The Chrome Cranks originated in Ohio in 1988 when Peter Aaron, who handled vocals and guitar, joined forces with William Weber. The group drifted without clear direction until it moved to New York City in the early 1990s. In 1992 former Honeymoon Killers bassist Jerry Teel came aboard, followed at the same moment by drummer Dan Willis, finally supplying the quartet with a clear purpose and a fixed identity. Although its earliest recordings already displayed an affinity for garage rock and noisy indie acts such as the Jesus and Mary Chain, only after Teel’s arrival did the Chrome Cranks fully define its approach. From that point the band continued the Honeymoon Killers’ trajectory, delivering a lean, deconstructive distortion of garage-rock conventions that reworked material stretching from the Stooges to Kim Salmon.
The revised lineup launched its recorded output with the 1992 PCP EP Eight-Track Mind, thereby fixing the group’s Cramps-meets-Pussy Galore identity, essentially sleaze-rock. Numerous additional singles appeared over the next several years. PCP issued the quartet’s self-titled debut album in 1994, an effort that may stand as its strongest work. Dead Cool arrived the following year, now featuring Bob Bert—formerly of Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore, and numerous other notable projects—behind the drum kit; the record lacked the immediate, primal force of its predecessor. Love in Exile, the Chrome Cranks’ last studio album, surfaced in 1996. Although the band disbanded that same year, occasional singles continued to surface, along with the 1997 collection of outtakes and demos titled Oily Cranks and the forceful concert recording Live in Exile.
