While most of their peers were still figuring out what they wanted to do after graduation, the Benson sisters already had their next moves planned out. The four ladies who make up pop-rock quartet Crimson Apple were ready to leave the lives they’d built growing up in Hawaii to further their music career in Southern California.
After gaining some local and internet traction over the first three years of their musical career — particularly thanks to their wide array of cover songs on YouTube — the Bensons decision to pack their bags and head to the mainland came right around the same time as their self-released debut record, Hello, started making its way to listeners. For many young bands, the dual stress of moving and releasing a record simultaneously could be enough to cause irreparable damage, but Crimson Apple were able to rely on their bond of sisterhood to brave the chaos.
“It was a crazy time, but it was also a lot of fun and very helpful,” vocalist Colby Benson says. “Ever since we’ve been here, we’ve been having such a great time. It’s one of the coolest things that we’ve done.”
But since moving to the lower 48, Crimson Apple has been so focused on performing live that there’s been little to no time to release a lot of new music. That’s all changed as of this past Friday though, as the siblings — including guitarist Shelby, bassist Carthi, and drummer Faith in addition to Colby — released their first of many new tracks with the decidedly poppy “Can’t Get Out of Bed.”
“It’s been two or three years since we’ve released our last album, and we’ve grown a lot since then,” Colby says. “Moving to California has really changed our sound, and we’re so excited to show people what we’ve become and what we sound like now. We’ve been in the studio all summer, so we’ve got all this music that we’re super excited to share with people now.”
Even as the band picks up steam with the new tracks and slot on the upcoming High School Nation Tour, some things still feel largely the same for them as when they were just kids living in Hawaii. Regardless of successes, failures, and the rollercoaster of emotions that come with the music industry, the Benson sisters will always be about their family first — and that seems to be paying off for them when it comes to topics like band chemistry and settling disputes.
“We have this sort of chemistry as siblings — and there are no boundaries between us — so we can always speak our mind,” Colby says. “We always seem to be on the same page with our music since we grew up together and have a lot of similar experiences, whereas that can be hard for bands sometimes. There are moments when we do fight, because we’re siblings and that happens, but what’s nice is that we can get over it in like five minutes and continue on.”
“Growing up, we were always close,” Shelby adds. “We’ve always played music together, but something about having this dream and goal that we’re all working toward has helped us come even closer together. We’re each other’s best friends, and I think out of everything that’s really the coolest thing about us being in a band together as sisters.”
Of course, Crimson Apple can also boast about accomplishing something early in their career that few other artists ever even get the chance to do in their lifetimes. After attending a Thanksgiving event at Disney shortly after moving into the neighborhood, the Bensons decided they’d like to be one of the acts performing inside of Disneyland rather than having to pay for a crazy expensive ticket like the rest of us. Not long after, they worked their way up to maintaining a residency both in and around the amusement park itself.
“Within a year [after the original Thanksgiving event], we ended up auditioning for Disney, and I guess they liked us enough that we started playing in Downtown Disney and then inside the park,” Colby says. “It’s honestly mind-blowing that we’ve been able to play there, and the people have just been amazing.”
Josh Chesler used to play baseball for some pretty cool teams, but now he just writes about awesome stuff like tattoos, music, MMA and sneakers. He enjoys injuring himself by skateboarding, training for fights, and playing musical instruments in his off time.