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48Straight music: The Crystal Method |
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Written by Paul Raymore
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Tuesday, 05 February 2008 |
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Led by Scott Kirkland and Ken Jordan, Los Angeles’ Crystal Method has been referred to as America’s answer to the Chemical Brothers. A dance-based electronic duo with a definite rock band feel, complemented by a solid base of American hip-hop, rock, soul and pop.
Tahoe World Web Editor Paul Raymore spoke with The Crystal Method’s Scott Kirkland by phone last week to preview their appearance at the 48Straight tour on Saturday, Feb. 9.
Tahoe World: In your own words, how would you describe your music?
Scott Kirkland: Well... That’s one of those difficult questions... Our sound is... kind of... big, chunky, distorted, pretty... All these different things that come together in a stew and delivers something that’s really impossible for me to describe.
 We’re an electronic band with our roots based in rock. So we have a lot of the rock sensibility — the big rock drum sounds, more organic drum sounds. But when we get into the studio we pull from all our influences including all the new stuff we’ve been into in the last two years and the other stuff we’ve been listening to for the past 20 or so.
But basically we have a lot of background in rock and funk because we grew up in Las Vegas and that’s pretty much all you heard all the time. And I have a lot of metal days in my past so I like the darker, edgier sound.
I think we have a pretty unique sound, it’s just hard to describe it exactly.
And it’s evolved over the years. In our DJ sets we feed off the crowd, so it goes in different directions there. But the new album we’re working on is sounding really, really good and it has lots of melody and lots of really edgy sounds, big drums... It’s going to be a fun record.
TW: Is any of your newest material being incorporated into your live DJ sets these days?
SK: It may be. We have a couple of tracks that we’ve tested out in clubs as of late. But you never know. It depends on the crowd and whether that particular song fits that moment. Hopefully it will be a good, energetic crowd and it’ll be the right spot to drop some fresh material.
TW: What is it, in your opinion, that makes for a great crowd/venue/show?
SK: There are a lot of things that come together: The sound system, the environment that’s created by the production team and promoters, and just the way everything lines up.
We get a lot of energy from the crowd and we feed that back into the crowd. So a great sound and a good environment where everyone feels comfortable and gets into the moment.
 TW: How is a live Crystal Method show different from your studio work?
SK: The show that we’ll be doing up in Squaw will be a DJ set which will incorporate a lot of the things we’ve done in the past with a lot of new tracks that we’ve been given by various friends around the world.
The studio stuff is much different — every day working, sometimes for hours and hours, on the same song. When we take the live show out when we’re promoting the next album, that will incorporate a lot of gear and a big stage show...
The studio work is long, tedious hours trying to be creative and trying to think of what this one particular track needs. And when we’re DJing out live it’s all right there in front of you — you’ve got the tracks and the crown has the energy and you kind of go back and forth.
TW: Have you played any shows in the Reno/Tahoe area?
SK: We’ve played Reno before a few times. I’ve never been to Tahoe, so I’m very excited... We’re going to make a big weekend of it.
TW: Is there a name for the latest project yet?
SK: We don’t have a name. All the songs pretty much have nicknames, but the real naming usually comes about at the end of the process.
TW: Can you tell me a little more about the process of putting together a song? Do you start with a certain instrument? Or an idea?
SK: It could be a synthesizer or an instrument that sparks an idea. Sometimes you’ll hear different things before you even come into the studio and I’ll record it into my phone or a little voice recorder, then I’ll come in [to the studio] and work on that idea from there. But sometimes it’s just a good beat. A lot of the songs on this particular project have been started within a synthesizer or a synth within the computer. So a part will come together and we’ll figure out what the tempo is from there and start building on it. I’ve been playing a lot of live bass on this album.
It all starts with an idea in the brain — sometimes here in the studio, sometimes out of the studio. A lot of the things I’ve recorded in to my little voice recorder I’ve never gone back to. But we’ve got about 13 songs we’re working on right now and they sound pretty good.
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