Superstar Crush are a four-piece pop group that pack a punch and a backbeat. Taking influence from the likes of Blondie, Arcade Fire, and Pulp, their stage show is packed with fiery hooks, explosive stage presence and their tender – oh, so very tender – pocket-poetry pedestrian lunchbucket lyrics. They first got together in Hamilton, Ontario as the house band for a series of coffeehouse-social-justice-conversational-arts-punk-global-consciousness-high-school-casual-fashion-social-electric-9-volt-action-oriented events organized by Marzieh Darling. The nights consisted of globally-focused conversation followed by live music from a rotating roster of vocalists and friends from local high-schools. Chloe Butler-Stubbs, Sam Hansell and Truaxe Fox, sat in on bass, guitar, and drums respectively, and Marzieh frequently filled in on vocals. Between decade-spanning punk/indie-rock covers the gang snuck in originals that quickly became crowd favourites. The 4 piece was happily roped into high school basement parties and the Hamilton club and bar scene circa 2022, where their audacious good looks and uniquely pop-oriented songwriting made them local faves. As they graduated high school and learned how to drive and act normal they infiltrated Toronto, Montreal, Boston, and other cities across Ontario, soon naming themselves Superstar Crush after a local celebrity.
The group dropped a self-recorded tringle (triple-single) titled “Crushed to Meet You” in May 2024. The EP included three crowd favourite songs from their live set tracked on laptops in their former grade school – where they’re tight with the headmaster Tony Evans of Growl fame. That summer the band played monthly shows at their fave Hamilton venue the Casbah where Dwayne Gretzky frontman Tyler Kyte eventually saw them perform. After seeing them play at the club a few times Kyte, standing by the bar, produced a small hand-held noir-style detective’s tape machine from his overcoat and covertly recorded “Note to self: They’re ready.” He started producing the band soon after, recording their debut album in his studio in Toronto. The record’s slated to release summer 2025, kicking off a Canada/US summer tour.
Over the past three years of shows around central Canada the Crush have amassed a loyal local following of wide-eyed teenyboppers and fairly-well-dressed 20 somethings. They’ve won Hamilton Battle of the Bands at Bridgeworks, played north stage at premiere Hamilton festival Supercrawl, and sold out the Casbah right before it was shut down. Marzieh, Sam, and Truaxe each take shifts lead-singing, Chloe has the best hair, and the group watches hockey and works odd unskilled labour jobs together in their free time. With hilarious stage antics, baroque-pop recording techniques and a danceable fury, they’re sure to keep your head spinning and your shoes moving. Fire.
