Photo by John Simek
The Clean Crime Scene
The Clean Crime Scene lives at the intersection of sweat-soaked garage rock and kaleidoscopic psychedelia. Built on distorted guitars, hook-filled melodies, and a fondness for vintage tones, the band's songs drift between gritty basement-rock swagger and cinematic dreamscapes. Echoes of classic rock, psych-pop, and power pop emerge throughout the record, but rather than chasing nostalgia, the project reshapes those influences into something personal, intimate, and contemporary.
An American recording project founded by John Simek (Sparks Fly from a Kiss, The Venus Explosion). Simek reunited with longtime friends Jay Wilder (Contraption, The Venus Explosion), Ralph Nicastro (San Tropez, wreaths, Sparks Fly from a Kiss), and Colin Carhart (wreaths) to record the project's initial tracks during a family vacation in his childhood stomping grounds along the Jersey Shore. After establishing the foundation of the album, Simek returned home to Richmond, Virginia, where the project quickly evolved. His wife, Diana Simek, contributed vocals from their home studio, while fellow Richmond musician and conductor Will Pattie (The Fossil Collection) added additional instrumentation and sonic textures. This recording process became a tradition over the next two summers: rhythm tracks were captured live in a basement in Asbury Park, New Jersey, then brought back to Richmond for overdubs, songwriting, editing, and production.
The Clean Crime Scene creates music that feels both familiar and unpredictable. Fuzzed-out guitars, driving rhythms, layered harmonies, and dreamlike vocal melodies are balanced with a strong appreciation for classic songwriting. Influences ranging from British Invasion rock and late-60s psychedelia to 70s album-oriented rock can be heard throughout the recordings. The result is a sound that is equally comfortable delivering riff-heavy rockers, hazy psych-pop excursions, and bittersweet melodic ballads, all filtered through a distinctly modern independent spirit.
The recordings were brought to Richmond's Spacebomb Studio, where John Trainum (Kanye West, Kate Bollinger, Destructo Disk) collaborated on the mixing process. In 2026, after further refinement, Simek entrusted the recordings to Grammy Award-winning mastering engineer Alan Douches (Sufjan Stevens, Animal Collective, Misfits, Motörhead, LCD Soundsystem) at West West Side Music in New York for the final analog touch.
Five years in the making, Raw Cuts, the debut album from The Clean Crime Scene, is scheduled for release in Fall 2026.
Releases
In The Ground
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