| CD REVIEW Crash Street Kids |
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Band: Crash Street Kids Let’s start the history of this Phoenix (Arizona) based Rock band with their oldest member, drummer A.D. Adams, who came from the East coast to Los Angeles and Phoenix to do studio session work on the advice of friends in the music business. Following a chance meeting with former Alice Cooper guitarist Michael Bruce at a rehearsal studio in Phoenix, A.D. became a member of Michael’s band Billion Dollar Babies, joining the band for a California tour before settling in a studio to write and record a new album. Lead singer/ guitarist Ryan McKay had just arrived on the South-West music scene, formed his band South Seventeen within months, landed a deal with Electra Records, and became a must sought-after session musician. The two met at a Black Sabbath concert, realizing after a brief talk that they’d worked together on a recording session a year earlier. After swopping phone numbers, they then went on to enjoy the show separatedly. A couple of months later, it was decided that the Billion Dollar Babies would benefit from the addition of a session musician, and A.D. remembered Ryan. So, he was called in, and became a Billion Dollar Baby overnight. The sessions didn’t result in an album, but Ryan and A.D. struck a chord. Retreating in A.D.’s Shabbey Road Studios, the two simply hung out, venting their common musical interests, playing vinyl albums by the likes of T-Rex, Alice Cooper, New York Dolls, Slade, Bavid Bowie, Mott The Hoople. It was inevitable that the two would eventually pick up their instruments and start writing their own songs in that style…and it was then that the “conceptual” idea of “The Kid” started (in reality, it’s really just a series of situations, “…an amalgamation of anybody that’s had a Rock ‘n’ Roll dream, from the guy that’s watching the band, the kid that goes to the record store to buy the latest record, even the girl that sits alone in her room with her posters and just listens to the music…that’s the kid, all of that…” as McKay explains. The duo played some of their demos to friends in the music business, and got an overwhelmingly positive response, many wondering when the guys would showcase the songs! At that point the two understood they were onto something good. Even before they had decided to form an actual band, demo tapes had leaked out, and several clubs were approaching the guys to book the first Crash Street Kids gigs! The first to join was Ryan “Deuce” Gregory, a bassist who’d already made himself heard of in several local outfits, but with a style (originating in his liking of ’70 Rock bands) he couldn’t really push through. He happenstanced onto Shabbey Road Studios, dug the music that was being payed there, and ended up bringing along his own vinyl collection. Ricky Serrano had been crashing Open Mike Nights and various gigs in the Phoenix area since the age of 14, where his flashy guitar play set him apart. When looking for the appropriate people to record his band American Roulette’s only demo, they turned to A.D. and Ryan. He started hanging out with A.D., Ryan, and Deuce, and his first contribution to those get-togethers was Susy Quatro’s debut album. Obviously, these four had a common thread, and when they finally got together to have a jam session, that definitely came through! In stead of answering the call to perform live, the band reteated in the studio to record their debut album Let’s Rock And Roll Tonite, releasing it in 2006! Response from the guys’ music industry friends was definitely positive, and to follow that up the band invested in their “Supersonic Star Show”, built up with ramps, platforms, runways, scaffolding that went up 20 feet, high amp stacks, and the appropriate pyrotechnics…but also in the hiring of cheerleaders, midgets, you-name-its (at some point even money-filled balloons) to partake in the feast that every gig would become. To say that the band’s first show hit the East Coast like a tidal wave, may be an overstatement, but with only two shows under their belt CSK became the darlings of the Southern Californian media, were invited to numerous radio shows, interviewed by several magazines! Meanwhile the band had already started work on the continuation of the Kid saga (seeing as how people had dug into the concept, they decided to look at the darker side of the Rock Star’s life), writing and recording what would become their critically acclaimed sophomore album Chemical Dogs (actually, they even wrote enough material for a third album as well, and they had a touch time naoorwing things down to just 11 songs). Musically, the album was an expansion of their original sound. Occasionally heavier (with a Punk element), it also contained softer moments (with string elements)…and the media lóved it, the Phoenix New Times even heralding Chemical Dogs as “The Great Lost Glam Rock Concept Album of the Pre-Punkk Seventies” in their February 2007 cover story on the band! The media were not the only ones who loved it, music fans of all ages lining up at venues that held CSK shows with exhilerated smiles on their faces! The band’s popularity grew with every show! In November 2007 the band was flown to Hollywood’s sold-out Whiskey A-Go-Go, where they were honoured at the 17th annual Hollywood FAME Awards, receiving an award for “Breakthrough Band Of The Year”. A.D. also got an award for “Independant Rock Drummer Of The Year”, and was called upon to present a “Lifetime Achievement Award” to bassist Rudy Sarzo. CSK then turned the venue into a madhouse with a blistering show! Meanwhile, in Britain, Bistol based radio station BCFM gathered a panel of dj’s, writers, music critics, and listeners, and named Chemical Dogs “Album Of The Year 2007”. Continued success was bestowed upon the band when Minneapolis charity/media group Rock The Cause equally rated Chemical Dogs their top album of the year! The band was then nominated in 5 categories in the first annual Phoenix Music Awards in 2008, and went home with an awards for “Best Album”. Meanwhile, the boys were back at Shabbey Road Studios to record their third album Transatlantic Suicide, apparently the final enstallment in the Kid’s trilogy (wherein we learn more about the main character’s past, his secret, and the girl who changed everything…he’s forced to choose between everything he believes in and live itself), which already saw life Statewize as early as the Fall of 2008! The 11 tracks clearly show that with this band, the songwriting is the most important element of their music. Their image may be flashy (even with the occasional dressing up of the early Glam era), but you’ll find ‘70s Pop and grimy Sleeze Rock off that era oozing from the band’s core! And the songs posted at myspace.com/crashstreetkids (2 of which are off Transatlantic Suicide) should be sufficient to convince YOU, dear reader whom hadn’t heard CSK music yet, that we’re dealing with the genuine article here! Still, to my personal taste, things are a bit too “conventional” vocally…and what I mean is that I miss the vocal excentricity that went with the likes of New York Dolls, Mott The Hoople, Bowie, and the other acts CSK mentions as their major influences! Therefore the album gets taken some points off in the rating, even if I feel any serious fans of the genre should by all means get themselves a copy of it…and its precedessors! The album comes with a bonus DVD, including a short Rockumentary (near 19 minutes long), plus live footage of three songs (“Glassgow” played on the evening of their Hollywood FAME Award at the Whiskey A-Go-Go, plus “Sugar Queen” & the lengthy “The Deal” from a performance at Halloween in Cooperstown). CSK, with thousands of sold albums, are the living proof that the independent release of your material càn work, that with decent work ethics (and a lot of hard work) a band càn indeed make it in today’s world…providing you choose the musical vehicle that suits you, as a band, the best! 92/100 Tony. |