New Collisions (also known as The New Collisions) is a
new wave pop band from
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
,
, USA.
History
After gaining popularity in the Boston/Cambridge club scene, New Collisions was discovered in 2009 by
Greg Hawkes
Gregory A. Hawkes (born October 22, 1952) is an American musician best known as the keyboardist for the rock band The Cars.
Hawkes, a native of Fulton, Maryland, United States, attended Atholton High School where he played in a band called Teeth ...
of
The Cars
The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek ( rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards), ...
, who had become a fan of the band's live performances.
Hawkes collaborated with the group on their debut EP, ''Invisible Embraces'', produced by
Anthony Resta (
Duran Duran
Duran Duran () are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger ...
,
Blondie,
Collective Soul
Collective Soul is an American rock band originally from Stockbridge, Georgia. Now based in Atlanta, the group consists of lead vocalist Ed Roland, rhythm guitarist Dean Roland, bassist Will Turpin, drummer Johnny Rabb, and lead guitarist Jes ...
), and joined New Collisions onstage at several early shows.
The following year New Collisions released their first LP, ''The Optimist'', produced by
Sean Slade
Sean Slade (born 14 November 1957) is an American record producer, engineer, and mixer. On many of his productions he worked in partnership with Paul Q. Kolderie.
Career
Slade was born in Lansing, Michigan, United States. He graduated from Yal ...
and
Paul Kolderie
Paul Q. Kolderie is an American record producer, engineer, and mixer. He has worked with Pixies, Radiohead, Orangutang, Hole, Dinosaur Jr., Juliana Hatfield, Wax, Warren Zevon, Uncle Tupelo, Throwing Muses, Morphine, the Mighty Mighty Bosston ...
(
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...
,
The Pixies
Pixies is an American alternative rock band formed in 1986, in Boston, Massachusetts. Until 2013, the band consisted of Black Francis (vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim Deal (bass, vocals) and David Lovering ...
,
Hole
A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...
). Matt James of ''PopMatters'' praised the lead single, "Dying Alone," calling it "spunky, spiky, new wave with smart cookie lyrics and a melody big enough to earn its own zip code." ''iTunes'' gave the album a positive review, writing, "With a sense of style and a minimum of irony, the New Collisions pull off the difficult feat of reworking familiar sounds into something fresh and vital."
Between 2009 and 2010, New Collisions went on seven national tours, one of which was as the opening act for
The B-52s
The B-52's, also styled as The B-52s, are an American new wave band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1976. The original lineup consisted of Fred Schneider (vocals, percussion), Kate Pierson (vocals, keyboards, synth bass), Cindy Wilson (vocals, pe ...
. They also provided tour support for
Blondie,
Missing Persons
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown.
A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, de ...
,
Owl City
Owl City is an American electronic music project created in 2007 in Owatonna, Minnesota. It is one of several projects by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Adam Young, who created the project while experimenting with music in his pa ...
,
The Constellations
The Constellations is an American hip hop/rock band formed in Atlanta, GA. They have a psychedelic soul-rock sound.
History
Formed in Atlanta, the band was signed to a 4-album deal with Virgin Records.
Their song “We’re Here To Save The Da ...
,
You Say Party
You Say Party (formerly You Say Party! We Say Die!) is a Canadian four-piece dance-punk new-wave band from Abbotsford, British Columbia, Abbotsford, British Columbia.
Their first album ''Hit the Floor!'' was released in September 2005, and the b ...
,
The Morning Benders
Pop Etc (pronounced "pop et cetera"), formerly known as The Morning Benders, is an indie rock band. They originally formed in Berkeley, California but moved to Brooklyn, New York later in their career.
In 2008, they released their debut album ''T ...
, and performed at
CMJ
CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...
2009 and 2010 and at
SXSW
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...
2010.
During this time, New Collisions was featured in ''New York Magazine'', ''BlackBook Magazine'', ''AOL/Spinner'', ''PopMatters'', ''Magnet'', ''The Big Takeover'', ''The Boston Globe'',
''The Boston Phoenix'', and many national blogs. In 2009, New Collisions was nominated for two
Boston Music Awards
Founded in 1987, the Boston Music Awards are a set of music awards given annually that showcase talent in the Boston, Massachusetts, area.
Past shows have featured such notable talent as Aerosmith, Paula Cole, Esperanza Spalding, Boston, Rubyhor ...
: Best New Act and Best Pop Act. In 2010, ''
The Improper Bostonian
''The Improper Bostonian'' was a glossy lifestyle magazine first published in August 1991 "highlighting the people and places that make Boston a world-class city."
After 28 years, publisher Wendy Semonian Eppich announced that the magazine ceased ...
'' named New Collisions Boston's Best Local Band. "Afterglow," from ''Invisible Embraces'', was licensed for the commercials of a 2010
Charlotte Russe
A charlotte is a type of bread pudding that can be served hot or cold. It is also referred to as an "icebox cake". Bread, sponge cake, crumbs or biscuits/cookies are used to line a mold, which is then filled with a fruit puree or custard. The b ...
national ad campaign.
New Collisions is currently on break while members develop other projects.
Discography
* ''Invisible Embraces'' (EP) (2009)
* ''The Optimist'' (LP) (2010)
* ''Fire in the Neighborhood'' (7") (2011)
External links
Official SiteThe New Collisions at All Music GuideDying Alone, Music Video, at Magnet
References
{{reflist
American new wave musical groups
Musical groups from Massachusetts