Despite major equipment damage from a recent van collision, Kansas band The Appleseed Cast has continued to tour and will play at the Spanish Moon on Saturday.
Vocalist and guitarist Christopher Crisci said the band is currently touring for their 2013 album “Illumination Ritual,” released by Graveface Records.
The tour was hindered in May due to a van crash, which cost approximately $8,000 in damages. The band created a relief fund afterwards to recoup the costs of the crash, and those who donated could receive a new copy of “Illumination Ritual.”
Because the fundraiser went well, Crisci said they “were able to replace most of what we lost” and that they “were eternally grateful to everyone that helped us through what we call the Month Of Disaster.”
What The Appleseed Cast brings to its live shows as compared to in the studio is a louder and “more raw” sound.
Crisci said the band, which has been active for 16 years, played in Baton Rouge about 15 years ago in a “small punk rock DIY space,” but the band at the time was going through an internal struggle.
The Kansas four-piece, which is often labeled as a mix of post-rock and indie emo, sounds very similar to bands like Explosions In The Sky and Sunny Day Real Estate.
But Crisci was at a loss of words when he had to describe the band’s sound to someone who had never heard of them. He described the band’s major influences as “eclectic.”
“It’s hard for me to put a finger on whose sounds have seeped into our songs the most,” he said.
But if he had to choose, Crisci said Mercury Rev would be their biggest influence.
When deciding on the name of the band, Crisci said The Appleseed Cast was picked out of a list of “strong of names we had been throwing around” and “when time ran out and we had to put something on the artwork.”
Throughout the years, the band has been through many members, totaling 11 former members who have quit the band. The Appleseed Cast received critical acclaim — mostly from music blog Pitchfork — for the albums Low Level Owl Volumes One and Two.
The Life and Times and Muscle Worship will be opening for The Appleseed Cast. The doors will be open at 9 p.m., and the tickets will be $10 in advance and $12 at the door.