Everyone has days where they want to give up. Throw in some mental-health struggles and heavy grief, and that urge to just leave just gets stronger. But long-time Vancouver rockers Econoline Crush have the antidote to that urge with their driving, pulsing, fiery new single, "No Quitter", from their forthcoming album When The Devil Drives.
The two-time JUNO Award nominees have also announced a west coast Canadian tour, kicking off on June 1 at Powell River, BC and ending on June 24 in Vancouver, BC
Full of heavy fuzz, a pounding beat, and a soaring, billowy chorus, "No Quitter" is an electrifying earworm full of lifeforce. It starts out with a dreary downbeat mood:
"You’re wasted, it’s ok
It’s just that kind of day
Spending all my time thinking how I’m going to pay
The bank, the bills, the rent, the pills, alimony, sad story
The walls are closing in on me
And then the attitude shifts dramatically, where the narrator affirms, "Fuck that noise/ You know it’s going to turn around/ Kick it into gear/ Push it ‘till it plays.”"
The song is an ode to David "Ziggy" Sigmund, who played guitar in Econoline Crush from 1997 to 2002, and then rejoined in 2010. He passed away suddenly in March 2022, just as the band’s new album was being mixed, nothing short of a huge personal blow for frontman Trevor Hurst and the music world. Even the album title is an homage to Ziggy (not just to Econoline Crush’s best-selling album and song, 1997’s The Devil You Know).
"'Needs must when the devil drives' is a Shakespeare quote meaning 'Do what’s necessary.' Ziggy used to say that all the time," Trevor recalls. "When you’re in the throes of addiction, you do what you can to get through it."
Trevor has had his own struggles with addiction and mental health throughout his life, and so "No Quitter" acts as both an homage to his late bandmate, and as a reminder to carry on, no matter what.
When The Devil Drives is the latest album from Canadian rock veterans Econoline Crush, formed some 30 years ago by frontman Trevor Hurst, now the sole original member. It’s the band’s first full-length album in more than a decade, and it’s accompanied by a documentary film, Flatlander, about Hurst’s second career as a psychiatric nurse. Produced by one-time Miniatures frontman Ian Alexander Smith (SATE, Cassie DaSilva) and mixed by the legendary Jack Joseph Puig, two of the album’s nine songs feature David "Ziggy" Sigmund. The two songs they wrote together – the empowering industrial-strength rocker “Invincible” and the soaring 90s Brit-pop style “Smashing Optimistic” – are the album’s first two singles, followed by current single “No Quitter.”
Originally based in Vancouver, Econoline Crush formed in 1992 and signed with EMI Music Canada in 1994, debuting that year with the EP Purge. The ground-breaking band, which fused industrial music with rock at a time when keyboards were typically only used in pop music, followed up with the full-length album Affliction in 1996, and then their ultimate breakthrough, platinum-selling album The Devil You Know.
Econoline Crush 2023 Tour Dates:
June
1 - Carlson Community Centre - Powell River, BC
2 - The Queen's - Nanaimo, BC
3 - Upstairs Cabaret - Victoria, BC
8 - Blue Grotto - Kamloops, BC
10 - The Flying Steamshovel - Rossland, BC
11 - Cranbrook Hotel - Cranbrook, BC
13 - Bo's - Red Deer, AB
14 - Dickens Pub - Calgary, AB
15 - The Starlight Room - Edmonton, AB
16 - Party In The Park Festival - Whitecourt, AB
23 - The Waverly Hotel - Cumberland, BC
24 - The Pearl - Vancouver, BC
