“Canada was a whole new experience for me. I hadn’t done any touring outside of the United States… Honestly, I d
— Chris Crush of Permacrush
10 QUESTIONS — Here we go with a cool little interview featuring Chris Crush of the band Permacrush.
Crush and his band have been around a block or two, including spending some years on the Sunset Strip playing all the clubs in Southern California.
Now, as 2025 comes to a close, Permacrush are hitting the road on their biggest National tour to date, which looks to cover more than 8,000 miles.
The band have done some short runs and weekends on the road, but this run will see them playing dozens of shows crisscrossing much of the Eastern sea-board and Midwest sharing the stage with Trixter and Enuff Z’Nuff.
With that… the tour kicks off this week so we’re turning this over to Alison ‘Metal Babe’ Cohen, who caught up with Chris Crush to tell her all about the plans for Permacrush.
METALBABE — From MySpace beginnings to Monsters of Rock radio… Permacrush have been on a wild ride, and they’re not slowing down. After touring with Enuff Z’Nuff in June, the band is gearing up to hit the road again this October, with select dates alongside Enuff Z’Nuff, Trixter and Spread Eagle.
With a brand-new single “Into the Real World,” nearly 100 songs in their catalog, and upcoming iHeartRadio play, Chris Crush is keeping the momentum alive.
I caught up with him to talk about the past, present, and what’s next for Permacrush.
- For anyone not familiar, can you introduce Permacrush? How long have you been around, who’s in the band, and what have you released so far?
Chris Crush: The first Permacrush show was in 2006, so almost 20 years. Our lineup is constantly changing since it’s my project. Currently, I have Brett Baugh on lead guitar, John Mills on bass, and Scott Bishop on drums. I’ve been releasing songs that long as well. We have an extensive discography of almost 100 songs.
2. Let’s start with the great news you just announced about iHeartRadio.
CC: Yes! I’ve got some breaking news! Chip’s Z’Nuff has a show on Monsters of Rock Radio and we arranged to get Permacrush on Monsters of Rock radio on iHeartRadio. Not that we’re a monster or anything. (LAUGHS) They are going to put our song “Dirty Looks” from ‘Six-Foot Models’ on rotation October 7th . The song has Kenny Aronoff on drums, and it’s going to be played along with bands like Buckcherry, Zeppelin, Queen, Guns and Roses…
Photo: Glen LaFerman
3. Congrats on that, and the new single, “Into the Real World.” It has great lyrics. What inspired this track, and what is the message?
CC: Our tour with Enuff Z’Nuff in June made me realize how important it is to interact with people. People are stuck on their phones and get distracted, and it’s difficult to even have a conversation. It is about putting down the phone and getting back to the real world.
4. Sounds good to me! Before we talk about the tour, what do you plan to release next?
CC: Probably an EP. I’ve done better when I just do singles, and then when I have accumulated enough singles, I release a compilation. Hats off to the bands that are still making really cool concept records. Permacrush has kind of been a single band lately.
5. You toured with Enuff Z’Nuff in June and are getting ready to head out with them again. Tell me about the first tour.
CC: Yes, we did some dates in the Northeast, and Canada. It was Enuff Z’Nuff and Band, Inc. Canada was a whole new experience for me. I hadn’t done any touring outside of the United States… Honestly, I didn’t even have a passport until like a year ago. Crossing borders with gear, in a van… That was all fun stuff.
It was like a leap of faith for me. I wasn’t sure my voice would hold up. There were a couple shows where I was struggling, and here I am signing up for more. Fingers crossed that everything is gonna go as well as it did last time. We had a couple hiccups with flat tires and vehicle mishaps. (LAUGHS) It was preparation for what’s about to happen. I think that little run was about 4000 miles, and this one is gonna be 8000.
6. Wow, that’s twice as much! The tour runs from October 8th to November 1st with Enuff Z’Nuff, and select dates with Trixter and Spread Eagle. What can you tell us about this tour and how it came about?
CC: It snowballed since I started playing again a year ago. That show at the Whisky last August was like me getting the rust off. (I took a break from 2019 to 2024 and moved to Oklahoma to start a business.) I first met Chip at The Whisky 2012-ish. Permacrush has opened for Enuff Z’Nuff a couple times throughout the years, and we got along pretty well. Chip said maybe we could tour someday. I wasn’t getting my hopes up, and it only took ten years (LAUGHS) but he finally called. He asked if we’d be interested. I wasn’t about to say no. I got the band back together to do it, and here we are.
7. I’m glad Chip finally called! What are you most looking forward to on this tour?
CC: All of it. I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and I’m meeting new people everywhere I go. Having that experience is just like magic for me. It’s really enjoyable.
8. You are basically going full circle with “The Spirit of 1989” tour, playing with bands you listened to in high school. What can fans expect from your live set this tour?
CC: We are playing the ‘Retrospect’ record, which is like our greatest hits from the past 20 years… Songs we have on YouTube videos and have played at The Whisky. It’s a way to introduce people to the band.
7. Very cool. Have you played with Trixter or Spread Eagle before?
CC: This will be the first time playing with Trixter and Spread Eagle. I saw this tour in Tulsa a year ago, and was happy to see all these bands together. To be on the tour now is surreal.
8. I bet! Tell me more about your artwork. What do you do, what is your inspiration, and how can people purchase it?
CC: I’ve been a visual artist my whole life. I went to art school after high school and realized I wanted to do commercial art and graphic design. I got a ma
9. What’s a fun fact about Permacrush that fans might not know?
CC: We were one of the MySpace bands when we first started out. I released the song “Only Friend,” which was produced by Eric Greedy (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Hurt) and it blew up!
Then Microsoft had a contest where they had bands submit a song to be on their playlist. I submitted “Only Friend” and it ended up being the most played and downloaded song in the contest. It was played over 400,000 times.
I’m thinking if people are paying .99 cents per download on iTunes, maybe I can do that.
I contacted Microsoft and asked about compensation. After a couple months they finally responded and said they can send me a check for six hundred and whatever dollars, but that’s it. There’s never gonna be any more. So 400,000 downloads turned into six hundred bucks. That’s how the music business is these days. I guess most people make their money on their merch.
10. Exactly. Are you going to have merch on this upcoming tour?
CC: We have more merch than I’ve ever had in my entire life. We have a bunch of shirts, CDs, thumb drives of my entire catalog, stickers, and key chains… I hope anyone and everyone can come see the tour and see us live. I hope to see people out there on the road.
Follow Permacrush on their related social media as shared below for updates and official tour dates.
Permacrush @ WebSite – Facebook – Instagram – Youtube – Store – Tik Tok – Band Is In Town –
