A Dirty Dozen with ROXY GUNN and CHRIS REJECT from CRIMSON RIOT – January 2026

According to a recent press release: “Las Vegas punk rock trio Crimson Riot are back with their most focused, ambitious, and fully realized release to date. Their third full-length album, Third Time’s A Charm, arrives March 20, 2026 via Leg Lamp Records, with the first single and music video, “Cross The Line,” dropping today. Formed in 2017 and famously dubbed the “Punk Rock Partridge Family” by iHeartRadio’s Bobby Bones, Crimson Riot is made up of guitarist/vocalist Roxy Gunn, bassist / vocalist Chris Reject, and drummer Ryan J — Roxy’s father. While the band officially formed in Las Vegas in 2017, the trio has been playing music together for over 15 years, resulting in a chemistry that’s both natural and explosive.” We get Roxy and Chris to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release. What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through? Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

Chris: Wow what a great question! Yeah definitely there are little things we did in almost every song. We focused on fullness with this album. Little ear candies that are buried in the mix, but if you listen closely you’ll hear them. My favorite is in the song “Demons Disappear.” I’m not telling you what it is, but it was my homage to the Smashing Pumpkins hahaha.

Roxy: Absolutely! As Chris said, we sprinkled a little extra musical elements throughout almost every song. Some of it is way in the back and you might think it’s just another guitar or something but if you really listen you can hear more of what it is.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

Chris: This is probably the easiest question for me. My parents loved music and had a pretty big vinyl collection. Every Saturday morning my dad would wake us up by playing a different record. I grew up listening to Blondie, Hank Williams, and more, but there was one group that I always reacted best to. That was Creedence Clearwater Revival. John Fogerty is a god when it comes to writing songs. I wanted to do that with my life. I wanted to write songs and play shows.

Roxy: I come from a long line of musicians all the way back to my great-grandparents so it’s in my blood. I’m very fortunate that I came from a family that, when I said I wanted to be a musician instead of a doctor, they were excited. Haha clearly it worked out great for my dad who is our drummer so he gets to experience this with me which is super awesome. For a period of time my brother, RJ Moon, drummed for us as well so it’s been inspiring to do this as a family the entire time.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

Chris: Guiding my musical taste? I have a few! Besides CCR the band that made me say punk was my future was Green Day in 1994. The moment I heard Dookie I was sold. Then getting to see them live during their Warning tour solidified my desire to be in a punk band.

Roxy: So this is gonna come out of left field but the moment I decided I wanted to be in a band was after watching the Josie and the Pussycats movie for the first time. It just looked so fun! I feel like, as a female in the music industry, that movie taught me a lot more about sticking to your guns, caring about the people around you, and realizing the importance of being your own person no matter what than almost anything else I’ve read or watched or listened to. So big shout out to Rachel Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, and Rosario Dawson.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

Chris: We got lucky with this album and got Craig and Dan from Buck-O-Nine and Chris Graue from Lo(u)ser to be on a track. But if we could write a song or performer with anyone… Billie Joe maybe? Matt Skiba would be awesome.

Roxy: Billie Joe Armstrong is at the top of the dream list of course. Dude is so full of songs it’s unbelievable. It would be rad to see what we could come up with as a team. As far as reality goes, I’ve always loved Ska and it was awesome to have some of the guys from Buck-O-Nine and Chris from Lo(u)ser jam with us! In the future it would be rad to maybe get to sing with Tara from Half Past Two or Brittany from Catbite. Back to the dream realm, if we could get any member of Rush to do something on a future recording I would die.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour? What do you like to do to unwind?

Chris: I like to play video games. I’m not into the battle royale games, so give me Final Fantasy 6 or Chrono Trigger and I’ll be occupied for hours hahaha.

Roxy: I’ve gotten back into reading after too many years spending time doom scrolling. I forgot how much I loved it! I have too many hobbies honestly. I like to read, bake, paint, binge crime and history docs, play Magic The Gathering and other tabletop games, and, more recently, I’ve gotten into video games. I’m a terrible gamer but I have fun with it. Currently in a love / hate relationship with Hollow Knight.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

Chris: We just tell people we are punk or pop punk depending on who we are talking to. We say imagine if Green Day, Bad Religion, and Rancid were fronted by a woman. Someone once said that they didn’t think we were really a punk band, but they thought metal bands were punk. It was very confusing.

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Chris: Definitely no acoustic guitars during hangouts. We work in the music industry in Las Vegas so if we are hanging out there is no guitars around haha. We also live together so it’s a community effort. We all do some cooking throughout the week, but mostly Roxy.

Roxy: I do a lot of the cooking on and off the road. Feeding people is a passion so I don’t mind doing it. Although Ryan makes an incredible lasagna and Chris’ chicken parm is second to none. As Chris said, if we’re in hangout mode no one is playing. Haha we use that time to discuss videos, tours, merch and other non-musical essentials. That’s important too!

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

Chris: Oh man… I don’t know. We’ve met so many cool people over the years I can’t think of anyone of the top of my head.

Roxy: Oh god… years ago we were at an awards show and the keyboard / piano wizard Jordan Rudess (fellow Prog nerds know) was there. He was talking to someone so I waited patiently to ask for a photo. He finished his conversation, looked at me, and said “Hello” and I froze. All I could think of to say was, “Hi…I like your songs.” He said, “Thanks, would you like a photo?” I nodded, took the picture, thanked him, and he left. Chris looks at me and laughed, “‘I like your songs?!’” He won’t let me live it down.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

Chris: We’ve worked in the music industry for a long time and it never gets old. This is one of the greatest jobs in the world. The ability to help people forget about the madness in the world and just enjoy a night of music is great. As for me if I wasn’t doing this, I would definitely be doing video editing full time. I already work with some streamers and make videos for them and I film and edit all our videos. So I think I would just go full time with that.

Roxy: Being a musician has so many great parts! For me, it’s touring. I love to travel, I love to see things I’ve never seen or don’t see often; playing for new and familiar faces; it’s all great but traveling is where it’s at for me. If I wasn’t a musician I’d still try to do something within the industry. Especially if it involves traveling.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

Chris: I think we’ve answered every question ever made hahaha. No one’s asked what our spirit animals are. For me I’d say Raven. The one question I’m tired of answering… I don’t really have one. I understand not everyone knows our answers. So I’ll be happy to just respond to any question.

Roxy: Definitely the spirit animal question! I think I’m a manatee / golden retriever hybrid. Do with that information what you will. As far as a question I’m tired of answering, I’m with Chris on this one too. Doing interviews is like being in a cover band; sure we’ve played “Don’t Stop Believing” a thousand times, but this person and their friends weren’t there for those so we gotta do it again with just as much honesty and enthusiasm as the other times.

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

Chris: Oh definitely. I wish we took the time to make our first 2 albums bigger. We were in such a rush to release we didn’t fine tune some of the songs.

Roxy: I try not to think too much on regrets or missteps. I’m a very “glass-half-full, everything happens for a reason” type person. I feel like the Universe knows what it’s doing in most cases even if I can’t understand it so I just do the best I can at the time and grow as I can. I’m proud of everything we’ve been able to achieve as a predominantly DIY band. There’s not really anything I look back on and say, “Ah man, if we would have done this instead of this”. It felt right at the time.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

Chris: If I could go back, I’d go back to 1993 when Green Day was recording Dookie and learn how the 3 guys made one of the biggest sounding records of all time!

Roxy: Geez…that’s a wild question. I don’t think I can pick just one! Dookie would’ve been rad to see. Obviously in our genre it’s iconic so seeing the process would be amazing. Aside from that, I’d have to say Moving Pictures by Rush. It’s one of my favorite albums of all time and let’s face it, who doesn’t wanna hear the “Tom Sawyer” drum solo put to tape for the first time? EPIC!

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Category: Interviews