Crumb’s Lila Ramani details the band’s exponential growth on Ice Melt

Crumb. // Photo by Third Pupil

Indie-rock group Crumb is currently on tour in support of their second studio album, Ice Melt.

Ahead of their Nov. 1 show at The Granada with support from Duendita, we caught up with frontwoman Lila Ramani to discuss the creation of Ice Melt, independent labels, and being back on the road.

The Pitch: We’ve been following the band since you released your self-titled EP back in 2016. No matter how much you experiment with your sound, the technicality has always been there as musicians. Were you all self-taught or did you take music lessons when you first started playing music?

Lila Ramani: I took piano lessons when I was 5 or 6 years old and that was my first introduction to music. At the time I hated it, but now am grateful for learning to read music at that young age. Later when I was about 11, my mom started teaching me the few songs she knew on the guitar and from there I was hooked and wanted to learn everything about guitar/theory.

I ask because I revisited your live performance at Ulster Performing Arts Center in Kingston, New York from earlier this year, and the syncopation of the rhythm section and different guitar riffs reminded me of how jazz musicians perform. When you’re writing together does it start as more of a jam session or a smaller idea that you build on?

For a lot of the songs on Ice Melt, I made a basic demo of the structure/melody/chords and then we’d start playing and developing it together, and later re-demoed it with the full band. Other songs have come together through just playing in a space together or live on tour. We’re definitely not tied to one way of doing things, and are always trying to spice up the way we create.

Earlier, I mentioned discovering you guys back in 2016. It was thanks to the independent label, Citrus City Records. They’ve done a lot of great things with bands like you and many others. Can you talk about how independent labels helped you cultivate your career over the years? And your decision to start your own label (Crumb Records) as opposed to signing with a bigger label?

Yea! Citrus City helped promote us really early on and booked our first tour which we are really grateful for. Manny’s an amazing curator of lots of eclectic music and has introduced us to so many people that we love through the years. We’ve always self-released our music, the only difference now is that we have an official label and work with a distribution partner. Back in the day we just used TuneCore, Bandcamp, etc.

Ice Melt was created in Los Angeles with producer Johnathon Rado and engineer/mixer Michael Harris. How was it working with them and were there any lessons you took away from the experience after the album was completed?

Yeah! They both brought such good energy to the album-making process. They both complement each other so well and really helped bring our ideas to life.

You’ve been on the road throughout America and next March will be the kickoff of your international tour. How has it been acclimating to touring? And is there a specific show you’re looking forward to?

It’s been really nice to be back on the road for just a few days so far. This is the first time we’ve been able to perform Ice Melt live after months of it existing only on the internet. We’re looking forward to playing a festival in Miami since we’ve never been there before. Our New York shows are also always really special.

Crumb plays the Granada with Duendita on Monday, November 1. Details on that show here.