Last Thursday night, Crash Kings brought a musical explosion of funk, pop, rock and alternative beats to Portland's popular music venue The Asylum.
By 8:30 p.m. the main floor was full of anticipating fans waiting for Violent Soho, Crash Kings, Janus, Lost on Liftoff and Sick Puppies to take the stage.
While all of the bands brought energy and passion to the show, Crash Kings, a Los Angeles-based band whose debut rock album was released last May, stole the show. The band, composed of brothers Tony and Mike Beliveau and Jason Morris, has been touring nonstop since August 2009 and is set to open for JET on 15 to 20 dates during their tour in March 2010. In an interview over burgers and fries before the show, Andover, Mass.natives Tony and Mike Beliveau described their love of Boston sports and said they had forgotten how cold the Northeast is.
Although its debut album was considered a soft release surrounded by little hype, Crash Kings' shows have drawn large crowds at big venues like the Wiltern in Los Angeles. Several of their songs have received wide acclaim, including "It's Only Wednesday," which was featured in the movie "Zombieland," as well as the album's first single, "Mountain Man," which peaked at 21 on the Billboard Alternative chart last year.
When asked how they chose the name "Crash Kings", Mike recalled the brothers' early days in Los Angeles and their at times reckless behavior behind the wheel.
"We chose the name as a tribute to our somewhat crazy driving," said Mike. "I think the name fits the music—there's a sort of irony to being the king of chaos, and our music is very much organized chaos."
"In a sense we're throw-back," added Tony, "but we're looking forward in the sense that we're using instruments in a new way that people haven't really explored."
One of these new instruments is the clavinet, a device that looks like a keyboard and is described by Tony as "an electric guitar in a box." The multifunctional nature of the clavinet allows the trio additional flexibility and a wide-ranging sound. However, probably the most versatile instrument at their disposal is Tony's voice, which vacillates with facility between bass and soprano.
Tony's dominance of the show was evident from the first sound of their set: a drawn out belt of "Carry On" that echoed through the entire room. Tony's leather jacket, tattooed hand and long brown hair contrasted with his brother Mike's more conservative look, but the two harmonized beautifully. The ferocity of Tony's clavinet solos was broken up nicely by moments of softer vocals and Mike and Jason's intervals on the bass and drums, respectively.
"1985" came next, with punchier vocals and a slightly poppy sound that made one think of Tony and Mike as modern day versions of Noel and Liam Gallagher. The energy was intense, with Mike bouncing around stage with his bass and Tony singing—at times angrily—into the microphone.
With "It's Only Wednesday" the band retreated to a more predictable Ben Folds Five sound, with bouncy piano punctuated sparingly by drums and bass. The song is less adventurous than the band's other tunes, but is redeemed by a pulsating bass solo to break up the sweetness.
"Mountain Man" was definitely the best song of the night and understandably the group's most popular single to date. The song opened with the low whine of the clavinet and quickly had the roughly 100-person audience bobbing its head and throwing hands in the air to mimic the energy of the group on stage. The song incorporated slow buildup of drum grooves, bass, and funk-based piano before clavinet solos unleashed total mayhem. Tony may as well have been making love to his clavinet, playing it with wildly moving fingers, his body thrown back in a sort of exorcised pose. His voice exploded with clarity as he belted the memorable lyrics, "I'm sipping on some sunshine!".
The audience at Asylum last Friday left the venue having seen a wide range of music, but none left a larger impression than Crash Kings, in particularTony Beliveau. However, no one individual makes a band, and the trio came together to put on a show that in every way showed off their multidimensionality and made them impossible to pigeonhole.
When asked how they would describe their style, even the band itself struggled to find the right terminology.
"Is alternative the right thing? I don't know," said Tony. "Grunge? At times, but we can also be a mellow band too—but there's still an element of edge to it."