Interview: Crook 'Murderous Intent' Album Release Tour

The Tāmaki Makaurau collective of Aki (Girls Pissing on Girls Pissing, Horror in Clay), Hugh (Alec, Caroles), Fraser (Heroes for Sale, Juiceroof) and Aaron (Saturnian Noise Collective, The Pleasure Majenta), Crook's debut album Murderous Intent is a high watermark earhole-shredding Aotearoa release of 2026. Unveiled in mid-April via T & M Productions, Crook are currently in the midst of an extensive Murderous Intent launch tour, concluding this weekend in Ōhinehou and Ōtepoti, plus they'll be reconvening to support Sydney-based dungeon synth artist Tir at Whammy Bar next month. Aki spilled the beans about Murderous Intent and more to interviewer Sean Hollier of Tāmaki dynamite noiseniks CCTV — read onwards and catch Crook live...

Crook - Aotearoa Album Tour

Friday 5th June - Lyttelton Coffee Company, Ōhinehou w/ The Perfect Gun, Abandoned Carparks*
Saturday 6th June - Pearl Diver, Ōtepoti w/ Blub, Sogg*
Saturday 25th July - Whammy Bar, Auckland w/ Tir (AUS), Necropolis, Terrow

*Tickets on sale HERE via UTR

Sean Hollier: Congratulations on the debut album! It’s a real ripper. How are you feeling about it now that it’s fully out? Have you been sitting on it for a while or was it straight out the door?

Aki: I think we wrote the songs fairly recently. Crook is actually several years old but we didn’t end up doing much recording until recently. We did a couple (earlier) because the three of us used to live together.

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I think it sounds good. Liam did such a good job, which was awesome.

Was it more of a DIY setup or in a studio?

We recorded it in the Cosmic basement with Liam.

Oh yeah, right near where they do the alleyway shows right?

Yeah, which is cool. I feel like it really suits the songs quite well. We isolated the drums in… uh, there’s like an old freezer down there that’s non-operational.

It was like a fish market? Or a fishmonger or something?

Which is crazy to me. Now it sells vapes. What a beautiful world we live in.

That’s the circle of life man. I think it fits: it’s a pretty almost brutalist, industrial space down there and with how harsh the music is…

Yeah, fully.

If I’ve counted it right, you guys are 7 dates through the 9 stop tour. How’s that been going? Has there been anything interesting along the way?

It’s been pretty sick. Touring is fun. It’s nice to see New Zealand. It’s good to see bands in places that aren’t Auckland.

Has there been a particular town or venue that you’ve particularly enjoyed?

Oh, when we were in Whanganui cause it was the first time that I’d personally spent a whole bunch of time — oh, really any time at all in Whanganui since I was a kid. We played at Porridge Watson for a festival... Drewtopia.

The space is sick and the scene there seems to be incredible. It was a really awesome gig.

So this is Crook’s first full length album, but I can see that everyone involved has played in a whole bunch of bands before. What led to the band forming? Was it just kind of being roommates?

Yeah, I think it was like, we’d occasionally get drunk be like: “We should have a jam”. Cause me, Hugh, and Aaron all used to live together. And then we sort of decided to make a go of it. That’s not a super exciting story but yeah, that’s what happened.

I feel like it’s pretty classic. I’m sure this happens everywhere but I feel like almost every New Zealand band I know is like, “Yeah we were just in the same house.”

Pretty much. Especially when you’re all musicians, it’s a handy way to start a band.

There were two singles for the album and in the second one, 'Shoving', the music video is entirely made of cruise ship footage.

Yeah.

Is this footage you guys took or took from somewhere?

It was Hugh the guitarist and his partner Helen. I think (they) went on a cruise ship with Helen’s family and just took footage of the cruise.

The footage is sick. It does look insane. Like, I can’t believe it… cruise ships are terrifying.

It’s really sinister, almost like a cult.

Yeah, I feel like it was a great visual for the music.

There’s this one bit when there’s footage overlaid of a pamphlet and it says “CHOOSE FUN” in big block letters.

Yeah [laughing]! Which is a psychotic thing to have on a cruise ship.

I wanted to ask about the third track, 'Shitcunts Lament'. The album is pretty abrasive and bleak in general but this one in particular feels almost tragic and heart-wrenching. I’ve tried to make out the lyrics cause they’re not online anywhere and there’s a lot of noise going on. If I’ve got it right… is it “You’re homeless / Hopeless?”

I think it’s just hopeless but yeah.

Gotcha.

Because, you know, I don't want to disparage the unhoused, Jesus Christ [laughing]. I can send you the lyrics if you want, at some point. I don't really want to read them out. I don't really like it.

That’s okay.

Because I get quite embarrassed about my lyrics. I realise that I have to start keeping a record of them, though. Because with my old band, somebody asked for the lyrics for one of our songs, and I just had completely forgotten what they were and had to listen to the song through.

I guess that one was particularly shit because I was going through a rough time or whatever and it’s just a weird song about self flagellation. Not like literally, like whipping yourself, but you know what I mean.

Emotional self flagellation.

Yeah yeah.

Is the title — which is obviously pretty crass and almost funny right? — an intentional contrast with how bleak the lyrics are?

Yeah... it’s also a pretty decent descriptor of what the song is as well, you know?

Sure.

But it's good to have a bit of levity, I think.

When you guys are writing stuff up, is the process instrumentals first and then lyrics later, or is it quite collaborative?

The music-making process itself is quite collaborative. All the guys are really good at helping each other expand on ideas and stuff. And then, eventually, I’ll get to writing lyrics. It’s usually the last thing to happen, because it’s like pulling teeth trying to get me to do anything. But I think we've found a process that works, even if it's needlessly difficult for the rest of them.

We got an album, so it's not all bad.

Sometimes you need that friction, you know?

Yeah. I think also a lot of the time I’ll workshop lyrics at gigs, because that's when I actually start forming the songs properly. Mostly out of, because I absolutely have to at that point.

Like, “Oh shit, I’ve gotta be on stage in a week.”

Yeah, the urgency. I have (to) literally have a fire lit up my ass in order to do anything. But I think it adds to the panic of performing which I guess is not a horrible thing.

The only other thing I wanted to ask about is the cover for the album. For those who don’t know: it’s a dog shitting. Is that a dog you guys own or know, or is it a random dog?

Well, Hugh, our guitarist — because we were trying to think of what to do for an album cover and I do MS Paint art — he was like, the album cover should be a picture of a dog taking a shit.

 

That’s pretty much it [laughing]. The amount of reference photos I had to look up to Frankenstein a dog together. It was horrible. I felt like such a creep. I’m pretty stoked with how it turned out.

So that’s all MS Paint then?

Yeah.

That’s so awesome! Because it’s got like an acrylic texture I thought it might have been painted.

Oh, yeah. I guess you can’t really see it because of whatever quality (the cover image) is, but I’ve used a one pixel brush for all of it. It’s a needlessly difficult… well, not difficult but time-consuming thing to do but I really enjoy doing it. And also the thing is if it does end up shit, people will still be impressed with the fact you made yourself draw everything in one pixel.

So I don’t know, maybe there is some deep symbolism there. I do like how cowed the dog came out looking.

Ever since I’ve seen this album cover, I feel like when I’m out and about (I’ve noticed) dogs love doing this pose, man. They like looking deep in your eyes while they’re doing it.

The shame in their eyes, eh? There's something about the bearing of their shoulders as well, it just looks so abashed or something.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.