THE CRINGE CATCHES FIRE
    AT HOT AC RADIO!
     * * *
Popular NYC Alt Rock Band's First Single “Burn,”
    From Indie debut CD Scratch The Surface,
    Receiving Airplay on 50 Stations Nationwide

The back cover photo of Scratch The Surface , the recently released indie debut CD by popular New York based alternative rock band The Cringe ( www.thecringeband.com ), shows figurine astronauts watching the fiery launch of a rocket. The image is a perfect metaphor for the band's explosive and aggressive, post-grunge alt-rock music and its meteoric rise in the HOT AC format. The Cringe's first single, the mid-tempo rocker “Burn,” is currently receiving upwards of 40 spins a week at four Radio & Records' ranked stations, and is being played at 50 others throughout the country, from Eureka, California to New London, Connecticut.
            Last year, The Cringe—which, remarkably, only did its first official gig a year and a half ago—did a set between Joss Stone and The Doors of the 21st Century at Sunfest in Palm Beach, Florida, and the band are regulars on the downtown NYC club circuit, including legendary CBGB's, considered to be the birth place of punk rock three decades ago (The Ramones, Television, Talking Heads, Blondie and the Police among others all launched their careers there).  In between the radio airplay and club shows, The Cringe have even managed to have their songs featured on several MTV specials including "Lindsay Lohan's Celebrity Spring Break Style." 
            Written by The Cringe founder, lead singer and rhythm guitarist John Cusimano, “Burn” is inspired by his relationship with fiancée Rachael Ray, well-known by aficionados of cable's The Food Network for hosting 30-minute Meals, $40 a Day, and the new, celebrity oriented show Inside Dish.
Cusimano, a veteran of numerous New York based rock bands, hooked up with lead guitarist and Harvard graduate Rob Levin when both were working day jobs for the same film distribution company. “Rob hadn't played his guitar regularly in a few years and he liked a bunch of tunes I had written, while I liked the style and flourishes he showed me,” he says. “Once we decided to launch the band, we put an ad in the Village Voice for a bass player and drummer, and (bassist) Matt Powers just blew us away.
            “Matt's a wild man when it comes to performing and creating,” Cusimano adds, “and he initially reminded me of Tim Robbins' character in Bull Durham, with all this somewhat unfocused but powerful, raw energy. Matt's idol is (jazz fusion legend) Jaco Pastorius, which makes him open to trying unconventional things. Matt plays with such intensity that on two separate occasions in the middle of a gig he broke the E string on his bass – which is the equivalent of breaking a big fat piano string with your fingers.  Without missing a beat, he reconfigured his fingering for the three remaining strings and pressed on as if nothing happened.  The gigs were actually better for it!”
            The band's blend of artful, harmonic power-pop and raw and aggressive punk garage band energy needed nothing less than a brilliant drummer, and The Cringe is anchored by veteran rock skinmaster Shawn Pelton, a first call session cat who has toured with Pavarotti, Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen and Rod Stewart. Pelton has also been the house drummer for Saturday Night Live for the past 12 years.
  “We met Shawn through our engineer, Steve Hardy, and initially hired him to track the album with us. When he later agreed to start playing live with us we were ecstatic. He believes in what we're doing, and enjoys fitting us in between his bigger names.”
            Great musicianship is merely the foundation of what makes The Cringe the current decade's answer to Foo Fighters; Cusimano's infectious and insightful songwriting is the other key ingredient to the band's growing success. The singer's firm belief in his songs led him to release Scratch The Surface on vinyl as well as the typical CD format.
            “From the time I heard my first Beatles album through all the punk and then grunge bands which have inspired me, I've always been a big believer that a great album is song driven,” he says. “If you have a strong set of songs, people will buy the album. That's one of the reasons why I love vinyl. You've got to listen to the whole thing through, so every tune has to be good.”
            Continuing his discussion of the thirteen tracks on Scratch The Surface—which include an instrumental interlude performed entirely by Cusimano called “Song 13” —he adds, “My lyrics are somewhat impressionistic. Their main focus is about how life is kind of fleeting, and how we're always trying to figure out what it all means. The first track ‘Another Day,' has verses which go through the seasons of the year. It's kind of pessimistic and brooding, and the lyrics throughout the album have a dark tinge about them. But I'm not complaining about life. It's more about looking at the world, the situations I've been in, the people I've met, and reporting back what I've witnessed and experienced.”
            Like all great songwriters, Cusimano hopes that fans of The Cringe will connect emotionally to the unique experiences he chronicles in his lyrics as they dig in heartily to the edgy, pulsating vibes of the music. “Music to me has always been more than just a diversion,” he says. “In fact, I'm not afraid to say that without it, I probably wouldn't have made it this far in my life. The music we listen to is a huge part of our lives, the way we remember certain moments, both positive and negative. I want people to come to our shows and dig what we're doing. Hopefully, even if the music is often dark, somehow we'll make them leave happier than they were when they came in.”