Cribshitter celebrates a chaotic history

The legendary Madison band is back with a mini-documentary and greatest hits compilation.

Chameleonic rock act Cribshitter can be a difficult band to fully comprehend, and that’s by design. Ever since their 2004 beginnings, they’ve reveled in defying expectations. Irreverent, chaotic and frequently side-splittingly funny, their long-developing arc has been an experience to behold.

Whether they were delivering red-faced yelling about Chad, Jared, or Derek, dramatically crooning about a “war torn vaginer,” violently breaking up on PBS’ 30-Minute Music Hour, or fully committing to a late-career yacht-rock phase, there has never been a dull moment. If any Madison band deserves to throw a celebration for themselves, it’s this one. And that’s just what Cribshitter has decided to do, in truly authentic fashion.

Leaving A Mark: The Cribshitter Story is a nine-minute mini-documentary chronicling the band’s tumultuous, intentionally hyper-public history. The documentary’s introductory moment features bassist Don Rubbish kicked all the way back in a moderately lavish professional office. In the doc’s fictional reality, Rubbish is enjoying his post-Cribshitter life, delivering boasts about his industrial pump business. 

In about a minute flat—one that somehow still manages to pack in quick hitters about “snowboarding with Shaun White’s younger brother” and golfing with Edward James Olmos—Rubbish’s hubristic facade dissipates and leads to a crushing existential crisis. Buried within that crisis is an inevitable moment of pristine clarity, one that dictates: “We gotta get the band back together.” Moments later, there’s a wry “That was eight years ago” clarification via voiceover, over a bold title card and a tongue-in-cheek audio effect that’s boosted to the rafters within the mix. The opening is a near-perfect distillation of Cribshitter’s singular charm.

Leaving A Mark is a deliriously funny riff on VH1’s Behind The Music series, and also features a few direct references to, well, myself, and Tone Madison. Perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise, given Tone Madison‘s inclusion within Satya Rhodes-Conway’s Mayoral Proclamation that June 14, 2024 was to be “Cribshitter Day.” That proclamation is, naturally, included in Leaving A Mark, which is premiering here:

When it came to putting Leaving A Mark together, Cribshitter had plenty of existing material to draw from. In an email to Tone Madison, co-bandleader Karl Christenson writes:

I edited this doc using tons of footage I had shot over the past decade or so. Footage from a trip we took to Hawaii that was supposed to be used for a “Let’s Drink Drinks” video that I just couldn’t finish. Footage from countless live shows and music videos that never materialized.

There’s a certain amount of guilt that occurs when you’re sitting on hours and hours of footage that you’re not doing anything with. It just piles up on hard drives and mocks you every day you try to ignore it. So it was a huge relief to finally utilize it in some way. A band documentary seemed like the best way to put a lot of that stuff to bed.

Christenson goes on to note that he still has to emphasize Rodes-Conway’s “Cribshitter Day” Mayoral Proclamation is, in fact, real, and that the band “married a couple on stage during a show at The Shitty Barn.” Given the band’s stylistic fearlessness, willingness to commit to a bit, and 20-plus years of scampish history, it’s not shocking that Christenson has an abundance of moments worth showcasing. 

Leaving A Mark, which arrives 17 years after the band’s first Behind The Music send-up, isn’t the only thing Cribshitter will release this week. Essential Shitter: Cribshitter’s Greatest Hits is, aptly, a compilation of Cribshitter favorites from the band’s run. A few new tracks will be included throughout Essential Shitter, with the incredible, new Springsteen-esque single “It’ll Explode” among their ranks.

Reflecting on the band’s legacy seems to have provided the band with yet another spark, as Christenson notes that the band is continuing to work on new material. There’s a decent chance the band will perform some of those new songs—along with a number of well-established favorites—at Essential Shitter‘s release party, which takes place on Friday, June 13 at The Bur Oak.

Anyone who wants to experience a small, but memorable display of individualized Madison rock history would be wise to attend.