Econoline Crush
When The Devil Drives is the latest album from Canadian rock veterans Econoline Crush,
formed some 30 years ago by frontman Trevor Hurst, now the sole original member. The band’s
first full-length album in over a decade, and documentary film, Flatlander, about a rocker from
Brandon, Manitoba’s second career as a psychiatric nurse, will be out later this year. Produced
by one-time Miniatures frontman Ian Alexander Smith (SATE, Cassie DaSilva) and mixed by
the legendary Jack Joseph Puig, two of the nine songs feature David “Ziggy” Sigmund, who
played guitar in Econoline Crush from 1997-2002 and rejoined in 2010. He passed away
suddenly in March 2022, just as the album was getting mixed. The two songs they wrote
together, the empowering industrial-strength rocker “Invincible” and soaring 90s Brit-pop style
“Smashing Optimistic,” are the first two singles. Another single is the groovy rant and
motivational anthem “No Quitter” and mechanical spark “Going Under,” which addresses
Trevor\\\'s depression. Originally based in Vancouver, Econoline Crush formed in 1992 and signed
with EMI Music Canada in ‘94, debuting that year with the EP, Purge. The ground breaking
band, which fused industrial music with rock at a time when “keyboards” were typically used in
pop music, followed it up with the full-length Affliction in 1996, and their ultimate breakthrough,
the platinum-selling The Devil You Know.