meet the crushers

Poolside glitter punk from California’s Crusherverse to the Motor City

One part pop, one part poison, all “poolside glitter punk,” San Luis Obispo, California’s Hayley and the Crushers offer up a tsunami of bold, bad girl power. Currently splitting their time between California and Detroit, the band is known for an explosive live show that doesn’t skimp on heart or humor.

Anointed as “the naked embodiment of power pop punk” by New Wave icon Josie Cotton (who signed the band to her Kitten Robot Records in 2021), the Crushers have skipped the pupa stage in favor of a more dramatic comic book-style metamorphosis.

Enter: Modern Adult Kicks (released in September 2022), their most ambitious and self-possessed album to date. Produced by legendary LA punk producer and ex-Screamer Paul Roessler (TSOL, Josie Cotton, Richie Ramone), Modern Adult Kicks rollercoasters through The Crusherverse's quirky underworld with a diary's worth of intrigue and a bucket of high impact gloss.

Collecting hooks from track one, Hayley “Crusher” Cain conjures up the electricity of first-car freedom, the woes of suburban isolation and the lurid pleasures of Y2K chat rooms all wrapped in the warm glow of a late night infomercial. While the content here is no doubt “adult,” there's no shortage of kicks to be had, either.

The band injects even the most bummer of subjects (addiction, heartbreak) with a potent venom of caffeine and heart. Sure, BUST Magazine once likened the band to a bag of Sour Patch Kids, “unapologetically bright and fun, with a hint of mischief,” but this new album reveals fresh depths of flavor.

Modern Adult Kicks is exactly what it advertises to be: a more put-together, wisened “big sister” to the band's sunny 2020 release, Vintage Millennial. In the Crushers’ world, growing jaded isn't an option—and there's never a good reason to stop dancing.