Discorder Magazine
The World Of Crack Cloud
“The prerogative of Crack Cloud is to create stories that allow the observer to come to their own conclusions and have them feel like it’s their own eureka moment — not ours”
C
onstantly outwitting preconceived notions fixed to their collective, Crack Cloud gives birth to an incredible, raw, and beautifully imperfect form of expression. Forging universes of seemingly infinite depth, the many minds of the group put their heads and hearts together to produce extraordinary multimedia storytelling. The expansive, sometimes sinister, always cathartic trip Pain Olympics demonstrates how Crack Cloud uses collectivity to produce boundless work. The group's congruent intention of both expressing and healing through their art has an unmistakable air of candor. In past interviews, the band was uniquely fascinating for their candid story of punk music as therapy for addiction. That story has been told inside-out as they toured Europe, and frankly, there is a lot to say in addition to that narrative, such as how they function creatively, as a collective. As endless as their outsider intrigue is, talking with members Zach and Mohammad proved how much more there is to the story. Although they were only 2 voices out of the Crack Cloud mass, they had so much to add to the story. Carefully articulated by Zach, and passionately spouted by Mohammad, the duo filled each other’s gaps, humbly giving insight into this ridiculously cool, wildly capable collective.
Feb-March 2021
Because you’re an amalgamation of so many members — and mediums — let’s start simple: what is Crack Cloud?
M Z
: It’s just a kind of a platform, for us to get together, to conceptualize and come up with grand ideas. It’s the brainchild of Zach a little bit.
: I think it began that way, but at this point certainly it's really just a platform for everyone to get together and translate ideas [...] with the motivation of trying to relate to people on a scale that extends outside of our own community.
It goes without saying, you are a very large collective. How many people actually make-up Crack Cloud? What do you each add to the group?
M Z
: It’s not really a quantifiable number. I think that just kinda loses sight of what makes it a collective in nature. It’s the manifestation of a lot of different hands and people helping out. Some songs incorporate 8 or 7 people, and some who aren’t even in the main touring lineup, so I think it’s just about keeping that freedom and openness.
: It's surreal to think that Crack Cloud kind of formed 5 years ago — a lot changes over time. People have different motivations and this project can become more demanding, or less demanding. It really just comes down to how compatible it is with whoever is around — and whether or not they’re up for the challenge.
M
: I think we catch people in really passionate moments of their lives, and they exude and put all that passion into something and can feel kind of a nice release. I like how malleable it is. at’s the whole concept with this collective — and sometimes people lose sight through quantifying it.
Author: Maya Preshyon Interview: Maya Preshyon and Finn Smith Illustrations: Emma Potter Photos: Erin Flemming Layout: James Spetifore
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“Crack Cloud”
