“Breaking the Glass” by Alex Adamczyk

Crystal Castles, an electronic-punk duo from Toronto, broke up the other week just as one would expect them to. Alice Glass, the band’s overtly aggressive front-woman left a simple message on Facebook noting that her art and self-expression was “[no longer] possible within CC.” For many, this confused. While long-time fans have witnessed the evolution of the band throughout their three albums (called I, II, and III), anyone who witnessed Glass’ crazed antics live could tell that Crystal Castles is still the evolution of punk.

In 2003, Glass lived in Toronto with her punk band Fetus Fatale while Ethan Kath, the band’s second member, played with Kill Cheerleader, another Toronto punk group. The two met accidentally and started recording soon after, but by adding electronic elements, circuit bending, and repetitive drum loops, their music evolved. One of the band’s first singles, “Alice Practice”, at first sounds like typical abrasive video-game electronica, but Glass’ screaming and Kath’s key work make the listener wonder: what genre have these two created? Rather than following the traditional punk routes that their previous bands followed, Crystal Castles actually experimented and moved beyond their anarchist squatting communities and small rock shows. Their early shows contained all the elements that one would expect from a small Toronto punk band, but as the duo garnered more and more fame, they retained the same “values” that defined them from the beginning. Transitioning into their second album II, Crystal Castles had travelled the world, disrupted the 2008 Glastonbury Festival, and beaten numerous fans at various shows. Yet, throughout this entire process, Crystal Castles remained almost entirely secret. The duo resisted interviews and no one knew their true names. This intentional reclusiveness enabled the band to naturally evolve their sound, another element that is lacking in the “traditional punk” scene. While some may argue that today’s punk is modern and evolving, it is all essentially the same. I am a punk fan, but Crystal Castles’ ability to innovate while retaining their defining elements enabled them to transcend the Toronto punk circles they were previously associated with. II incorporated shoegaze and refined electronic synths while still retaining the punch and raw energy that the band introduced on I. For fans around the world, the Crystal Castles live show will be missed the most. Like the band’s music, Crystal Castle’s live show evolved with their music, even as venue size and publicity increased. When I saw Crystal Castles in May of 2013, it was clear that the band had moved beyond the Canadian basement shows they used to play. As Ethan Kath triggered the drones on III’s opening track “Plague”, Alice Glass stumbled across the stage, bathed in red light. As she rose to the microphone, the crowd followed suit. Glass was the ringleader, commanding the audience every step of the way. As she climbed over the crowd, screamed into her microphone, and sprayed the equally aggressive crowd with her whiskey she made it clear that Crystal Castles was something more than “punk.” The band is no more, and yes, my prediction was wrong. Crystal Castles were the evolution of punk for the past few years, but now it is time to move on.