The Crystal Method

Strange as it may seem, even your grandma has probably heard a Crystal Method song. The rock/techno hybrid duo of Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland defined the big beat genre of electronic music and were the strongest American player on the global dance music scene for the better part of the nineties.

Their work has been included in several movies, remixes, and other projects. Their style (or an imitation of it) became the soundtrack for the car chase scene in the standard summer action flick (who hasn’t seen the ubiquitous previews for such movies?). They have become so big in certain circles that people will do aerial stunts just for the chance to talk about their greatness (please see below for a description of the interloper).

I sat down with them about an hour before they played a killer DJ set for over 15,000 saucer-eyed fans from 2-4:30am at the Rothbury Music Festival in central Michigan. We discussed their new album, the state of the electronic music scene, and how to make techno music without electricity.

SSv: I’ve often seen your music described as dance music for rock and roll fans, how do you feel about that description?

Scott: There’s a radio show in Los Angeles where the DJ describes us as dance music that rocks and rock music you can dance to. There are a lot of organic elements to our sound, lots of distortion, and a real influence from rock and hip hop. It’s definitely not your typical techno dance music.

SSv: Can you describe how you’ve seen your career change from the early nineties back in your old rehearsal space in LA, I think you called it the Bomb Shelter, through the nineties when you were changing music and up through today?

Scott: Well…it has changed, you know, we put out our first single in 1994, so we’ve had a lot of time for it to change. It’s been over fourteen years. But overall there is a recognizable sort of feel, I wouldn’t say a sound, but you can see all the way from our first single, I think we’ve kept some of the same feel, some of the same elements of what we do. You can generally recognize a Crystal Method track even though we try to develop ourselves from each project to the next.

Ken: Yeah it’s true our songs have changed over the years. We try to develop so that our next album doesn’t sound like our last album, so we definitely have done some things to change and evolve as a band. But there’s still that element. It’s a big compliment for us when someone will say, “This sounds totally different but I can tell it’s a Crystal Method song.” And that’s what we strive for, to sound totally different but exactly the same. [Laughs]

SSv: Let’s talk about albums for a minute. Ken, you did an interview with Culture Bully…

Ken: I did? [Laughs]

SSv: It’s a music website, something I dug up on the internet, it’s real I promise … is it coming back to you? [Laughs] Let me refresh your memory: according to the interview, you said Crystal Method would release a new album in 2007 with a tour to follow.

Ken: [Laughs] Are you sure? When was that?

SSv: Late in ’06, November I think…

Scott: He’s always very optimistic when it comes to album releases.

Ken: Yeah, I’ve decided that I’m out of the business of predicting when our records are going to come out because I’m predictably wrong every time.

Scott: We built a new studio which took a little longer than we expected, so that delayed it. Plus we sort of just take our time to get it right, like the song says. [Starts singing “Time Is On Our Side”]

Ken: We’re making fine wine not beer.

Scott: It takes a little while for it to marinate. Ken’s always been overly optimistic when it comes to our releases. It just takes awhile to get it done right. Plus you never know, in this business, the changing world of record business and how it’s evolving, you never know your next record could be your last record so always want to make sure to do the best you can to get the album sounding the way you want it to sound. It will be out this year, that I can guarantee. You can put it down on paper. I will be out this year.

SSv: Done. So, can you tell me about the Nike material?

Scott: The Nike thing, we didn’t do that as a studio album. It was a project we that did that had a specific theme to it. That wasn’t … it did have a lot of new elements to it and new songs, but it was based solely on making music to work out to and to give someone the energy and drive to want to work out or continue to work out. And that’s not something we think about when we’re making a studio album. It was like making a specific soundtrack to a type of movie or scoring a specific type of piece based around a theme and that theme was working out.

SSv: Did you guys go out and run for 45 minutes and then go right into the studio?

Scott: [Laughs] No, but I envisioned what it would be like running. I threw water in my face. But we understand the dynamics of creating energy in a track and how to sort of build it up. Actually over the years a lot of people have told us that it’s so easy to work out to our music, to spin to our music, to drive to our music, so all of those elements are in there.

SSv: It’s natural with the genre too, building to crescendos, the beat going in and out.

Ken: That’s true

SSv: So, still talking about albums. For a group that has so many singles and does so many different types of performances, from DJ sets to live instrumental performance, what constitutes an album for you? Do you even define your work in terms of albums? Do you go into the studio to consciously make an album special in that way, and if so, how?

Ken: Yes, we do. We do define them that way. To us, we’ve only put out three albums so far: Vegas, Tweekend and Legion of Boom. And this will be our fourth. An album for us is a collection of songs that represent the work we’re doing at that time. And so [the tracks] are all meant to be played together, although each can stand alone as a song, but it’s meant to be as one.

SSv: So we’re here at the Rothbury festival, and they’re really bending over backwards to be eco-friendly in every way imaginable. Like that cup you have in your hand isn’t plastic, it’s made of corn so it will compost, if you can believe it.

Scott: It’s amazing. I don’t see any kernels. [Laughs]

SSv: So roll with me here, in a post-apocalyptic future where the climate crisis everyone’s talking about happens in the worst way, and we’re living Mad Max style with no electricity, could you still make Crystal Method music without electricity?

Scott: Hmmmmm…

Ken: It would very difficult, for us.

[Note: at this point in the interview, an interloper attempted some sort of aerial ninja move over the back of the couch I was sitting on, planting himself right next to me. Ken and Scott greeted him like an old friend before continuing their answer so I just went with it.]

Ken: I don’t know, it would be very difficult. In the Mad Max world we would probably be thinking about… hmmm…

Scott: Clean water. Must have water!

Ken: Well, when we’re playing live, you know, we don’t have a segment where we go into unplugged mode. [Laughs] The whole unplugged segment is not in our repertoire just yet.

Scott: And in that world, I don’t know if music, unfortunately would be a priority. Don’t know if…

SSv: Sometimes when things are the shittiest, music is one of the only good…

Scott: True. That’s true…

Ken: I think we could always make some kind of electricity, enough to run one amp, one mixer and one synth.

SSv: You could rig up a stationary bike to a generator, and one can pedal while the other mixes.

Ken: [Laughs] There you go.

SSv: You’d have to take turns.

Scott: Yep there you go. Fantastic.

[At this point, the interloper talked briefly with Ken and Scott, then apologized for interrupting the interview. Apparently he’s been a good friend of the band since the very beginning, and offered to “help me out” with his vast knowledge of TCM lore. He didn’t seem to feel the need to leave, so I took him up on his kind offer and invited him to be guest interviewer and ask one question for me.]

Interloper: So, what was your first live show like?

Ken and Scott: [Laughter]

Interloper: C’mon you guys answer my question.

SSv: Why not? Let’s roll with it, talk about your first live show.

Interloper: These guys are going to beat my ass later. [Laughter] C’mon, you’ve been really successful and all so it’s always fun to talk about your first live show.

Ken: First live show was great!

Scott: First live show…

Ken: Our first live show we opened for the Chemical Brothers, it was January of ’95, and they were still called the Dust Brothers at the time. And yeah, I was like, incredibly nervous because I had never performed onstage, ever. And I had to drink a lot just to get the nerves to do it. But I remember right before we started playing, there was a spotlight on the synth controls and I could see my hand just shaking.

Interloper: I have a follow up. [Laughter] What was it like at your first live show when it worked.

Ken: When it works it’s great. [Laughs]

Scott: Yeah, when it works it works.

Ken: I’m still waiting for a live show to work actually. [Laughs] No, we’ve had a lot of great shows.

Scott: Well, at least in our inebriated minds they went well.

SSv: So, when in doubt just make sure you don’t remember it the next day, is that how it works?

Ken: Yep. And if the crowd looks too small, just drink ‘till you’re cross-eyed then it looks like there are twice as many.

Scott: There you go.

SSv: I’m so not drunk right now.

Scott and Ken: [Laughter]

SSv: Alright, I’ve got to get to work here; I’ve got one more question for you. At Stereo Subversion, we cover a lot of these indie bands … they’re full bands, but they play dance music. Dance punk is what the kids call it, like The Foals, the exclamation point band, however you’re supposed to say it…

Scott: Yeah, !!! [tchk, tchk, tchk]

SSv: LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip … What do you think about what they’re doing in terms of your history of pioneering the technique of using live guitars into your sound? How does that relate to what you did? What do you think about what they’re doing?

Scott: I think it’s the next big thing in electronic music. Back in the mid-to-late ’90s we never thought it would evolve into that. But we always wanted to inspire new ways of presenting music, and over the last five years, I see a sense of, you know you mentioned LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip, the way they bring the elements of electronic music into a more rock band aesthetic. It’s pleasing to the ear, it’s pleasing to the crowd because you get that element of a live band performing music that usually isn’t performed live.

I love the state of the music scene right now, the music industry is shit, but the scene itself, the people that are making music in different areas of the world, they have created amazing bands and scenes in the last five years, obviously France would be one of them. There’s a lot of amazing music for bands like us to be inspired by and for kids to have a choice, you know, kids that are 14 or 15, have a good alternative choice beyond just punk and hip hop. I mean, there are great clubs in LA where kids are showing up at 18 years old, not being able to drink but just grabbing a few red bulls and dancing for three hours. That’s good for the future of our scene.

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