White Collar Crime to release “30 Years In The New York Rain”

NYC band celebrates three decades on the NYC music scene.. “Don’t quit your day job” says lawyer/guitarist Matt King… “Do both.”

CD release show for “30 Years In The New York Rain” is now set for The Legendary Bitter End February 29th (Leap Year Day!) at 8:00 pm.

Back in the go-go 80s, four brash young attorneys from top Manhattan firms gathered — not in an elegant midtown conference room but in a shabby music rehearsal space near The Port Authority. What emerged from that grimy room was a rock band that’s about to celebrate its 30th anniversary in NYC with a career-retrospective album, a run of anniversary shows, and new energy.

Very few things last 30 years on the fickle isle of Manhattan. A few businesses and a handful of restaurants, maybe. But a local rock band that writes and plays its own music?

By day, the members of White Collar Crime sued and filed and counter-sued. But by night, they worked the circuit at legendary clubs, some long gone, some still around. Their gig list is like a roll call of the club scene these past three decades – Kenny’s Castaways, The Bitter End, Cutting Room, Knitting Factory, among countless others.

The music of White Collar Crime is real Rock & Roll, straight out the annals of music history, and like a trip in Mr. Peabody’s way back machine, heir music is fun to hear and experience – on their Bandcamp page, there are 2 tracks to get your motor running, the track Dream The Dream, which is a devil may care, follow your bliss and let nobody stop you anthem that keeps you forever young. The other To Be Real, which has a more romantic feel and a down beat that just makes you ant to dance in the rain, their music is beautiful and needs to be heard.

Despite the band’s regional rep as “the lawyer band,” not everyone in the current line-up is a lawyer. The two remaining original members are Matt King on guitar and Alan Sanders on drums.  David Gelman joined on keys in 1995, bassist Kevin Mackall and vocalist Andrea Urban came aboard in 2011, and guitarist Jon Bendis in 2016.

The centerpiece of the band’s celebration is its new retrospective album, “30 Years In The New York Rain.” The 12-track collection includes four new studio cuts, five songs from their previously released recordings, and several high-quality live performances at NYC’s Triad Theater.

“I can’t emphasize enough the sense of community that White Collar Crime has created, and the amazing number of friends that music has given us,” says King. “We’ve evolved from a rough unpolished band to seasoned musicians who are successful by day yet quite accomplished on the stage and in the recording studio.”