“We’re informed by the dump we play in,” Spencer Morgan amuses towards the end of my conversation with Devils Cross Country. It’s kind of a beautiful sentiment, though in no way a hyperbole – the location where the band currently plays in Cincinnati neighbors a “Recycle America” facility. “It’s just piled sky high.” Connor Lowry explains. “The other day it looked like it was going to spill onto the street. A bunch of washing machines and plane parts.”
It is natural for a band to grow into its sound, and for their discography to reflect shifts as they inch closer to the music they are meant make. This can be a gradual phenomenon, or it could be as radical as a Frank Ocean remix project flourishing into a robust “four and a half” piece indie rock band. Devils Cross Country exists in the latter, and as drastic as that sonic shift may sound on paper, the project’s 2024 debut record affirmed that their current identity is by far their most authentic. Possession is Ninetenths tells a story of desire in its most innate form, the ethos of the album contrasted by a swarming of maximalist sound. The record is a tightly packed nine tracks, warped by a sea of synths and abraded by rusty samples that peel and chip at the ends. The listen is guided by a raw honesty, simulating the complexities of intense inner conflicts and and guilt-drenched longings through experimental song structure.
Amongst the many facets that shaped the current disposition of Devils Cross Country, the most salient was Patrick Raneses’ return to Cincinnati. Home to an animated post-punk scene, it was there that he enlisted drummer Spencer Morgan and bassist Connor Lowry, the three of them planting the project’s early seeds into hardpan Ohio soil. They shifted to a heavier sound – an outcome of existing in an environment where noise is as much a necessity as it is a stylistic choice. “When you’re in these environments, you physically have to play louder because some dude’s doing a Rob Zombie cover underneath us and there are screeching trains just ripping through outside,” Raneses tells me about the city’s impact. It was in these lighthearted moments and deprecating jokes that the members of Devils Cross Country’s relationship to Cincinnati felt the most fervent; as the three of them reflected on cracked foundations, greedy landlords and of course, “Recycle America”, their persistence to create and sheer love for their scene came across the loudest.
We recently sat down with Devils Cross Country amidst their recent east coast tour to discuss the history of the project, “trudge” music and their experience in Cincinnati.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Manon: I know Devils Cross Country began during lockdown, I would love to start by hearing about the project’s initial roots and how it has evolved over the last few years?
Patrick: So I was in a band called Stem Cells at Fordham University with my friend Jake Lee and Frost Children. The last show we played was a day before lockdown, we did an acapella cover of “Numb” by Linkin Park, so we joked that we cursed the world with that one. Jake moved back to Phoenix and after graduation I moved back to Cincinnati, but we had always worked on remixes and that sort of stuff together so through the pandemic I was making music and writing songs that were definitely more indie rock oriented. I’ve known Spencer for a while, we were friends in high school and we started jamming together in 2021.
Spencer: Devils Cross Country became a band in 2022, when [Patrick] moved into our house. We lived in a house venue in Cincinnati, it was called “The Lawn”, it had AstroTurf in the basement that someone had stolen from the football stadium at UC and they kept it in the basement, at least that’s what the landlord told me when I moved in. Pat was looking for a room and then moved into our spot and the project just happened from there.
Patrick: That’s where Lawn came from. It was the perfect practice space and then we recorded that first EP there.
Manon: Do you still live in that house?
Patrick: No, they kept jacking the rent
Spencer: It doubled since we moved in, and the conditions were not worth it. Our house was falling apart and there were cracks in the foundation.
Manon: Okay so now you’re on your first tour since you released Possession is Ninetenths. Your music now has a lot of different layers and samples to it, how have these shows been, and how do you translate your recorded songs into a live format?
Patrick: We don’t feel super tied to like the recorded music, we are flexible and I feel like every show we have played has been different. We used to have two other guitarists in the band, and then we went to a three piece and now it’s kind of back to a five piece. Informally it’s a four and a half piece. I had come up with this plan a year and a half ago called the prosthetic plan, where we just add ’em on like extra limbs and it’s actually worked for the most part.
Our friend Nina, who is in another band in Cincinnati called Spoils, plays violin with us live now. It’s awesome, she was supposed to come on this tour with us but she got Covid on Sunday. I would say the past few months we’ve been working on a lot of new songs, we have a banjo guy too, Patrick number two, he is also named Patrick. It’s cool because we’re not reliant on them, but when they pop in it adds a lot.
Connor: Yeah, Nina and Pat can just jump into whatever we’re doing. Nina will just pick up a new song and instantly play the best she possibly can. It’s awesome, and a lot of what she does is straight improvisation.
Spencer: They need no instruction. Patrick and Nina are in another really cool band called Five Pointed Stars, it’s a slightly experimental dance project.
Manon: You mentioned you are working on some new music?
Patrick: Yeah, we played a couple of our new songs last night actually. I am trying to be more melodic because a lot of the songs on Possessions is Ninetenths are intense, so the new music is a bit happier and has more of a pop center, but still true to Devils Cross Country. I feel like Lawn was this bedroom pop, slacker rock EP and Possessions is Ninetenths went in a completely opposite direction. With the new stuff I want to push hard in both those directions.
Connor: Maybe in the middle somewhere
Patrick: No, other way. Stretch hard on both ends. Sometimes I’m like what genre are we even playing right now.
Spencer: Oh we’re playing trudge. That’s what we call everything, it’s a lax genre so we invented trudge. It’s a weird blend of guitar and electronic music and it sounds kind of blown out.
Manon: I like that, it beats you telling me some hyper-specific ‘-gaze’ with like four words hyphenated before it.
Connor: I feel like I struggle to understand any genre at this point, I just cannot process that information in my mind, so trudge makes it easier.
Spencer: It’s kind of just a lack of any real definition.
Patrick: We had been filming a music video for a song off Lawn called “Fishbone”, and were just driving back and some dude had gigantic boots on.
Spencer: And I was like, “that dude is trudging”
Patrick: Then the word just got stuck in my head.I feel like genre is not super useful anymore, but region can be. Like “Philly” music, that can be kind of trudge.
Manon: How would you describe the music in Cincinnati?
Spencer: There’s a big post punk scene there, a lot of hardcore guys. Corker is the other band I’m in, and a lot of the bands share members. The Surfs are there, Crime of Passing, also Feel It Records just moved there. Also, there are a lot of fresh faces, a lot of young kids making good stuff.
Manon: Do you feel like being in Cincinnati has a big impact on Devils Cross Country?
Patrick: Yeah for sure. When I started the project with Jake Lee, it wasn’t rock music. We were just fucking around, we made Frank Ocean remixes. Then [Spencer] put me on drums and I was in a hardcore band before this. Also, when you’re in these environments, you physically have to play louder because some dude’s doing a Rob Zombie cover underneath us and there are screeching trains just ripping through outside.
Spencer: They sound beautiful
Connor: Yeah they harmonize sometimes, it’s pretty cool.
Patrick: Some dude said it sounded like the studio was burning down where we were.
Spencer: We’re informed by the dump we play in
Patrick: Yeah, there is literally a dump right next to where we play
Spencer: Yeah recycling dump
Connor: Recycle America. It’s just piled sky high. The other day it looked like it was going to spill onto the street. A bunch of washing machines and plane parts.
Spencer: We are just practicing in the most bombed out areas of Cincinnati, but that’s cheap rent so it works. There are so many DIY spaces in Cincinnati, less houses these days but lots of gallery and warehouse spots.
Patrick: When we moved out of the lawn, we didn’t have a place to practice until we moved into this new place. We had to take a weird break, because you need space. I feel like a city’s DIY scene is so dependent on being able to have an affordable spot to make and play music. You need space to be loud.
You can listen to Possession is Ninetenths out everywhere now!
Written by Manon Bushong | Photo by Brian Huang
the ugly hug 