Gannon Fremin & CCREV

Gannon Fremin & CCREV’s tunes are heavy, with a sonic heft to match the outsize emotions at play. The Oklahoma four-piece deals with the tough stuff of existence by churning out big blasts of hard rock dusted with the red dirt roots music of their home state and — ironically — it’s that catharsis that makes their shows such a helluva good time. While Fremin howls in his twangy growl about crushing breakups, toxic cycles, and more unhealthy coping mechanisms than you could shake a Fender Jazzmaster at, the band delivers meaty post-grunge riffs, and the crowd, fully immersed in the wall of sound, rises to meet their energy. They can work an audience into a frenzy anywhere, but it’s at home that people show up ready to party. Because after nearly a decade playing out around the Sooner state, a CCREV show feels like a family reunion.

“It’s loud, everybody’s crashing into each other everywhere, they’re throwing stuff…” Fremin says with a chuckle and more than a hint of pride in his voice. “Yeah, it’s a good time.”

Part of the reason for that, despite the rocky territory their songs traverse, is the camaraderie bred into the group’s bones. CCREV is a brotherhood. Fremin handles rhythm guitar on top of vocals, while the group is rounded out by Tyler McCartney’s driving drums, Wade Cartwright’s thundering bass, and Travis Julian’s blistering lead guitar. Fremin, McCartney, and Cartwright have all known each other since they were little kids growing up in Walters, Oklahoma (motto: “Small town; big heart”). Julian linked up with them in their teens when the band was formed.

They’ve since released numerous singles, the perfectly titled Okie Thump EP, and the locally recorded Live from Grady’s 66 Pub, featuring “Too F***ed Up to Drive,” where Fremin sings: “Well, the small-town blues takin’ its toll, feel like it’s getting me down / Five or six people show up to our show, the same old folks hang around.” But they’ve spent big portions of their years on the open road, playing festivals like the legendary Calf Fry in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and making memories — like three nights of sleeping in a van on the beach in Corpus Christi, Texas.

“We've been on the road for eight, going on nine years,” Fremin says. “The same four guys the whole time — we’ve just been out doing all we can, whenever we can, making it all happen.”

“Making music with my friends means the world to me,” McCartney says. “I get to spend the majority of my time having fun, making memories with the most important people in my life.”

Cartwright puts it more succinctly: “I’m living my dream.”

Fremin was raised in a family where he was constantly exposed to music. Although neither of his parents play an instrument, it was just expected that a jam would break out at get-togethers and reunions. “Anything we ever did growing up, there was always a guitar around, and always someone — a cousin or an uncle or whoever — playing or singing,” Fremin recalls.

He came up with a lot of classic country, which turned into a teenage obsession with Oklahoma’s famed red dirt music — acts like Cross Canadian Ragweed, the Mike McClure Band, and the Great Divide. Red dirt’s bent toward a grittier, more expansive, rock-edged roots sound has profoundly influenced CCREV. Fremin and the rest of the band have always been drawn to what Fremin describes as, “The life they’re singing about, the sound of the guitars, and the closeness of it — the way that everybody comes together and helps each other.”

CCREV’s own songs find their way into the harder and heavier side of red dirt, drawing influence from classic metal, southern rock, and punk. Grunge’s iconic loud-quiet-loud ethos permeates the vicious “Hello, Hate to See You,” turning on a dime between aquatic verse guitar lines and chunky chorus power chords as Fremin sings about a heartbreaker who just keeps popping up everywhere he is. On “With or Without Me,” he laments the end of a bad relationship over distortion tailor-made for shaking arenas. And “Signed, Your Clown” knocks listeners over the head with a big, red, rubber mallet full of the woozy, high-energy licks of classic pop-punk.

Working with Oklahoma’s wealth of top-tier songwriters, not to mention producer Taylor Kimball (Koe Wetzel, Treaty Oak Revival, Read Southall Band), has also inspired CCREV to advance their craft. “There’re a lot of good songwriters in Oklahoma, and it's almost intimidating to go sit down and write with them,” Fremin says. “But I think it brings out the best in you, once you start taking your songs to these rooms. You want to make sure you make something out of yourself.”

Now solidly stationed in the red dirt scene and with almost a decade of shows under their belts — including opening for Parker McCollum, Saving Abel, and Mike & The Moonpies — Gannon Fremin & CCREV have made something out of themselves, but they’re still pushing forward. They’re currently working on a debut LP, an entire set of those same sorts of songs that fueled their reputation for raucous live shows. For their growing family of “same old folks” and new fans alike, it’ll be one more reason — and we all could use one — for some rowdy celebration.