Review Fix Exclusive: Crashing Atlus’ Doug Chi-Town Talks New EP And More

Review Fix chats with Doug Chi-Town, who discusses the band’s creative process, goals and upcoming EP.

Review Fix: How’d you get involved in music?

Doug Chi-Town: We all have our separate stories, but for the most part we all got involved because music is one of those things that you fall into at a young age and it never lets you go. We all learned music in different ways but we were all grabbed by it in the same fashion.

Review Fix: Who influences your sound the most?

Doug Chi-Town: We have a wide range that we all listen to, but our two favorites that everyone can agree on in the band are Paramore & Palisades. The new Palisades record has such a diverse sound that we pride ourselves on making as well.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Doug Chi-Town: Usually its Shelby and I writing the bones of the song on acoustic guitar before bringing it to our “Wizard” Felix to add amazing guitar lines and synth parts. Blosk helps by tying in our ideas with little nuances that make the song pop.

Review Fix: What makes your new EP/Album/Single special?

Doug Chi-Town: Our EP Ascend (that will be released September 22nd) has a tone that can be related to by all. We set out to write about being in a place that you didn’t want to be and finding that utopian place that makes you who you are. The title track Ascend makes you feel like you can pull yourself out of anything whether that be a bad relationship, drug use, or depression.

Review Fix: How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard you before?

Chi-Town: We tell people its Electronic Hard Pop. There is an aggression of guitars, synth and drums along with Shelby’s sweet pop voice.

Review Fix: Bottom line, why should someone buy it?

Chi-Town: It’s a fresh new sound that everyone can still relate to and it fills a void in the landscape of the industry. We all have such diverse influences that it brings a new sound to the forefront. Shelby loves pop and old rock n roll, I am the hard driving sound of the band who loves 2000’s modern rock, Felix dives into country and blues, and Blosk is a trained Jazz Drummer.

Review Fix: What are your goals for the rest of the year?

Chi-Town: Just to play as many shows as possible. We are going on tour with Austin Winkler (Former Lead Singer of Hinder) in October. Our EP ASCEND will be released September 22nd.

Review Fix: What do you feel you have to do to make your dreams in music come true?

Chi-Town: It’s really simple for us. We have to play as many shows as we can. We want to be known as the band on the road that brings it every night. We also have to continue to make great music consistently.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Chi-Town: Immediately its releasing the music video for our lead single “SAVAGES” in July! Gearing up for our tour as well as writing new music for the next release!

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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