January 12, 2024 | 6:00 AM

WITF Music: Lyndhurst

York band Lyndhurst talks anxiety and the making of their music video, "Criminal."

Joe Ulrich

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Joe has been interested in audio and music since he was a kid. What started as a fascination with his parents’ vinyl records and cassette tapes turned into a love of both performing and recording. He grew up in Elizabethtown, Pa. and moved to Pittsburgh in 1999 where he majored in Photography at the University of Pittsburgh.

In 2004, he attended the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences in Tempe, AZ. He returned to Pittsburgh to work at a recording studio.

In 2008, Joe arrived at WITF, where his skills have found a good home as an on-air host, audio engineer and producer of WITF Music. In 2016, Joe earned a National Edward R. Murrow award for Best Use of Sound.

Lyndhurst performs for WITF Music . Jeremy Long - WITF

The pop/punk/emo band Lyndhurst began as a one-man-band under a different name before growing to four members. Now, having released their single “Criminal” late last year, they’ve released a new EP, Dear Anxiety.

Ed Allison, Kevin Kroushour, Tim Yinger and Mark Caruso sat down with WITF Music’s Joe Ulrich to talk about the underlying theme of anxiety in the music, social media’s role in that anxiety and how music provides a relief from it.
Lyndhurst Linktr.ee

Listen to the radio feature:

Joe: So just give me a real brief overview of how this band started.

Ed: I used to make music under just my name, Ed Allison. And I made music very similar to this. So I said, I should just form a band for this, get a bunch of guys together.

: Ed Allison of Lyndhurst performs for WITF Music . Jeremy Long – WITF

: Mark Caruso of Lyndhurst performs for WITF Music . Jeremy Long – WITF

Joe: Do you think there’s an overarching theme in the music?

Ed: Most of the music I write is like an exaggerated version of what I go through every day, all the anxiety that I feel all the time. Especially on this new EP. I’ve been calling this the anxiety EP because I’ve been dealing with that a lot, especially in the past year or two, as I’m getting older and taking on more responsibilities and things.

Joe: I don’t know if people are more open about it or if it is just becoming more common.

Ed: I think it’s probably both. The internet is this great repository for information where if you’re going through this certain thing, you’ll find a million other people that are going through it that you wouldn’t have found before.

So I think that’s part of it. And then I think social media doesn’t help. I think it’s a double edged sword where you can learn more about it and you can feel community with that. And it probably also makes it worse.

One of the songs that we played that you’ll hear, Criminal, is actually one of the first songs we actually wrote collaboratively together.

Mark: The first song.

Ed: Yeah, the first song.

: Tim Yinger of Lyndhurst performs for WITF Music . Jeremy Long – WITF

: Kevin Kroushour of Lyndhurst performs for WITF Music . Jeremy Long – WITF

Joe: Tell me about the music video.

Ed: So the whole concept of the video is I wake up with the VR goggles on and I’m in this universe where I think I’m a criminal. And I’m being hunted by the FBI officers here.

Mark: We are like the B Squad at best.

Ed: So it goes back and forth between me in the real world with a VR headset, playing around, stumbling around, and then being in the criminal world.

And it was a ton of fun to shoot. we had a blast.

Joe: How does music fit into everyone’s life?

Mark: I was bullied very hard and music — it got me my friends. It got me my close family. Music really helped me develop the person I am.

Kevin: For me, it’s my escape. If I’m having a terrible day or I’m feeling a certain emotion, music is where I go to.

Tim: I’ve always been fascinated by it, just watching people play. And then eventually, I taught myself to do it.

Ed: Music has definitely always been my thing. I mean since I was as young as I can remember I was singing. And that’s how I make my living which is great because I don’t know how to do anything else with my life. I’m a musician through and through.