What do you do when you spend part of your life in a court of law and other parts of your life performing music? If you’re like members of the band White Collar Crime, you create a band with like-minded individuals and create music to play when you’re not in front of a bench. And the members of the New York City-based band White Collar Crime must truly be enjoying their time together as the band has just celebrated their 30th Anniversary.
Original members of the band, guitarist/vocalist Matt King and drummer Alan Sanders, are joined today by other musicians, the majority of which have a considerable amount of time in the band themselves. David Gelman joined on keys in 1995, bassist Kevin Mackall and vocalist Andrea Urban came aboard in 2011, and guitarist Jon Bendis joined the rest of the group in 2016.
Since forming, White Collar Crime has performed countless amounts of concerts that feature the band’s original songs. In fact, as a band, White Collar Crime has put out several albums of original material, their most recent album being entitled Floor Aisle Room, which was released back in 2012.
Right now, White Collar Crime is in the middle of recording their first album in seven years. The reason for the time between the previous album and the one currently being created is simple: With some of the band members of White Collar Crime being busy in and out of the courtroom, it’s difficult to come together to create new music as a band. But the band members have started creating a new album of material that has been titled 30 Years in the NY Rain. In fact, they have started promoting two tracks ahead of the upcoming album.
The first of two new tracks from White Collar Crime’s 30 Years in the NY Rain release is the song “Dream the Dream”. The guitar-driven song features a strong Rock and Roll vibe that could be described as timeless. The music of the track would fall somewhere within the late seventies and early eighties. The track brings to mind music from the likes of Dire Straits and/or Bruce Springsteen. “Dream the Dream” features lyrics about a relationship that could be a lot more passionate in nature. The song is basically a duet as guitarist/vocalist Matt King and vocalist Andrea Urban take turns singing about their roles in the relationship. While the track contains a light, upbeat musical delivery, the lyrics contain some sadness as the two voices don’t quite see the relationship the same way.
For the second of the two tracks off of White Collar Crime’s future release of 30 Years in the NY Rain, the band delivers the track entitled “To Be Real”. While the previous track features music based around the sound of the guitar, the first few seconds of this track is based around the sound of the piano. Pianist David Gelman lays down fifteen seconds of quiet piano with a laidback feel to it. But after those fifteen seconds, the rest of the band joins in and picks up the pace and the energy level of the music. The piano which had been so prominent at the beginning of the song ends up falling into the background and blends with the rest of the instrumentation. The music of the track feels as if it came from the eighties and it brings to mind the writing style of singer-songwriter Don Henley. The track would fit well alongside Henley’s music, as well as other songs from the eighties. The vocals of the track are once again handled by Matt King with vocalist Andrea Urban adding texture to the background of the track. Between the two tracks reviewed here, “To Be Real” is easily the stronger song.
Both “Dream the Dream” and “To Be Real” from the band White Collar Crime end up being very good songs in their own rights. They also help to pave the way for the rest of the album entitled 30 Years in the NY Rain that will be released by the band soon.
For more information, check out White Collar Crime’s PR firm of Whiplash PR & Management by clicking on the logo for the company.
For a taste of the new music coming White Collar Crime, check out the band’s live version of the track “Dream the Dream”.
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