The Crystal Method
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| The Crystal Method | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Genre(s) | Big Beat, Electronic music |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Label(s) | Outpost, Geffen, V2 |
| Website | http://www.thecrystalmethod.com |
| Members | |
| Ken Jordan Scott Kirkland |
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The Crystal Method is a Grammy nominated electronic music duo that formed in Los Angeles, California in the early 1990s. It is made up of Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland[1]. The duo is known for their live sets and for having many of their songs feature in films, television shows, and video games. With the platinum-status album Vegas[2], The Crystal Method has become one of the best-selling electronica bands in the United States.[3]
[edit] Biography
The Crystal Method is made up of two members, Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland[4]. Both of them were born in Las Vegas, Nevada[5]. Kirkland was born when his mother was only fifteen[6]. He grew up listening to his mother's music, disco and his father's music, rock. When he had grown a little older, he began listening to Heavy metal, as well as bands like Depeche Mode . Ken Jordan also grew up listening to classic rock and 80's electronic as well.[7]
[edit] Early Days (1993 - 1995)
By the early 90's, both Ken and Scott had moved to Los Angeles, though they had not met yet[8]. Apparently, Ken had met Scott in a club at which he was DJing. Before The Crystal Method was formed, Ken was working in a studio as a producer, and Scott was a DJ at a local club.[9][10] After they had met, they formed The Crystal Method in 1993. The name, "The Crystal Method" is known to be a drug reference to Methamphetamine (aka Crystal Meth). The name actually derives from a woman named Crystal who both Ken and Scott both had a crush on simultaneously. They told one of their friends whom they were working with as producers, a rapper, about this dilemma. The rapper had, according to Kirkland, said "Ah, the Crystal Method". Ken and Scott both liked this name and decided to use it as their band name.[11] They later said that the name was also a drug reference[12], and would later even name one of their albums "Tweekend" after it (to "Tweek" means to use the drug Crystal Meth)[13]. Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland both bought a house in Glendale, California which had a miniature underground shelter in front of it. This shelter was very small, and was apparently built for the Cuban Missile Crisis[14]. Both of them had soundproofed this small underground space, which was located in the front lawn of the house. This became their own small recording studio, in which they would record their first three albums. They named the shelter/recording studio "The Bomb Shelter".[15]
After "The Bomb Shelter" was established, The Crystal Method began recording music. This early music made it onto tape not long after. A British DJ named Justin King eventually got a hold of this tape. King was interested in starting a record label that would showcase American electronic dance acts. King teamed up with Scottish transplant Stephen Melrose to form the record label, City of Angels[16]. The first official release from the City of Angels label was a popular song by The Crystal Method, "Now is the Time"[17]. This song made The Crystal Method a successful underground electronic band. Eventually The Crystal Method were signed to Outpost Recordings in 1996.[18]
[edit] Vegas (1996 - 1998)
After the band was signed to Outpost Recordings, they began working on their debut album. The first single released by The Crystal Method after "Now is the Time" and last release from the band from City of Angels would be arguably their most well known. "Keep Hope Alive" was the name of this song[19]. "Keep Hope Alive" soon made The Crystal Method more popular. Not long after this release, The Crystal Method released a song exclusive to the "Mortal Kombat: More Kombat" soundtrack, "Come2gether".[20]
On September 8, 1997, The Crystal Method released what would become one of the best selling and most recognized electronic albums ever released in the United States.[21][22] Titled Vegas, it reached #92 on the Billboard 200[23]. Though 92nd place is the worst ever achieved by a studio album from the band, it is their best selling, eventually being certified platinum by the RIAA in 2007. Most electronic albums do not make it to this level, and Vegas has made The Crystal Method one of the best selling electronic bands in the United States.
Vegas has also had more singles than any other album by The Crystal Method. 5 singles have been released from the album, and the album has 10 tracks. A full list of the singles from Vegas is: "Trip Like I Do", "Busy Child", "High Roller", "Comin' Back", and "Keep Hope Alive". Many of these songs are the most well-known to have been released by The Crystal Method, including "Trip Like I Do", "Busy Child", and "Keep Hope Alive".[24]
[edit] Tweekend (1999 - 2001)
The studio album Vegas had made The Crystal Method one of the most popular electronic bands. In 1999, the band went into the studio to record their next studio album, which had a remarkably larger number of featured vocalists and artists than Vegas.[25] Unlike Vegas, however, the band had not released any singles prior to the release of the album[26]. The Crystal Method's second studio album is called Tweekend and was released in July, 2001. It reached #32 on the Billboard 200, and is the highest charting album by The Crystal Method to date. The name, "Tweekend" is derived from the massive demise of the West Coast rave scene in the late 90's and early 00's.
Featured guests from the album include Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, Stone Temple Pilots lead singer Scott Weiland, and others, like Doug Grean, DJ Swamp, Ryan "Ryu" Maginn, and Julie Gallios. Tweekend spawned 4 singles: "Wild, Sweet and Cool", "Murder", "Blowout", and the hit single, "Name of the Game", one of The Crystal Method's most popular tracks[27]. Though Tweekend charted well, especially for an electronic album, it has not received a certified award from the RIAA.[28]
[edit] Community Service (2002)
The Crystal Method used to have a popular radio show called "Community Service" which aired Friday nights on a radio station, Indie 103.1 in California. The show was hosted by Ken and Scott. They would play electronic music and have electronic music guests, like Death in Vegas and UNKLE.[29]
Nearly one year after the release of Tweekend, The Crystal Method released a mix album based on the "Community Service" radio show[30] This album is called simply, Community Service. The album does not feature any new studio recorded songs by The Crystal Method, but is composed of remixes of bands like P.O.D., Rage Against the Machine, and Garbage, all put onto a gapless CD. Some of these remixes are done by The Crystal Method, and some tracks on the album are remixes of songs from The Crystal Method's Tweekend. The Crystal Method's remix of "Boom" by P.O.D., which can be found on Community Service has even been used in the video game Amplitude.[31][32][33]
Community Service charted well for being an electronic music continuous mix album, and hit more charts than any other studio album by The Crystal Method at the time. It reached #160 on the Billboard 200, #5 on the electronic albums chart, and #15 on the Independent release chart.[34]
[edit] Legion of Boom (2003 - 2004)
After the release of Community Service, The Crystal Method went back into the studio to record their third album, Legion of Boom.[35] During the recording of Legion of Boom, The Crystal Method used the house as their recording studio instead of "The Bomb Shelter".[36]
In December of 2003, The Crystal Method released their first single from Legion of Boom, called "Born Too Slow"[37], which features vocals from Kyuss lead singer, John Garcia and guitars from former Limp Bizkit member Wes Borland. "Born Too Slow" has become the group's most popular song from Legion of Boom, and is one of only two singles released from the album[38]. Legion of Boom was released on January 13, 2004, and hit the Billboard at #36. It sold over 25,000 copies in its first week.[39][40]
The other single released from Legion of Boom was "Starting Over"[41], featuring vocals from former member of The Roots, Rahzel. Though only two singles were released, there are popular songs from Legion of Boom, most recognized for being in movies and TV shows. "Weapons of Mass Distortion", "Bound Too Long" and "Realizer", are examples. The song "I Know It's You" has been used in the trailer for the film "Resident Evil: Extinction", and even includes vocals by Milla Jovovich, who is also an actress and plays the main protagonist in "Resident Evil: Extinction".[42]
In 2005, it was nominated for a Grammy in the category of electronic albums. Though Legion of Boom lost, it is remarkable that it was the first year that the Grammys had offered an award for "Best Electronic/Dance Album". The winner that year was Kish Kash by Basement Jaxx.[43]
It is also around this time that Ken and Scott formed their own record label, called Tiny e Recordings.[44]
[edit] Community Service II (2005)
On April 5, 2005, The Crystal Method released their sequel to Community Service, called Community Service II. Compared to Community Service, Community Service II received lukewarm critical acclaim[45]. It reached #31 on the Top Independent Albums chart and #8 on the Top Electronic albums chart[46]. Community Service II has the same set up as the original Community Service: a continuous mix of electronica songs and remixes from some well known bands. Popular bands featured on Community Service II include The Doors, UNKLE, New Order and Smashing Pumpkins.[47]
At approximately the same time of the release of Community Service II, a 5-track extended play was released onto the iTunes online store only[48]. This EP contained one new, previously unreleased track, "Badass", and also contained the full-length versions of tracks 8, 10, 13, and 14 from Community Service II. This EP is called Community Service II Exclusives, and was taken from the iTunes store not long after it was put on. It was not released elsewhere.[49][50]
[edit] London (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2006)
In early 2006, The Crystal Method composed their first original motion picture soundtrack[51][52], for the film, "London". Released on February 24, the album is mainly composed of instrumental tracks by The Crystal Method, popular ones being "Fire to Me" which has been used on the TV show The L Word and "Defective", which was used during Super Bowl XLI. There are other songs on the album which were not done by The Crystal Method, but by artists like Evil Nine, The Out Crowd, and The Perishers among others.[53]
There was a single released by The Crystal Method from the album, "Smoked" / "Glass Breaker" which only contained the original versions of both "Smoked" and "Glass Breaker", the only two songs from the London Soundtrack by The Crystal Method to have vocals.[54][55]
[edit] Drive: Nike + Original Run (2006)
Only a few months after the release of the London Soundtrack, The Crystal Method got an offer from Nike to record a mix album, made to help people with their running exercises. The Crystal Method recorded a 45 minute long song, which starts off slow, begins to get faster, and slows down at the end, which follows the arc of a typical distance run. After carrying the runner through an easy warm-up, the song increases in pitch, and eventually peaks with a fast-paced segment of the 45 minute song, and eventually brings the runner to a cool-down as the song becomes slower.[56][57][58]
Drive: Nike + Original Run was released onto iTunes on June 28, 2006[59]. Even though there have been many other Nike Sport continuous exercise albums released onto iTunes from other artists (like LCD Soundsystem and Aesop Rock), Drive is the only one to be released physically. On June 26, 2007, Drive by The Crystal Method was released to all Best Buy stores, and on February 5, 2008 Drive was released to all record stores. Drive hit #23 on the top electronic albums chart.[60][61]
[edit] Vegas (Deluxe Edition) and Now is the Time (Vote '08 Remix) (2007 - 2008)
In 2007, Vegas was certified platinum by the RIAA, making it one of the best selling electronic albums in the United States[62][63]. This was also the ten year anniversary of Vegas[64], and The Crystal Method celebrated it by releasing a Deluxe Edition of Vegas, which was a double album, the first disc containing the original Vegas and the second disc containing various remixes of songs from Vegas, a music video for the song "Comin' Back", and a live performance of "Vapor Trail"[65][66][67]. Two remix singles were released from Vegas (Deluxe Edition): "Busy Child (Sta Remix)" and "Cherry Twist (Deadmau5 Remix)"[68]. "High Roller (Myagi Remix)" is also another popular track released from Vegas (Deluxe Edition), though it has not been released as a single.[69][70]
In late 2008, The Crystal Method remixed an older song of theirs, "Now is the Time", in celebration of the presidential election. They used samples of a Barack Obama speech instead of the original "Now is the Time" sample (Jesse Jackson) to create "Now is the Time (Vote '08 Remix)". "Now is the Time (Vote '08 Remix)" was released from The Crystal Method's website for free.[71]
[edit] Divided by Night (2009 - Present)
Apparently, after the release of Legion of Boom, The Crystal Method began construction on their own full-sized recording studio. It took a long time for this new, state-of-the-art recording studio to be built. The name of the studio is Crystalwerks[72][73], and is in Los Angeles, California. When finished, The Crystal Method began working on their fourth album.
In late 2008, The Crystal Method said that they would be coming out with their fourth studio album sometime in 2009. In December 2008, they said that the name of their new album would be Divided by Night and would be released in mid 2009[74]. During the same interview, The Crystal Method said that their new single would be called "Drown in the Now" and would feature vocals by the popular Jewish reggae rapper Matisyahu.
The Crystal Method set up a remix contest for their song "Double Down Under" another new song from the album, and did not release any other information until early 2009[75][76]. They said that Divided by Night would feature more featured guest artists than any other album. A full list of the featured guests on Divided by Night is: Peter Hook (of New Order), Matisyahu, Justin Warfield (of She Wants Revenge), LMFAO, Samantha Maloney, Emily Haines (of Metric), Jason Lytle (of Grandaddy), Meiko, and The Heavy on the iTunes exclusive bonus track, "Play for Real".[77][78][79][80][81]
On April 14, 2009, The Crystal Method released the single "Drown in the Now" from iTunes along with a pre-order for Divided by Night[82]. In early May to mid June, The Crystal Method will embark on the Divided by Night Tour, their first major live tour since Legion of Boom was released.
On April 28, 2009, The Crystal Method released the second single from Divided by Night, called "Black Rainbows", which features vocals from Justin Warfield's wife, Stefanie King Warfield. It was released exclusively to Beatport.com.[83]
On May 5, 2009, The Crystal Method made history by teaming up with Virgin America Airlines for a live fan chat while flying to Boston, MA for the opening of their 2009 Tour. Fans from all over the world joined in for the 1 hour Q&A session.[84]
Divided by Night was officially released on May 12, 2009. It reached #38 on the Billboard 200, #2 on the top electronic albums chart, and #4 on the top independent albums chart, it being The Crystal Method's first studio release on their independent record label, Tiny e.[85][86][87]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
- Vegas (August 26, 1997)
- Tweekend (July 31, 2001)
- Legion of Boom (January 13, 2004)
- Divided by Night (May 12, 2009)
[edit] Mix Albums
- Community Service (July 23, 2002)
- Community Service II (April 5, 2005)
- Drive: Nike + Original Run iTunes - (June 28, 2006), Best Buy - (June 26, 2007)
[edit] Soundtrack Albums
- London (2006)
[edit] Others
- White Label Vinyl - a vinyl with unreleased tracks
[edit] Singles
- Non-Album Remixes
- Linkin Park - "Pts.Of.Athrty"
- Cardinal - "Bodyslide"
- DJ Keoki - "Caterpillar"
- Amos - "Come Away"
- Biz Markie - "Going Off"
- Moby - "Come on Baby"
- Ezee Possee - "Everything Starts with an 'E'"
- Zen Cowboys - "Mad World"
[edit] Work
[edit] Television and advertisement
The title theme to the TV show Bones is credited to The Crystal Method. The Chef Aid album, based on the "Chef Aid" episode of South Park, featured a re-working of "Vapor Trail", which includes vocals by DMX, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Ozzy Osbourne, and Fuzzbubble. The song was renamed "Nowhere to Run" or sometimes "Nowhere to Run (Vapor Trail)." Episode 13, the popular TV shows Alias and CSI, featured "Starting Over" from Legion of Boom. They were also in Dark Angel ("Name of the Game", "Roll It Up") and the theme music of Third Watch was "Keep Hope Alive" from their Vegas album. The song "Trip Like I Do" was featured in an episode of House during a rave scene(Season 1, Episode 10 - Histories), and was also featured in a trailer for "The Matrix". The song "Vice" was used in the second episode of season five of House. The track "Busy Child" also featured in a 1998 advertisement for The Gap which featured skateboarders, while the track "High Roller" was used that year in an advertisement for the second generation Mazda MX-5 Miata, as well as in a 2008 Lincoln car commercial. The track "Name of the Game" has also been used as intro music for live performances by magician The Amazing Johnathan and even in Hummer advertisements. Additionally, "Weapons of Mass Distortion" was used in the trailer for The Bourne Ultimatum. The United States Air Force Thunderbirds jet demonstration team also currently uses "High Roller" as background music while the crew pre-flights the jets during the beginning of their show.
[edit] Video gaming
The track "Name of the Game" (from Tweekend) was also featured as intro music for the popular video game Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and was also featured in Pump It Up: Exceed for the Playstation 2 and XBOX US versions. Their music was also featured extensively in the EA Sports video game FIFA '98: Road to World Cup, which included the tracks "Busy Child", "Keep Hope Alive", "More", and "Now Is The Time." Their song "Busy Child" was featured in the video games DDRMAX2: Dance Dance Revolution and Donkey Konga, and "Born Too Slow" was included in both Donkey Konga 2 and Need for Speed: Underground. Several songs from their first album also featured prominently in the game N2O: Nitrous Oxide. "The Winner" (from Tweekend) was featured in the video game FreQuency, and their remix of P.O.D.'s "Boom" was also featured in its sequel, Amplitude. The track "Roll It Up" is also featured as the title theme for Mad Dash Racing. "Now Is The Time" can be heard in-game in Gran Turismo 2, while "Born Too Slow (Deepsky's Green Absinthe Dub Mix)" can be heard in Gran Turismo 4. The original version of "Born Too Slow" can be heard in Need For Speed: Underground, as listed above. And the track "Robogirl" (a censored version of "Roboslut") can be found in the latest edition of Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova.
The Crystal Method collaborated with Tobias Enhus to create the track "Subway Showdown" for The Matrix - Path of Neo, which also used "Free Your Mind Up" in both its original and instrumental forms. The tracks "Busy Child", "Robogirl" and "Weapons of Mass Distortion" can be heard in the menus in the Xbox 360 title, Forza Motorsport 2.
"Keep Hope Alive (Trip Hope Mix)" was featured in the first teaser trailer of Microsoft's Project Gotham Racing 4, for the Xbox 360, at the X06 event. It is also included in the full version of the game.
The Crystal Method also supplied the soundtrack to the Playstation game N2O developed by Fox Interactive. The soundtrack is composed primarily from the duo's Vegas album with a few remixes not found on Vegas.
[edit] Instruments
The Crystal Method use a wide array of equipment, with the Clavia Nord Lead being most closely associated with their style and sound. It was the primary source of sound for their first album Vegas.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.org
- ^ http://www.riaa.com
- ^ http://www.billboard.com
- ^ http://www.gotmeth.net
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.com
- ^ http://www.gotmeth.net
- ^ http://www.gotmeth.net
- ^ http://www.gotmeth.net
- ^ http://www.gotmeth.net
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.org
- ^ http://www.gotmeth.net
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0207998/
- ^ http:/www.discogs.com
- ^ http://www.gotmeth.net
- ^ http://www.gotmeth.net
- ^ http://www.gotmeth.net
- ^ http://www.discogs.com
- ^ http://www.gotmeth.net
- ^ http://www.discogs.com
- ^ http://www.discogs.com
- ^ http://www.riaa.com
- ^ http://www.billboard.com
- ^ http://www.billboard.com
- ^ http://www.discogs.com
- ^ http://www.amazon.com
- ^ http://www.discogs.com
- ^ http://www.itunes.com
- ^ http://www.riaa.com
- ^ http://www.indie1031.com/
- ^ http://www.discogs.com
- ^ http://www.discogs.com
- ^ http://www.ign.com
- ^ http://www.itunes.com
- ^ http://www.riaa.com
- ^ http://www.discogs.com
- ^ http://www.youtube.com
- ^ http://www.discogs.com
- ^ http://www.discogs.com
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.com
- ^ http://www.gotmeth.net
- ^ http://www.discogs.com
- ^ http://www.fandango.com
- ^ http://www.grammy.com
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.com
- ^ http://www.indie1031.com
- ^ http://www.riaa.com
- ^ http://www.amazon.com
- ^ http://www.itunes.com
- ^ http://www.amazon.com
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.com
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.com
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.org
- ^ http://www.amazon.com
- ^ http://www.discogs.com
- ^ http://www.itunes.com
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.com
- ^ http://www.amazon.com
- ^ http://www.itunes.com
- ^ http://www.itunes.com
- ^ http://www.amazon.com
- ^ http://www.riaa.com
- ^ http://www.riaa.com
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.com
- ^ http://www.discogs.com
- ^ http://www.amazon.com
- ^ http://www.itunes.com
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.org
- ^ http://www.discogs.com
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.org
- ^ http://www.discogs.com
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.com
- ^ http://www.twitter.com
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.com
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.org
- ^ http://www.myspace.com
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.org
- ^ http://www.itunes.com
- ^ http://www.amazon.com
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.org
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.com
- ^ http://www.discogs.com
- ^ http://www.itunes.com
- ^ http://www.beatport.com
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.com
- ^ http://www.riaa.com
- ^ http://www.thecrystalmethod.com
- ^ http://www.discogs.com
[edit] External links
- Official website
- The Crystal Method at the Internet Movie Database
- July 2008 interview with the band at Stereo Subversion
- Interview with The Crystal Method (October 2001) at DJ Times
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