Posted on: February 19, 2011 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

New York City-based rock quartet The Cringe has inked a label deal with Rock Ridge Music, who will release the band’s forthcoming fourth album in the fall. Says band lead singer John Cusimano of the signing: “We’ve wanted a label that is going to put the same amount of care and thought into the release of the record as we put into making it. We are all genuinely thrilled to have signed to Rock Ridge, who represent the very best of what the post-digital music business ought to be, and we’ve already begun strategizing with them on launching a successful and, we hope, notable record release.”

Says Rock Ridge Music President Jason Spiewak of the signing: “We’re proud to have added The Cringe to the roster at Rock Ridge! The Cringe put on an incredible live show, and any time you have an opportunity to sign a band that connects so well to their audience you have to go for it. The band are truly hitting their stride creatively and we could not have started our working relationship at a more opportune time.”

The Cringe is currently hard at work on their fourth album, a process which has proven to be the band’s most collaborative, full-band effort to date on the songwriting side of things. Recording is taking place for the first time at Cusimano’s home studio in upstate New York in the woods 200 miles north of Manhattan (previous releases were recorded at commercial studios in New York City). “In addition to allowing us to ice skate on a frozen pond between takes,” says Cusimano, “it’s given us plenty of time to wield an audio scalpel on these new tunes, flesh out and tweak arrangements, and engage in healthy, even heated debate over how to make the songs as rich, rocking and substantive as possible.” Joining the band again in the engineer seat is Steve Hardy (Vertical Horizon, The Upwelling), with the band self-producing the effort.

In the midst of the recording process, The Cringe plans to head down to Austin, TX, during South By Southwest and are confirmed to play several unofficial sets during the course of the music festival. In addition to performing at Rachael Ray’s annual Feedback Party at Stubbs on Saturday, March 19th, the band is also slated to appear at the 12th annual Heart of Texas Rockfest outdoor stage (at 5th and Colorado) and the Music Gorilla Fest. The band plans also to hit the road very soon with dates across the U.S. to field-test the new songs further in front of audiences.

The Cringe has been bringing their music to fans across the country since 2004, and their forthcoming album is the follow-up to last year’s “Play Thing.” The New York City band (lead singer John Cusimano, lead guitarist James Rotondi [ex-Air, Mr. Bungle], bassist Jonny Matias [ex-Crash Moderns] and drummer Shawn Pelton [“Saturday Night Live” Band, Bruce Springsteen]) have been lauded both for their incendiary performances and top-flight musicianship: “Cusimano’s infectious and insightful songwriting is the foundation for the band’s dynamic mix of artful, harmonic power pop and raw, aggressive punk garage-band energy,” said All Music Guide of their music. Electronic Musician calls their sound “smart, poppy rock,” while The Pulse Magazine says the band “blaze[s] forth with a sense of rock that hearkens back to the days when combining genres was fresh and exciting.”

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