences." At that point, the band was already contracted to fulfill a winter tour in Europe (with Onslaught as headliners) in late 1988, but Notaro's replacement for those shows, Joe Haggerty, failed to deliver the vocal performances which had become a trademark of their overall sound.

Within a few weeks of returning home from their European Tour, Haggerty was fired and replaced with a local singer, Craig Allen. New material was written and tightly rehearsed, with a new sound emerging, leading to the band dropping the name Crumbsuckers in favor of a new identity as Heavy Rain.

Heavy Rain rehearsing in May 1989

Heavy Rain offered a more radio-friendly rock sound, with vocals more akin to Queensrÿche's Geoff Tate. Whilst they retained small doses of Crumbsuckers' vigorous guitar solos, most songs were recorded and presented in a much more straight, hard rock feel. These new songs failed to attract any interest or support from record companies who had been approached. Much time and effort was spent recording a considerable number of professional studio demos between 1989 and 1990, although nothing was ever officially released.

Heavy Rain disbanded in late 1990. A combination of contractual arguments and disagreements as to which direction the band should take, coupled with the poor response from potential record company interest led to the project's collapse.

From the ashes of Heavy Rain (and Crumbsuckers), Lenihan began jamming with former (Stormtroopers of Death and M.O.D.) vocalist Billy Milano, under a new project called Rawhead. Meskil and Richardson came on board but, over a period of months, a revolving door of guitarists ensued. Lenihan was dismissed and replaced by another Baldwin guitarist, Al Zaleski. He was later replaced by a third Baldwin fret-wizard, Tom Klimchuck, who would eventually take a sabbatical from the band.

In the late summer of 1991, Meskil came up with a new name for the band, Pro-Pain, and the band gathered at Pyramid Sound Studios, Ithaca, New York to record their debut album, Foul Taste of Freedom. However, further lineup changes took place here, with Milano being sent home (as Meskil decided to take over the vocal duties himself), whilst Lenihan was briefly drafted back in to play lead guitar, only to be ejected for a second time shortly afterwards. A new guitarist, Mike Mays, eventually ended up playing lead guitar on the album tracks. With Klimchuck all the while considered the official Pro-Pain guitarist but still unavailable to tour at that time, the baton was then passed to another new guitarist, Nick St Denis, who helped bring a measure of stability to the line up for the next few years.

Pro-Pain released three albums between 1992 and 1996, touring extensively in Europe and the U.S., but the departure of founding drummer Dan Richardson in 1996 left Meskil as the only original "Crumbsucker" in the band. From there, Pro-Pain added a second guitarist.

In 2006, longtime Pro-Pain guitarist, Tom Klimchuck, played on-stage with Crumbsuckers at their Reunion Show at BB Kings, playing in tandem with original lead guitarist, Chuck Lenihan. In 2015, current Pro-Pain guitarist, Adam Philips, joined Crumbsuckers on stage in the same capacity as Klimchuck did in 2006.

In the summer of 1990, Meskil (inspired by a visit from a devoted English fan, Alex Meissner), put together a Crumbsuckers reunion show with Chris Notaro, being that Meissner had felt somewhat "cheated" seeing Crumbsuckers in the UK in 1988 without Notaro.

Crumbsuckers' first reunion show was held at the Sundance Club in Bayshore, Long Island, on August 24, 1990, with Chris Notaro returning to vocal duties for the first time since his departure in 1988 and featured the same lineup from the tour of that year; Lenihan, Meskil, Notaro, Piovanetti and Richardson. The venue was sold out.

Crumbsuckers, New York City, August 2006

Sixteen years passed until Crumbsuckers reunited once again on August 3, 2006, at B.B.Kings [8] in New York City, to commemorate 20 years since the release of their debut album Life of Dreams.

Once again, Alex Meissner helped initiate the reunion, having rebuilt broken bridges between some of the original band members.[9] The sold-out venue witnessed an appearance by original members Dave Wynn and Dave Brady on the classic track "Hub Run." Around 2000, fans gathered that evening to celebrate the anniversary, including a significant number of old friends of Crumbsuckers from the early days (many of whom had driven or flown considerable distances to attend the show). Everyone considered the evening to be the equivalent to a "big old class reunion," with Dream Theater's then-drummer Mike Portnoy making particular reference to the evening on his personal website.[10]

On December 24, 2014, it was announced that the band would reunite once more, to play the Black N' Blue Bowl (in New York) in May 2015. The lineup of Chris Notaro (vocals), Gary Meskil (bass), Chuck Lenihan (guitar), Adam Phillips (guitar), and Dan Richardson (drums) successfully took to the stage on May 17, 2015.[11]

• Gary Meskill – bass (1982–1989)
• Chuck Lenihan – guitar (1985–1989)
• Danny Richardson – drums (1985–1989)
• Mark Piovanelli – guitar (1988–1989)

• Dave Brady – vocals (1982–1985)
• Kevin "Toast" Carroll – drums (1982–1985)
• Dave Wynn – guitar (1982–1987)
• Chris Notaro – vocals (1985–1988)
• Robbie Koebler – guitar (1987–1988)
• Joe Haggerty – vocals (1988)