The Crystal Method is an American electronic music duo that formed in Los Angeles, California by Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland in the early 1990s. They continued to release albums and tour through the 2000s, and their songs have appeared in numerous video games, commercials, and films. The duo also composed and recorded original film soundtracks. Their best-selling album, Vegas, was certified platinum in 2007.
Biography
The Crystal Method is made up of two members, Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland. Both of them were born in Las Vegas, Nevada.[1] Kirkland was born when his mother was only fifteen. 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 '80s electronic as well.
Early days (1993–1995)
By the early '90s, both Ken and Scott had moved to Los Angeles. 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. 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 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. They later said that the name was also a drug reference,[2] and would later even name one of their albums "Tweekend" after it (to "Tweek" means to use the drug crystal meth). Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland bought a house together, in Glendale, California, which had a small underground shelter beneath the front lawn. This shelter was very small, and was apparently built for the Cuban Missile Crisis. They soundproofed the shelter and turned it into a recording studio, where they recorded their first three albums. They named the shelter/recording studio The Bomb Shelter.
After The Bomb Shelter was built, 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. The first official release from the City of Angels label was The Crystal Method's "Now is the Time". This song made The Crystal Method a successful underground electronic band. The Crystal Method were signed to Outpost Recordings in 1996.
Vegas (1996–1998)
After the band was signed to Outpost Recordings, they began working on their debut album. The group's second (and last) single on City of Angels was "Keep Hope Alive". Their next release was on the Mortal Kombat: More Kombat soundtrack, "Come2gether".
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. Titled Vegas, it reached number 92 on the Billboard 200.[3] It was certified gold by the RIAA in 1998, then platinum in 2007.[4]
Five of the album's ten tracks were released as singles: "Trip Like I Do", "Busy Child", "High Roller", "Comin' Back", and "Keep Hope Alive".
Tweekend (1999–2002)
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 featured more vocalists and artists than Vegas. Unlike Vegas, however, the band had not released any singles prior to the release of the album. The Crystal Method's second studio album, Tweekend, was released in July, 2001. It reached number 32 on the Billboard 200,[3] 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 '90s and early '00s.
Featured guests from the album include Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland, and others, like Doug Grean, DJ Swamp, Ryan "Ryu" Maginn, and Julie Gallios. Tweekend spawned four singles: "Wild, Sweet and Cool", "Murder", "Blowout", "Name of the Game".
Jordan and Kirkland used to have a radio show called "Community Service" which aired Friday nights on radio station Indie 103.1, in California. They would play electronic music and hosted guests, like Death in Vegas and UNKLE.
A year after the release of Tweekend, The Crystal Method released a continuous mix album based on their radio show, titled Community Service. The album does not feature any new studio material from The Crystal Method, but is composed of remixes of bands like P.O.D., Rage Against the Machine, and Garbage. Some of the remixes are 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 also appeared in the video game Amplitude.
Community Service reached number 160 on the Billboard 200, number five on the Top Electronic Albums chart, and number 15 on the Top Independent Albums chart.[3]
Legion of Boom (2003–2005)
After the release of Community Service, The Crystal Method went back into the studio to record their third album, Legion of Boom. During the recording of Legion of Boom, The Crystal Method used the house as their recording studio instead of The Bomb Shelter.
In December 2003, The Crystal Method released their first single from Legion of Boom, called "Born Too Slow", which featured vocals from Kyuss lead singer, John Garcia and guitars from Limp Bizkit's Wes Borland. "Born Too Slow" was one of only two singles released from the album. Legion of Boom was released on January 13, 2004, and peaked at number 36 on the Billboard 200.[3] It sold over 25,000 copies in its first week.[1]
The other single released from Legion of Boom was "Starting Over", which featured vocals from Rahzel from The Roots. Though only two singles were released, there are popular songs from Legion of Boom, most recognized for being in movies and TV shows, including "Weapons of Mass Distortion", "Bound Too Long" and "Realizer". The song "I Know It's You" appeared in the trailer for the film "Resident Evil: Extinction", and includes vocals by that film's star, Milla Jovovich.
In 2005, it was nominated for the Best Electronic/Dance Album Grammy,[5] the first year that category existed. It lost to Kish Kash by Basement Jaxx.[6]
It is also around this time that Jordan and Kirkland formed their own record label, called Tiny e Recordings.[1]
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. It reached number 31 on the Top Independent Albums chart and number 8 on the Top Electronic albums chart.[3] 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. Bands featured on Community Service II include The Doors, Unkle, New Order and Smashing Pumpkins.
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. 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 removed from the iTunes store not long after it was released. It was not released elsewhere.[1]
Drive, London, and Vegas re-release (2006–2008)
Only a few months after the release of the London soundtrack, The Crystal Method got an offer from Nike to record a mix album, designed to help people with their running. 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.[1]
Drive: Nike + Original Run was released onto iTunes on June 28, 2006. 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 to other retailers. Drive peaked at number 23 on the Top Electronic Albums chart.[3]
London soundtrack
In early 2006, The Crystal Method composed the soundtrack for the film "London".[1] 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.
There was a single released by The Crystal Method from the album, "Smoked" / "Glass Breaker" which only contained the original versions of both those two tracks, the only Crystal Method songs with vocals on the soundtrack.
Vegas (deluxe edition) and "Now Is the Time" (Vote '08 Remix)
In 2007, Vegas was certified platinum by the RIAA, making it one of the best selling electronic albums in the United States.[1] This was also the ten year anniversary of Vegas, 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". Two remix singles were released from Vegas (Deluxe Edition): "Busy Child (Sta Remix)" and "Cherry Twist (Deadmau5 Remix)". "High Roller (Myagi Remix)" is also another popular track released from Vegas (Deluxe Edition), though it has not been released as a single.
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.[1]
Divided by Night (2009–present)
Following 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,[1] and is in Los Angeles, California. When it was finished, The Crystal Method began working on their next 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. 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 song from the album, and did not release any other information until early 2009. They said that Divided by Night would have more featured guest artists than any other album. The complete list of 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".[1]
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. 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.
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.[1]
Divided by Night was officially released on May 12, 2009. It peaked at number 38 on the Billboard 200, number two on the Top Electronic Albums chart, and number four on the Top Independent Albums chart,[3] "Come Back Clean" is set to be the next single released.
X Games 3D: The Movie
During the Divided by Night era, The Crystal Method composed their third soundtrack, along with the American music composer, Tobias Enhus, for the soundtrack for the 3D film, X Games 3D: The Movie. Enhus has also composed soundtracks himself for such titles as Black Hawk Down, The Matrix: Path of Neo, and the Spider Man 3 video game. In an interview, The Crystal Method said that they provided several of their songs for the film, including "Drown in the Now", which was used in the trailer of the movie. The other songs that they provided have been remixed exclusively for the film, such as a new remix of The Crystal Method's first single "Now Is the Time", and several songs from their Drive: Nike + Original Run album like "It's Time". A remix of "It's Time" is featured prominently on the official X Games 3D: The Movie website, http://promo.espn.go.com/espn/specialsection/xgames3dmovie/index, and is the first song that plays while viewing the website, followed by other titles such as "Divided by Night" from the album of the same name.
X Games 3D: The Movie will only be shown in theaters for one week; from August 21 to August 28.
Discography
Studio albums
Work
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.
Video gaming
"Name of the Game" was featured as intro music for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and was also featured in Pump It Up: Exceed for the US Playstation 2 and XBOX versions. It was also in the trailer for the movie Blade II. 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." "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.
The song "Double Down Under" is featured in the iPod Touch App Game, Tap Tap Revenge 2, and the song "Acetone" ships with the Wipeout HD Fury expansion pack for the PS3 game Wipeout HD.
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.
References
External links
