Crazy & the Brains

Crazy and the Brains is a punk band from Bayonne, New Jersey, now based in Jersey City. It began around 2009 as a duo of singer Christopher Urban and xylophone player Jeff Rubin, playing northern New Jersey house parties and open mic nights at the Sidewalk Cafe in New York City, and the xylophone as a lead instrument stayed with the band as it grew, earning it the tag xylo-punks in early press. The current lineup is Urban on lead vocals, Ernest Young on guitar, Rob Mellinger on bass, Zac Pless on drums and Anya Combs on saxophone; past members include Rubin, bassist Brett Miller and drummer Lawrence Miller. Its catalog runs from a self-titled EP in 2009 through The Yellow EP in 2010, Out in the Weedz in 2011 and a 2012 split with the Disconnects called Are On The Other Side, to the albums Let Me Go in 2013, Good Lord in 2014 and Into the Ugly in 2018. Later releases include the 7-inch Where the Juice Drips in 2020 and Past Futurism in 2024, the 12-inch Forever on Crash Assailant Records, and the cassette The Ugh Mixtape, sold direct through the band's Bandcamp page. Recent singles include the act of acting, favors, a Jesus remix of Candy Yams, and No More featuring Dani Miller. The band has toured with Gogol Bordello, the Bouncing Souls, Days N Daze, Negative Approach, the Slackers and Leftover Crack, and is known for animated, physical live shows. Vice, profiling the band's small and devoted following, likened it to Rancid and the Ramones.

Official site

Subscribe to this calendar

Upcoming shows