Interview by Kris Peters
Pioneers of Electronic Industrial Music, The Crystal Method, return to Australia from March 1 via Auckland on February 29 for a string of showstopping performances.
Despite only 14 months elapsing since their last trip out here, such has been the demand for The Crystal Method to bring their music back that these new shows are all close to selling out.
Recognised as a pioneering force in the Big Beat genre and Electronica movement alongside The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, and The Prodigy, The Crystal Method have played a large part in bringing their brand of music out of the warehouses and into the mainstream.
Main man Scott Kirkland has worked with a lot of big names across genres, whether it be collaborating or producing, most notably releasing a reworked ‘(Can't You) Trip Like I Do’, with Filter on the soundtrack to the film adaptation of Spawn in 1997. Their album Tweekend featured guests including Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland, allowing for a metal crossover both sonically and from experience.
Promising a night of “nostalgia, rave, and pure ecstasy”, The Crystal Method performs two hours plus every night and to tell us more HEAVY welcomed Kirkland for a chat late last week. We ask what has changed with the show since their last visit in December 2022.
"I definitely have added a bunch of new tracks," he replied. "We're visiting some classic stuff that I didn't play the first time around, some new mixes. I don't do the same set twice in a row. I like to change things up a bit, even from night to night. I'm aware of what I was playing back then and definitely wanna mix it up a bit and just bring the energy and bring the fun and take care of the people who show up."
We mention the short amount of time between tours and the fact fans in Australia must love The Crystal Method.
"I was delighted to receive the offer to come back," he smiled. "I definitely had a good time when I was down there. It had been way too long. Obviously the delay from COVID… I was meant to come out in June or July of 2020 and things got shifted around, so I think there was a lot of anticipation for my return. Thankfully the shows came off well and the tour was great, and I'm really excited to be able to come back."
In the full interview, Scott talks about Australian audiences and how they are different to other places in the world, what countries have the toughest crowds, how he reacts when crowds don't seem to be getting into it, appealing to heavy metal music fans, blending metal and electronic dance music and how easy/hard that is, what first attracted him to this style of music, how he transformed that love into The Crystal Method, how he would describe what he does to people who don't follow the band, future plans and more.
Big thanks to our sponsore RODE. Intro music "Brown Snake" by Dreamkillers, premiered in HEAVY on March 14.