Cities In Dust may be a new name, but the people behind it bring decades of experience from the scene, having been members of bands such as Black Sheep Squadron, End on End, and Inanition. Guitarist Abe Grosswasser originally started the Los Angeles-based project in 2021 with a different lineup, but after that version of the band fell apart, he slowly rebuilt it through a series of chance encounters around town.
“I met Josh at a park while I was wearing a Judge T-shirt,” Grosswasser recalls. “I met Chuck at a street fair—he was wearing a Despair hoodie. And I met Max at a bike shop while buying a bike for my son.” Once the lineup came together, he says, “things went great… It’s a real pleasure to jam and write music with them.”
Musically, Cities In Dust lean into a darker, metallic hardcore sound rooted in the late ’90s. “I think we have a late ’90s/early 2000s metal hardcore sound,” Grosswasser says. “When I first played these songs for Hector, he said, ‘It sounds like what people our age would be playing,’ which I took as a compliment.” Influences range from Integrity and Turmoil to Disembodied, Crowbar, and 108.
Vocalist Chuck describes the band as “dark, metallic, heavy, with a good mix of straightforward riffs and eclectic songwriting,” while filtering anti-war and anti-authoritarian themes through dystopian imagery. “Each of our songs is an apocalyptic warning condemning the depraved sociopaths holding the reins of the world,” he says.
Cities In Dust recently recorded their debut EP at The Pit with Taylor Young (God’s Hate, Twitching Tongues) and plan to start playing gigs in support of the release. “We’re hoping to get the record out and play,” Grosswasser says. “We have more material and we’re always working on new stuff.”
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Cities In Dust on social media: Instagram
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