The Crackdown profile picture

The Crackdown

On Our Own

About Me

Formed in March 2004 by Ben Rodecker on rythm-guitar & vocals, Darwin Baker on bass & vocals, Stevey-Handsom on the drums, Scott Robson handling the lead-vocal duties, and Danny-Ransom on lead guitar, The Crackdown is a 77' influenced street-rock 'n' roll band from the heart of Canada - Winnipeg, MB. Coming from Winnipeg is both a blessing and a curse explains Danny; "On one hand there's a ton of great bands from Canada .... On the other hand it sucks because it's a gigantic geographic country, you can drive 18 hours in either direction of Winnipeg before you hit another major city." But the upside is that the Canadian punkrock scene, although small, is thriving with great bands, both past and present. "I listen to a lot of Canadian punk," adds Ben, "Mostly old stuff like Teenage Head, The Forgotten Rebels, The Viletones, Pointed Sticks, D.O.A. Lately we've got some great bands too .... The Tranzmitors, The Wednesday Night Heroes, Knucklehead, The Fallout, & The Farrell Bros. All of those bands are top notch!"

Although the band is relativly young, the members have been playing music together for over 10 years, and combined have shared the stage with such notable acts as; The Casualties, Death By Stereo, Mad Caddies, The Horrorpops, Left Alone and the Satanic Surfers. "We actually all, except Steve, went to highschool together" says Danny, "which is either cool or pathetic when you consider we're all in our mid-20s and haven't found anybody cool enough to start a band with outside of ourselves." Orignally when the band formed they went through a revolving door of drummers until Stevey-Handsom was recruited permantly in the summer of 2006 after being the on-again-off-again fill-in drummer.

Musically, The Crackdown attributes their influences anywhere from the early sounds of The Clash to Rose Tatto. "(Basically, we're) 5 pissed off, broke as hell, shitty job working guys getting together, drinking a lot, and then playing '77ish rock and roll with a bit of a modern twist to it all." says Dan. And although the band isn't too concerned with their genre or which specific facet of punkrock they fall in, Ben explains that - "... we don't really aim for anything other than for each song to kick more ass than the last."
The new album Broken Guitars & Trashy Bars, is a 12-song split CD/vinyl with Germany's Hiroshima Mon Mour. "Each band has 6 Tracks on it..." says Ben "... (I think) you can defiantly hear a maturity in our sound compared to the last release ... and the Hiroshima tracks just plain rule." The album is the second release for the band, their first being a 6 song EP entitled Rebel Radio - released in 2004 independantly by the band. Now working with New York-based Long Shot Records the match-up has brought the band to a new level explains Ben; "Mike has a real great reputation with Canadian bands. He was the first label we contacted and he seemed really interested in the whole thing so we just went with it."


Gearing up for the release of BG&TB, The Crackdown are currently prepairing for what else? World Domination. "Of course," adds Danny; "We pretty much figure we're on the road, to opening for U2 and doing multiple nights at arenas worldwide."
Videos of The Crackdown
"Death & Dishonesty" - Live Clip from Tribute to Devin Mitchell
"Rebel Radio" - Music Video
Merchandise

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 10/20/2004
Band Website: thecrackdown.net
Band Members: Ben - Guitar & Vocals
Scotty - Vocals
Danny Ransom - Guitar & Vocals
James - Bass
Steve - Drums

Influences:

Sounds Like: Rock n' Roll
Record Label:
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

U.S. BOMBS, FAR FROM FINISHED, THE CRACKDOWN FEB. 11

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Posted by The Crackdown on Fri, 11 Jan 2008 09:53:00 PST

Tickets available for the 5th Annual Joe Strummer Tribute Show

Tickets for the show are now available at all the locations listed below. If you're planing on coming this year it would be a great idea to buy your tickets in advance since this show has sold out eve...
Posted by The Crackdown on Thu, 10 Jan 2008 01:58:00 PST

R.I.P. Devin Mitchell

This afternoon we received some very sad news. Our good friend Devin Mitchell passed away early this morning, as the result of a snowmobiling accident. Devin played drums full time in The Barrymores f...
Posted by The Crackdown on Sun, 04 Mar 2007 01:06:00 PST

Review From The Joe Strummer Tribute Show!!

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS 4th Annual Tribute To Joe Strummer And The Clash February 15, 2007 Ryan Marques It's 10:58 on Saturday morning, and as I slowly rise from my bed it comes to my attention that...
Posted by The Crackdown on Fri, 02 Mar 2007 05:58:00 PST

The Crackdown photos!

Hey everyone, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who came out to our show on Friday.  I think it's safe to say that we had a great time and hope you had one too.  We noticed a few of yo...
Posted by The Crackdown on Sun, 30 Apr 2006 12:19:00 PST

New Release Coming Soon.....

I Know it's been a while since we released anything but we're getting there. We have some new stuff being mastered now and it's gonna be out in the coming months on Longshot Music!
Posted by The Crackdown on Thu, 13 Apr 2006 02:27:00 PST

CRACKDOWN MERCH FOR SALE!!!!!!!!!

------------------------CRACKDOWN MERCH---------------------------  You can now order our merch online. All prices include shipping in North America!!!! T- Shirts $14 U.S.- $16 Canadian "Band...
Posted by The Crackdown on Wed, 05 Oct 2005 07:04:00 PST

"Rebel Radio" Music video

Until I figure out how to put this on the site go here to check it out! High speed http://sylvanmb.brinkster.net/rebelradiolarge.mpg Low speed http://sylvanmb.brinkster.net/rebelradiolarge.wmv
Posted by The Crackdown on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST