First, to get into the true spirit of this article, take a second to envision some scenario of relationship drama in which you once found yourself helplessly embroiled. Complex arguments suddenly spawned during traffic jams, nervous breakdowns outside of Krispy Kreme, twelve-dollar martinis angrily dumped on your lap, the back and forth of spiteful text messages… whatever. We all have our particularly embarrassing episodes. Now, take your memory of this unsavory event, and using all your brainpower and your recent knowledge of human cloning and fancy computer graphics, multiply it times four. Yep, that’s nearly fifty dollars of dirty martini soaking into your hundred dollar jeans in one sitting, a grim perspective indeed.

Such is the metaphor for difficult band politics suggested by the Clearwater-based band Crooked Edge in a recent interview: being in a band is regrettably comparable to having multiple significant others. Although Crooked Edge has never weathered a break-up per se since their formation in 1999, they, like so many bands, have faced the emotional roller coaster ride of seeing valued band members come and go over time.

For various reasons, Crooked Edge has had a hard time holding down a steady relationship with bassists in particular. After unexpectedly parting ways with their original bassist and long-time friend, Crooked Edge moved into a new relationship with another bassist in 2005. When that arrangement also failed after a short time because of “commitment” issues, the four remaining members of the band found it hard not to be frustrated.

Speaking about the issue, drummer Chris says, “It’s like when you have your first love. You don’t want it to be over. You don’t think about it being anybody else. You think about making it work with that person, no matter what… You think, this guy’s been there since we were fourteen, in a sweaty garage and he’s gonna be the guy. So if he’s not doing it now, we’re gonna have to go in his face and say, ‘dude, come on, let’s go.” You never think about him saying he doesn’t want to.”

After their second let down, the band decided to tread cautiously before they entered into another relationship with a bassist. Rather than searching for a new band member from their own pool of friends in the scene, they held open auditions, spending time with each of their prospects in order to get a feel for their general attitude and personality. This May, Crooked Edge was finally able to begin moving forward again after selecting bassist Conrad Petzinger, a former member of the band Revere.

Singer Danny admits, “We lost momentum for a little bit. But I think we took some time off, got better at what we do, got more focused.”

Jeremy, one of the band’s two guitarists, interjects, “It helped when we finally found someone committed. Now we can go even further, like we wanted to in the beginning.” 

Even more than the emotional effects of parting with band members, it was the inevitable lull in production that most affected Crooked Edge following the loss of their second bassist. Before the shake up, things seemed to be in full swing for the band in 2004. They released their second self-recorded EP, Deliver Us From Emo, which received both acclaim for its ambitious musicianship and criticism for its title.

With two Warped Tour performances under their belt, and a spot in 97X’s event Next Big Thing in 2004, Crooked Edge could easily be termed as one of the area’s most successful rock bands.   But going on the market for a new bassist slowed noticeably slowed the pace of the band’s progress. “We would have had something out already. It wouldn’t have been two years in-between CD’s. That set us back so much,” says Danny.