MPJ : SPOTLIGHT … UP & COMING ARTIST OF THE MONTH…. CRASH KINGS

Meet the Crash Kings: Vocalist/Keyboardist Tony Beliveau, Drummer Jason Morris and Bassist Mike Believau. They are an America Rock Trio based in Los Angeles, California. They are talented innovators whose use of a nearly forgotten instrument, the clavinet, make them stand out from the rest of the rock music in circulation today.

Vocalist Tony Beliveau plays a vintage Clavinet that was custom built in the 1970’s. A Clavinet is an electrophonic keyboard instrument that uses guitar-like strings. Tony’s clavinet has a custom whammy bar built in to ‘bend’ notes similar to the way a guitar works. The following video is The Crash Kings playing their interpretation of Rolling Stone magazine’s greatest guitar rock hits of all time. These boys set a fine example of how you can rock out without traditional guitars:

While brothers Tony and Mike are originally from the Boston, Massachussettes area and drummer Jason is from Texas, the trio met for the first time out in LA. A few months later they formed their band Crash Kings. It was here that they caught the attention of Rock Musician,
Songwriter and Record Producer, Linda Perry. Linda signed the band to her own Custard Records label (Linda is best known as the lead singer of 4 Non Blondes, but she also wrote the songs “Beautiful” (Christina Aguilera), “Get the Party Started” (Pink) and “What You Waiting For” (Gwen Stefani), to name a few) With Linda Perry behind them, the group was soon backed by Universal Music Group’s Motown Records.  In May 2009, The Crash Kings released their first debut album where their first single off the album, “Mountain Man” exploded into mainstream rock stations taking America by storm and breaking into the top 10 in Billboard US Alternative Charts. Check out their video:

To date, the band has toured with Chris Cornell, Stone Temple Pilots, David Cook and The Bravery, as well as many other talented bands. Musician Photo Journal caught up with the Crash Kings on their headlining show with Paper Tongues and Violent Soho in Syracuse New York. We sat down with the guys before the show to talk about their new album. Here Tony explains his clavinet, the making of “Evolution of Guitars” video (RS magazines greatest rock guitar songs of all time) and more:

Crash Kings are currently out on tour with Australian rockers, JET until April. (See review)

Here are the remaining dates on the tour:
3/9 Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
3/11 Richmond, VA – Hat Factory
3/13 Columbia, SC – St. Patrick’s Day Festival
3/15 Little Rock, AR – The Village
3/16 Baton Rouge, LA – The Varsity Theatre
3/23 Seattle, WA – The Showbox at the Market
3/24 Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
3/27 Las Vegas, NV – Rock N Roll Wine Festival at Caesar’s Pool
3/29 Aspen, CO – Belly Up Aspen
3/30 Colorado Springs, CO – The Black Sheep
4/2 Kenosha, WI – The Brat Stop
4/5 Flint, Michigan – The Machine Shop
4/6 Dayton, OH – McGruffy’s House of Rock

Be sure to check out MPJ – PHOTO GALLERIES:
3/6/10 : CLIFTON PARK NY : JET tour
1/27/10 : SYRACUSE NY :: Part 1 : Headlining tour
1/27/10 : SYRACUSE NY :: Part 2 : Headlining tour

www.crashkingsmusic.com or