Interviewed by David Alexander 4 BPM Magazine
In their decade-long career, The Crystal Method have sold over a million albums, scored a Grammy nomination and collaborated with everyone from Ozzy Osbourne to Scott Weiland to Ol' Dirty Bastard. They headlined the Hollywood Bowl, rocked Coachella and played a fashion show in Milan for Donatella Versace. Meanwhile, their songs appeared in countless video games, movies and television series. Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland, who are The Crystal Method, even spent a surreal night in the Los Angeles County Jail. But before any of that happened, they made Vegas, their debut album from 1997. Marking its 10th anniversary, Jordan and Kirkland have reassessed and readdressed the long-player that started it all with Vegas (Deluxe Edition), which was released via Geffen/UMe on September 18.
The two-disc deluxe set offers a fresh mastering of the original ten songs on the first CD. The second CD highlights a selection of rare and live recordings plus new mixes of classic Vegas tracks from remixers personally chosen by the duo such as Paul Oakenfold, MSTRKRFT, Hyper, Sta, Deadmau5, Koma & Bones, Tom Real vs. The Rogue Element and Myagi. Also included is the original 1993 version of the Vegas single "Comin' Back" with the video for the album version along with the video for "Busy Child."
I had a chance to visit their new studios in the NOHO District of Los Angeles for an in-depth conversation about their careers,
collaborations and creative process.
Multiple Records, a Grammy Nomination, Video Scores, Film Scores, and now this new building and studio, how does it feel to have such a great career?
Scott: It's amazing to have a successful career, to go out and perform and make music that people really enjoy.
How long have you two been working together?
Ken: (laughing) yeah, we've been together almost 20 years, as the Crystal Method, about 15 years.
I heard a story of how you guys met, both working at a store, and one of you walked in with a drum machine one day…
Scott: yeah I came in with a drum machine one day and I was in the break room looking at it trying to figure it out and Ken walked in and said "hey, push that button"…( both laugh)
And that's how it all started?
Ken: yeah pretty much, we were both working on electronic music and after that day we decided to put our gear together and have been working as a team ever since.
As individuals, what does each of you bring to the studio that compliments the skills and role of the other person?
Scott: well Ken has a solid engineering background. I play guitar and keyboards. When we perform live, we both play lots of parts. We're both very involved in both areas of engineering and producing our records.
You're in the process of producing a new record, how does the creative process work for you? Do you have a pre-conceived idea of what the record will sound like before you start?
Ken: The shape and the sound of our album is something that sort of happens over time. It's a product of what we're into and how we're writing at that time. In the beginning stages of writing an album, it's about creating a lot of things and over time shaping it into something that begins to sound like an album.
Scott: It took a long time for the new studio to be built so when it was done it took us a while to get reacquainted with the gear. It also took some time to get our minds in shape for the process of being creative 8 hours a day on a daily basis. We just jumped in and started creating music to get the wheels turning again. We sometimes sit here and spin our wheels creating music that we will never use, sometimes it's easy and sometimes we just stare at the screen..lol
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