Before EDM, before Las Vegas became the world’s party capital and before DJs took over the asylum, The Crystal Method aka Scott Kirkland and Ken Jordan were the first true US dance music superstars. Two decades since they formed, and following the release of their long-awaited self-titled 5th studio album, Kirkland and Jordan have regained their position as one of America’s most exciting electronic music duos. Dan Prince gets the world exclusive interview…
Scott, Ken welcome to DMCWORLD. Fabulous to have you in the magazine, thank you for talking to us at a very busy time for you with the release of your brand new album – ‘The Crystal Method’. Thinking of names is a real pain in the ass huh, was it easier this way??!
“Hey Dan. Naming an album can be a pain in the ass, but we wanted to call this album ‘The Crystal Method’ because for some reason we have never had a self titled album! Our first album was called ‘VEGAS’ and we thought with the recent explosion of electronic dance music, we thought it would be a good way to reintroduce ourselves in the world to this whole new group of EDM fans.”
The new album includes 11 tracks including the soon to be released ‘Over It’ whose remix EP we are all over! Please can you give us a few words on each of your 2014 babies…
Emulator
“This song was created around a kick, snare, and bassline, along with a lot of soft synths.”
Over It feat. Dia Frampton
“Dia was introduced to us by a friend. She sent over a skeleton acoustic version of the vocals, and we loved her voice and felt we could build something great around it.”
Check the video here…
Sling The Decks
“This was one of the first songs we started working on for the record, although I (Scott) was never happy with it so kept putting it aside and coming back to it. Some of the chaotic business in the middle is my attempt to capture the fear and focus I’m feeling when I’m DJing and playing the bass at the same time.”
Storm The Castle feat. Le Castle Vania
“We did this one with Le Castle Vania who has been in our Studio B for a few years, and got talking about doing a track together. Because he has a rock vibe, we came up with this track, sent it his way, and he came back with his additions.”
110 To the 101
“We love the fact that there is a lot going on and the track builds, then gets pretty, then drops to a big sound. It feels heroic in the way it lifts you up and builds you. This was an attempt to channel the stress of every day life in an uplifting manner.”
Jupiter Shift
“There’s lots of Massive on it and a lot of synth layering on the drop. A lot of dance music has starting points and finishing points that sound the same, because they’re making songs for DJs. We don’t want to do that; we want you to feel that you’ve been somewhere by the time you’ve listened to one of our songs. The song took a while to figure out. Some tunes give you a bit of a struggle.”
Dosimeter feat. Nick Thayer
“Our buddy Nick Thayer came over and instigated a conversation about creating something together. And that’s when we took a look at our old synthesizers. We hooked a mini Korg up through our original Sherman FilterBank, and then we sent another signal to a fuzz pedal. Pretty cool.”
Grace feat. LeAnn Rimes
“We met LeAnn during the Re:Generation documentary that we were a part of. She was working with Pretty Lights on their thing. I love it when you get a chance to listen to somebody’s voice without all the musicality and instrumentation around it. She’s a great singer. There’s some instrumentation on there from Massive. We rented a dope-ass Wurlitzer piano, and our friend Anthony played the shit out of it.”
Difference feat. Franky Perez
“Franky came in and immediately vibed out with our sense of humor. He worked with the skeleton track and just nailed his vocal in one night. We were sitting there going, ‘Shit, this track is awesome!”
Metro
Scott: “I had gone to the X Games at the Staples Center with my son, my little brother and my wife. We were like, ‘Hey, let’s take the Metro down to the arena and be cool city people and not deal with parking.’ That was all fine and dandy until we left and got on the wrong train. The whole concept behind the track was to capture that feeling we had, that stressful, lost emotion when you’re going in the wrong direction, and then that wonderful relief you feel when you’re finally on your way home after this long, long journey.”
After Hours feat. Afrobeta
“We had been on tour with Afrobeta, Tony and Cuci, who are both amazing people. They got drunk doing karaoke one night and came over to the studio. We handed them a mic!”
It’s unbelievable to think but your recent live shows are your first in three years! But guys, you have still got it…“I know that we’re gonna kill it tonight”…your words just before you went on stage at SXSW in Austin a couple of weeks ago! So – what was it like dusting off your stage shoes and getting back up there again?
“It was really a lot of fun. Whenever we have a new album out, we love to play the music live and we hope we can do it a lot more for this album.”
What a lot of people don’t understand is how hard it was for the ‘first wave’ of dance artists to try and break America in the 90s. Producers like yourselves and the Brit invasion of Oakenfold, Sasha and Digweed toured extensively back then trying to spread the word. Two decades later dance music has finally reached the masses in another form. I have read many interviews with you and journalists always ask you how you feel about EDM taking over your home country and you always answer politely…but come on guys, doesn’t it piss you off a bit that these producers are now earning SERIOUS money every night of the week with a sound you helped to create all those years ago?
“You can never get upset about things like that or it will drive you crazy! We only make this music because we love doing it, I don’t think you can ever be successful making music if you are only trying to get rich. We are happy for everyone else’s success as well.”
Good answer. As mentioned before, your ‘Over It’ EP comes out this weekend, six remixes including It’s The Kue who recently reworked Pharrell Williams’ ‘Happy’, Los Angeles dubstep producer SILAS, Bixel Boys and Ontario’s Dr Ozi. You must have been overjoyed with their work?
“Yes! We are overwhelmingly pleased with the EP. There is a lot of different sounds to the remixes and it sort of plays like a mini album.”
Check the Bixel Boys Remix here : https://soundcloud.com/the-crystal-method/over-it-bixel-boys-remix
What is the current top 5 tracks you are spinning?
Rock It by Dubaxface
Can You Feel It by Felguk
Sushi of God by Nom de Strip & Nezzo
Run For Cover by Cazzette
Lies ft. Lea Hayes by Kill FM
True or false : You met each other in a grocery store?
“True! Smiths Food & Drug in the Green Valley area of Las Vegas.”
Scott you said a wonderful thing a little while back when asked about your struggles as an artist. You answered that how can I moan about a job where I get given food and alcohol for free and then go on stage and play music to people who love me – when there are people working their fingers to the bone down coal mines, out at sea or caring for others. Great point. So how does it make you feel when you read on Facebook about some 18 year old producer sitting at the top of the charts with a record that took him an hour to make, moaning about flight delays and pillows that were too hard in his five star hotel room?
“Well, let me just say that we’ve seen douchebags come and go. Talent and humility don’t always go hand and hand. But I must say most of the current crop of superstars have their heads on straight.”
What do you think makes each other such a great producer?
“We’re both comfortable in our own skins. We also both truly believe in our sound but at the same time we are huge fans of the current scene.”
The east coast has just witnessed another fascinating Miami WMC. You were one of the original US dance artists representing your home country when the Conference began back in the day…it’s kinda changed since back then huh? We didn’t get The Crystal Method hotels or Rabbit In The Moon Ferraris back then!!
“Haha! Yeah, things are way different now then back in the day. We never had the helicopters and yachts. But then again punters didn’t have to shell out a weeks pay to get in to venues.”
Where are some of the big shows you are chomping at the bit over swinging our way this summer?
“Some of the festivals we will be performing at include Sunset Music Festival in Tampa, Summerfest in Milwaukee, Digital Dreams in Toronto, Qubec City International Summer Festival, with more TBA plus a bunch of club shows coming up.”
What is on a Crsytal Method rider in 2014…what’s different from one 15 years ago?
“Organic food and better tequila!”
Proud or kinda weird…? – “DJs may dominate Vegas nightlife today, but Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland were playing electronic dance music in local clubs before most of today’s clubgoers were even born.” – Las Vegas Weekly
“Both proud and a bit weird. Proud that we’ve been able to sustain a career for 20 years and a bit weird because we started making music in Vegas back in 1989 there was one club that played top 40 dance music. In fact, we would set up decks and rave flowers for lighting in a side room while a college rock band played Janes Addiction in the main room. Vegas has come a long way.”
What can you tell us about your live set lists in 2014…how much new material compares to the old material and have the reactions from the crowds when playing old stuff surprised you at all?
“We know the connection our fans have to our early albums and we know we wouldn’t be here without those fans. So we embrace our catalog and enjoy seeing the smiles when we drop the classics.”
And finally, album promotion, a summer of live shows, DJing around the world…what happens in 6 months time…?
“All of the above and much more. We also look forward to getting back in the studio.”
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