Raw Cuts
The Clean Crime Scene is an American recording project formed by John Simek (Sparks Fly from a Kiss, The Venus Explosion). In the summer of 2021 with the intention of creating a 60's-70’s style classic rock album, he recruited old friends Jay Wilder (Contraption, The Venus Explosion), Ralph Nicastro (San Tropez, wreaths, Sparks Fly from a Kiss), and Colin Carhart (wreaths) to capture some recordings during a family summer vacation to his childhood stomping grounds at the Jersey shore. After this initial foundation for the album was built, he returned home to Richmond VA and the project quickly took shape as his wife Diana Simek laid down vocals in their home studio, and Wilder, along with fellow musician and conductor Will Pattie (The Fossil Collection), contributed additional sounds to the record. That blueprint was repeated for the next two summers - the rhythm tracks would be recorded live in a basement in Asbury Park NJ and then taken back to Richmond for overdubs, writing and editing. The resulting albums' dirty riffs cut with dreamy vocal melodies land it somewhere between garage rock and psychedelic rock.
Eventually, in 2024-25, after fatigue from writing, recording, editing, and producing the record set in, Simek enlisted help. The recordings were brought into Richmond's Spacebomb studio so that John Trainum (Kanye West, Kate Bollinger, Destructo Disk) could collaborate in the mixing process. Eventually in 2026, after a few more tweaks, Simek eventually relinquished the recordings to Grammy award-winning mastering engineer Alan Douches (Sufjan Stevens, Animal Collective, Misfits, Motörhead, LCD Soundsystem) at West West Side Music in New York for the final analog touch. After five years in the making, the debut album Raw Cuts will be released fall 2026 on Blank Verse Records.
Photo Credit: John Simek
Photo Credit: Diana Simek
Photo Credit: John Simek
Photo Credit: Diana Simek
Photo Credit: Diana Simek
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Releases: Oct. 30, 2026 Running Time: |
