The Children’s Crusade is an industrial/EBM band from Chicago, Illinois. We (Academy Order) played with them at The Liar’s Club on a recent tour, and I was impressed immediately.
It is very rare a band takes me to a time and place with such force, but there I was; transported to Chicago in the '80s watching Twitch-era Ministry. I’ve gotten the please of listening to the new record, Black, Bruised & Broken Down, and fans of Wax Trax Records’ heyday will be remiss to ignore. At a time where so much electronic music tends pop, The Children’s Crusade is a fetid oasis and mile marker of what is hopefully a burgeoning revival of electro punk’s finest hours.
I sat down with The Children's Crusade vocalist Jason Schmal to find out more about the band, new record and local scene in Chicago.
Introduce yourself.
My name is Jason Schmal and I am the singer and one of the guitar players for The Children's Crusade in live settings, and in recording settings I do everything in the band from writing, producing, performing all parts, programming, and mixing. The Children's Crusade is a full band live and a solo project when recording.
How long has The Children’s Crusade been active, and how did you all come together?
The Children's Crusade started in 2022 on my own and then the live band formed in 2023. It was a spur of the moment kind of thing, I was asked to play a show but had no one to play with so I asked a fellow classmate of mine at Columbia College Chicago to play synths (Oscar Peck-Dorr) and another classmate (Max Hatlem) to play guitar.
We were inactive for a few months after that first show but came back later that year and stayed consistent since then. Max left the band in good standing in May of 2024 and we found Danny Schwartz to play bass and synth bass that same month. We found him on r/chicagomusicscene.
We had a rotating cast of guitar players for a few months until we found a consistent guitar player in October on Instagram, Cassie Tarakajian. The current lineup is Me, Oscar, Danny, and Cassie and it has been great and I am so grateful to have found them and call them some of my best friends.
What do you find noteworthy of being a band from Chicago?
We love our city and being a part of the local goth scene. What I find noteworthy about being a part of the scene here is that we get to share the stage consistently with so many incredible bands on the regular who also are our friends. We are lucky to be in a place where the scene is so active and supportive and that there's always something happening which I suppose could be a double edged sword when it comes to scheduling.
What are the band's prime musical influences?
My biggest influence by far has to be Ministry, they are the band that got me into the kind of music that we play and I have an even deeper love for them since they are also a Chicago band. Outside of that Skinny Puppy, Depeche Mode and basically any thing from Wax Trax! come to mind but possibly a more surprising influence of ours is Dead or Alive.
Without DoA we wouldn't be around, it introduced me to HI-NRG which then introduced me to EBM which then introduced me to Ministry. I actually wanted to make New Wave/HI-NRG originally. When it comes to modern influences bands like Patriarchy, Normal Bias, Kontravoid, Choke Chain and Nuovo Testamento are my favorites and bands I look to for inspiration.
Tell us about the subject matter for the new record.
The subject matter of Black, Bruised, & Broken Down is the story of someone losing a part of themselves and becoming something they can't recognize or comprehend. It's a concept album intended to be listened to straight through.
Are you working with a label for the new record?
We are releasing this completely on our own. We are printing off cassette tapes through Chicago’s Rat’s Pizza Records, but other than that it is completely funded and operated by myself.
What are some bands from your area you’d recommend?
Bands I would recommend from Chicago right now are AAAYYYAAA and Morbid Circle who we are actually playing our album release show with on August 22nd at Graveface Chicago along with Scary Lady Sarah.
Besides that, I would recommend our good friends Grave Love, Iron Years, Fantasma Negra, Melter, Unvirgin Mary, Ghost Days, and Miss Misery along with X and Stacy which are two other projects I play in.
Any touring plans on deck?
Currently no touring plans are in place but we would love to in the future. We are working on setting up a four day weekend run through the Midwest in September though. We are working on booking more out of state shows to broaden our audience and reach in our region.
Anything else we should cover before closing this out?
I'm very proud of all the work I've done on this album and very grateful for all the people who have helped me and supported me through this process specifically Rafa and Benny from Iron Years, The Chicago Gothic Scene Instagram page, Alejandro from Grave Love, Scary Lady Sarah, Philly Peroxide, Alec and Alice from Miss Misery, everyone who is in and has been in The Children's Crusade, and most importantly my girlfriend Yasmine who is also my partner in X and Stacy.
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The Children's Crusade on social media: Instagram
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