
The Crystal Casino Band
Maryland House is The Crystal Casino Band’s (TCCB) most complex and varietal album to date. The record is a winding journey with unexpected turns that showcases their love for the DMV (DC/Maryland/Virginia) area throughout a 13- song indie rock-leaning experience. Maryland House, produced by Kyle Downes and Jay Nemeyer (Color Palette) and available everywhere January 27, 2023, showcases the artistic growth The Crystal Casino Band has undergone since the release of their 2021 album, Not About You, and will surprise even TCCB’s most diehard fans.
Starting off with “Curfew,” Maryland House opens with the perspective of someone in the DC area detailing the events at The Capitol on January 6, 2021. By the outro, it calls back Ronald Reagan’s 1984 campaign ads, a motif that will be seen later in the album. “Twenty-something Socialist,” a current mainstay in the band’s live shows, follows and raises the energy as vocalist/guitarist Pete Stevens
sings about the jaded young progressives of America trying to make it in the world while billionaires use their wealth for expensive vanity projects. The grit of "Socialist” continues on the third track “Jamie” while discussing the actions of a flaky friend who never follows through on what they say they’re going to do. Notably, this song features all the band members, singing lead lines during the chorus, hinting at what is to come further on in the album. Maryland House, named for their favorite rest stop along I-95, is the first TCCB record featuring each member on lead vocals as well as a variety of instruments including trumpet, ukulele, mandolin, and harmonica. Fans will hear guitarist Jarrod Hendricks sing about the transient nature of the people who call DC their home and its effect on their relationships with those they are close with romantically on “City That Sleeps.” While on “Half Staff,” bassist Jordan Mullaney decries the injustices of the two Johnson Administrations, yes both Andrew and Lyndon, and inwardly questions how much has changed with our nation’s discontents. Drummer Joey Mamlin channels his inner Ringo Starr for the final track, “Getting Closer,” and reminds the listener to never to be too hard on
themselves and to “not forget [their] inner child.”
Originating in 2015 as a group of friends at The George Washington University, The Crystal Casino Band, originally named The Colonies, began their sonic journey heavily influenced by the likes of The Strokes and The Black Keys. Over the course of their college years and a few lineup changes, the band’s sound transformed to combine their initial influences with the vibes of early 2010s-era indie that littered Tumblr dashboards and increasingly introspective and socially-conscious lyrics. With this turn to introspection and social awareness, the independent quartet grew uncomfortable with their original name’s imperialist connotations and changed it to their current one in 2020. Atwood Magazine has hailed, “The Crystal Casino Band make effervescent, beat and guitar-driven indie rock akin to contemporaries like Young the Giant, Hippo Campus, The Happy Fits, Wallows, and so on,” adding their 2021 album “hits hard and fast, leaving listeners inspired, invigorated, and stunned all at once.” Additionally, Earmilk has said, “The quartet draw from highly political topics with a style that’s reminiscent of The Strokes, yet
infused with an easy-going, DIY artistry that makes the sound completely their own.”
The Crystal Casino Band will celebrate the release of Maryland House with an official hometown album release show on February 9, 2023 at the famous 9:30 Club in Washington, DC.
JOEY MAMLIN
// drums
JARROD HENDRICKS
// guitar
PETE STEVENS, III
// guitar + vocals
JORDAN MULLANEY
// bass