Hyper Crush

Concert Reviews • Friday August 1st, 2008 • 3:37 pm

From the moment I walked through the doors of Seattle’s El Corazon I was immediately thrust at warp speed into LA based Hyper Crush’s neon electro-hip-hop world. While standing in line at the bar, behind me was none other than the band’s California dreamboat of an MC, Donny Fontaine. I didn’t immediately recognize him, but a few of the kids I came to the show with had met the band a few months before at a tiny little venue in West Seattle, a pit-stop on Hyper Crush’s “practice tour.” One of my buddies greeted him eagerly and I turned to shake his hand.

“So you’re the infamous Mr. Donny Fontaine?” I breathed with excitement. In bright yellow pants and his signature Mercedes emblem hanging from his neck, his incredibly fly style only heightened his already blindingly good looks.

As Hyper Crush’s fan base is mostly comprised of younger kids who discovered the band via their recent Myspace explosion, the bar was empty save for us and Donny. I was thrilled with the opportunity to chat with him a little bit before he went on stage (not to mention, stunned with flattery when he complimented my outfit).

I was excited to learn that Hyper Crush is, in fact, working on new material. I am simply wriggling with anticipation to see what shape the next album takes. The incontestably captivating, house-heavy cuts that make up the Arcade, the band’s full-length debut, are a bit different from the mix tape, which has a bit of a softer feel, modernizing a fusion of the ’80s with the ’50s in the best way since Back to the Future.

Also, I have to give Hyper Crush mad respect because Donny was talking about how they have been receiving some interest from a number of record labels (MySpace included), but the group is wisely holding out for that absolutely perfect contract.

“We’ll put that shit out ourselves, we don’t care,” says Donny.

And they do a damn fine job all on their own. I couldn’t have taken notes even if I had wanted to; the show was just that insanely good, from start to finish. The band’s DJ, Preston Moronie, opened the set by hyping the crowd with some unbelievable dance beats, allowing the lights and lasers flashing across the house to assist him in amping the energy. I was already dancing so hard and having such ridiculous fun by this point, I couldn’t even tell you what song they opened with. The electricity in the room was positively humming and pulsating vigorously to the beat. I know for sure that all the fan favorites were in the mix: “Sex & Drugs,” “Candy Store,” and “Disco Tech.” The set was closed out brilliantly with “the Arcade” and I pumped my fist harder than ever to Preston’s genre-defying keytar solo.

I was most impressed by the endurance and athleticism displayed by the group’s resident femme fatal, Holly Valentine. She nailed each and every note of her sweetly sassy sections, even while dancing madly like a modern-day Pat Benetar. I was helplessly drawn closer and closer to the stage as Donny and Holly worked the crowd mercilessly with their lusty intensity.

Gasping for air as the house lights came on, I rushed outside to cool down. Unlike Holly, who was able to remain striking after such an exertion of energy, I was beet-red and drenched in sweat. I caught Donny for a moment as he was loading equipment into the van and gushed like a school-girl about the genius of their live show. When I returned to the venue, I was touched to find that Hyper Crush’s routine after a show is to cruise around the merch booth signing autographs, taking photos with anyone who wants one, and chatting up their fans, proving themselves to be the most amiable and gracious band I have seen in a long time.