In Conversation: Crystal Pak of Initiate
Having spent a life navigating cultural expectations and a feeling of persistent in-betweenness, Crystal Pak is done with division—and she's finally choosing all of herself.
When I first came up with the idea of relaunching Anti-Matter for its 30th anniversary, it was important to me that this project was not simply viewed as a nostalgia trip. This zine has always been about creating dialogues between hardcore musical styles, between regions, and between generations—and that was never going to change. So if I really wanted to test whether or not Anti-Matter was going to make sense in 2023, I decided that I needed to conduct my first interview back with a newer band. I chose Initiate.
Cerebral Circus, the band’s second album which came out earlier this year on Triple B, is somehow both immediate and eclectic, held together by Crystal Pak’s remarkable adaptability as a singer and lyricist—creating a space where any anger is leveled by a sharp, tre…