Angie Fights Crime: To Be Beautiful
Angie Fights Crime: Rock and Roll with an Underground Twist
by Jack Rush
Angie Fights Crime is a Kansas City-based band with a name that carries a good story. It's borrowed from a real person — a friend named Angie who had a habit of showing up late to bar nights in 1990s Lawrence. Her running excuse? She'd been fighting crime. The band's frontman thought it was too good to pass up, and the name stuck.
Their sound is deliberately hard to pin down. The band blends alternative indie rock with a range of genres, describing their music as rock and roll with an underground edge. That spirit comes through clearly on their latest album, To Be Beautiful, released on Valentine's Day 2026. Featuring vocals from Ash Reynolds, with additional contributions from Tess Savigear, Bethan Mathis, and Nikki Goodson, the album was recorded at CAVE Studios in Kansas City and produced and mastered by Robert Rebeck.
One thing that made this recording cycle different: the music was fully finished three months before any vocals were tracked. It was a deliberate choice that kept the instrumentals uncompromised — a lesson learned from their previous record, Savior of the World, where some tracks were reportedly softened to suit the vocalist's preferences. The result is a record that feels confident and complete on its own terms.
Standout tracks include "Between the Mountain and the Sea," "Believe it Ever Was," and the title track "To Be Beautiful." Of these, "Between the Mountain and the Sea" is the one the band seems most proud of — a thoughtfully constructed song that, by all accounts, translates especially well to a live setting.
As for what drives the music in the first place, the answer is refreshingly grounded. Inspiration comes from everyday life — marriage, work, travel, the news, even a child dropping an ice cream cone. There's no grand creative mythology here, just a band that writes because that's what they do.
The ultimate goal is equally unpretentious: get out of the house and play for a live audience. That ethos was on display at their two CD release shows, footage of which is available on their YouTube page. Whether or not any prizes come their way, Angie Fights Crime seems most interested in reaching listeners who wouldn't otherwise know they exist — and letting the music do the rest.
Have a listen and connect with Angie Fights Crime:
