Cape Crush Photo credit: Cat Meade
So much of what we learn about life can be attributed to just hanging out on porches with strangers. It often provides a fresh outlook and an objective perspective, as the random counsel of someone momentarily passing through our lives can potentially have a sudden and lasting impact. And that unsolicited advice often sticks with us long after the person has moved on to someone else’s stoop.
Ali Lipman recalls a time when she was visiting Richmond in her early 20s, and the Cape Crush vocalist and guitarist was having a spontaneous conversation about her life’s woes of the moment.
The discussion stuck with her in the years that followed, and helped inspire “Calm & Delivered,” the Massachusetts power-emo band’s fervent new video, which The Big Takeover is premiering today ahead of the single’s streaming release tomorrow. The video was directed and edited by Cait Brown, with cinematography and coloring by Chris Tremblay, and it was filmed in Newbury, not far from the group’s home base.
“‘Calm & Delivered’ is about the pressure to be emotionally regulated when everything around you is overstimulating,” Lipman shares. “It’s inspired by my journey as a parent, which is often too loud, as well as my journey as a woman, where setting boundaries is often interpreted poorly… So it’s really about finding your inner-power as a woman and not being afraid of your rage or frustration.”
And the determination to find and cultivate that strength can be traced to what that new friend told her on that otherwise ordinary night: “She implored me to ‘go crazy sometimes,’” Lipman adds. “To stop waiting in line, to stop toeing the line, to stop being afraid to throw my weight around sometimes.”
That ethos has carried Cape Crush in their first few years as a band, bringing together longtime mainstays of the New England DIY and hardcore scenes (Lipman is treasurer and co-founder of Salem’s new all-ages space Moon Base One), with Lipman joined by guitarist and confidant James Christopher, bassist Jake Letizia, and new drummer recruit Mike O’Toole, who has stepped in for co-founder and compatriot Cody Rico, forever an honorary member who hung up his drumsticks due to health reasons.
With its euphoric and anthemic drive, “Calm & Delivered,” is a swirling propulsion of emo, post-hardcore, and alt-rock, channeling the band’s shared love for The Get Up Kids and Weakerthans with flourishes of that dog. and The Breeders coursing through its sonic energy. It’s also the first single from Cape Crush’s forthcoming debut album, Place Memory, set for release May 1 on Wanna Hear It Records.
“We’re known for our upbeat power-emo songs, with big leads, big harmonies, and big refrains,” Lipman shares. “This song perfectly encapsulates what we do best. There’s plenty of surprises to come on Place Memory, but ‘Calm & Delivered’ is the perfect definition of a Cape Crush anthem.”
The album follows the band’s 2023 declaration-of-arrival EP San Souci, and a pair of 2025 offerings in last summer’s “Blank Wall” and a winter triple-split with Good June and Impossible Dog. Those releases helped the band get nominated for Punk/Hardcore Artist of the Year at the Boston Music Awards, and earned festival gigs from Pouzza Fest in Montreal to The Fest in Florida, playing 15 club and venue shows over the year in the various spaces n’ places in between.
Written by the quartet – Lipman, Christopher, Letizia, and Rico – and recorded and produced by Zach Weeks at God City Studio in Salem, “Calm & Delivered” also features keys and auxiliary percussion by Weeks, with additional keys by Good June’s Walker Bristol. It’s a special one for Cape Crush, as it was the first track arranged by the full band for Place Memory, and since it was first written right around the time of recording San Souci, it has since become a staple of the band’s high-energy live set.
“The best thing about being in Cape Crush is getting to do something creative every week with our closest friends,” Lipman says. “The second best part of being in Cape Crush is the music community we’re part of. Nothing is more motivating and inspiring than being one band in a wave of so many great people and talented musicians.”
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