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MM -
Would you like to give us a brief history on the band, how it all came
about, where you call home etc?
Dave -
Home is always gonna
be Dumfries, That’s where I grew up, went to school and met my band mates.
That’s how the band started; we were just five mates that liked the same
shit.
MM -
How
would you describe your music and who do you see as your target audience?
Flintii - I
guess I’d call it Punk n’ Roll – it’s just simple up-beat music with a
harder edge. As for the audience, anyone and everyone, they’re no specific
group of people that will like it and no one else.
Jaysyn - I don’t really like labelling music, but if I had to, I
guess I’d call it “punk-rock to dance to”. Y’know, it’s got the punk-rock
energy, but with a little bit more sophistication and melody.
MM -
There are countless numbers of rock bands trying to get their names out
there. How do you avoid being another band that someone listens to once
and forgets? What do you do to stay unique and remembered?
Diki
-
Well, it doesn’t take a genius to realise there’s a
huge 80’s-sleaze revival going on right now, and loads of bands we know
are getting lumped into that category. I guess it’s our reluctance to
accept that label and just do our own thing that sets us apart from the
other unsigned bands at the moment.
Flintii – I don’t think there is really a band out there that we
directly sound like. You can hear our influences in our music but you
can’t listen and say that we are ripping someone off! We take the best
bits of what we like in a band and do it better. Our stage show is what
helps us a lot. I hate going to see a band and they just stand there. It’s
so fucking boring. I like bands that go over the top with everything, Run
around, climb up stuff, make the audience part of the show. Even the
drummer should be out there doing his bit. Even if you can’t afford
to fly your kit around the room, come out from behind it and climb around
the room yourself, talk to the crowd bring the show to them as much as you
can. That is what will make them go away at the end of the night wanting
more and you will be remembered.
Diki - You also have to have the full package, the music, the look
and the stage show. In the music biz these days you have to have it all or
you haven’t got anything.
MM -
At
what age did you become interested in being a performer and what/who
inspired you to join a band?
Flintii – I was 9 when I started drumming, I saw a pipe band
playing and thought the drummers were cool as fuck so I said to my parents
that I wanted to join a pipe band and they talked me into playing a drum
kit instead. I guess I owe it to them.
Jaysyn - Seeing Bon Jovi play live at Ibrox when I was 8! They had
fireworks and everything; it was an awesome show! When you’re that young,
attending such a huge event can have a lasting effect on you; I knew from
that moment onwards that I wanted to play in a band for a living.
Diki – I started playing guitar when I was 13, My Big Bro is a
guitarist so I kinda took it from him.
MM -
Some
people sit around and wish for things but nothing happens; however, you
guys are a motivated band. What do you really think you will be doing in a
year?
Diki
– Just what we are doing now but on a bigger scale
Flintii – Still driving around the country in a clapped out old van
heading to gigs. Playing awesome shows, getting drunk and selling a lot of
merch.
Jaysyn -
To be honest, I’m a real optimist, so I like to think that by this time
next year we’ll be touring the US or something; ideally with some record
company backing so we won’t be completely broke when we get back home!
MM -
Your
sound, image and lyrics have a strong identity to them. Is this something
you've strived to achieve or something more organic?
Dave – Our sound is just what happens when we play together. We
are all into really different styles of music from each other, but at the
same time we all have a love for bands like Backyard Babies, Motley Crue
and Poison. When we first started playing together we came out with the
sound that you now know as Crystal*Kicks it came pretty natural. As for
the image we love standing out from the crowd. The whole leather, skinny
jeans, crazy hair, eyeliner, chains and sunglasses look is something we
were drawn to. There are loads of bands kicking around today that are
living in the 80’s with the Glam era, which I totally love but that sort
of image doesn’t really fit our music and doesn’t fit us as people.
Jaysyn -
Our sound and lyrics
come from our bottom of our hearts. We make sure that when we write a
song, it’s something that we would to listen to and something that we have
a lot of faith in. Of course, we draw a lot of inspiration from our
favourite bands (e.g. Backyard Babies, Buckcherry, Motley Crue, and Velvet
Revolver) and I guess they subconsciously influence us, but we don’t make
an effort to sound or dress like them.
MM -
Where did the bands name come from and what does it represent to you? Can
you remember any of the other names that were considered at the time?
Flintii
– Hahaha!!! I’ve been dreading this day! Well we kind of stole the name,
“Crystal” came from Canadian rockers Crystal Pistol and “Kicks” came from
a Glasgow band The Cherry Kicks. It was me that came up with it. I sat for
days with a bit of paper just listing words, there must have been like
every bands name and half the dictionary written down just so I could put
words together and make something that sounded cool.
Jaysyn - Now every time I think about it all I can think about was
sitting backstage after opening for Hanoi Rocks and Andy McCoy saying
“Crystal*Kicks is that like Crystal Meths man? That shit fucks you up!”
MM -
How
does the song writing process work within the band? Is it down to one
particular person or do you all get involved?
Flintii – Usually one guy would come up with
a riff and someone will come up with a chorus and a verse and a middle 8.
Dave always writes the lyrics except maybe for a few lines here and there.
But we all have say in how the song goes. How many bars to play where the
breaks are and stuff like that. It's never really just 1 guy in his room
writing loads of songs for us to play. That idea doesn’t really work for
us.
MM -
Crystal Kicks have a
great stage show, but who was the first band you saw in concert?
Jaysyn
- Like I said earlier, Bon Jovi when I was 8. I think that was for the
“These Days” tour….they still had big(ish) hair then!
Flintii
– I grew up seeing a lot of bands and musicians as all my family are
musical. So I don’t remember the first, but the first “BIG” band I saw
were Alter Bridge, awesome band!
MM -
Who,
in your opinion, is the greatest genius of all time in the music business
and why?
Diki – Dregen (Backyard Babies) The guys great at everything!
Flintii – Tommy Fuckin’ Lee, he’s the reason I play the way I do.
He even got out from behind the kit and proved he could play guitar and
front a band. He’s a really talented guy.
Jaysyn - Oh, that’s a tough one. Loads of musicians and bands have
influenced me, but none more than Nikki Sixx. He wrote some of my
favourite songs, and has great style (both in fashion-terms and bass
playing), so he’s my personal hero.
MM -
Name
your favourite 5 albums of all time and what they have meant to you
personally?
Flintii – Backyard Babies, Making Enemies Is
Good – Not a bad song on it, cool cover, 1 of the first rock n roll albums
I bought.
Alter Bridge, One Day Remains – Such a good drum sound, first band I saw.
Great live band and Scott is one of my favourite drummers.
Motley Crue, Red White and Crue – Everyone loves a greatest hits
album...all the good stuff and none of the crap. What a legendary band.
The Ga*Ga*s, Tonight The Midway Shines – These guys were awesome. We were
meant to be playing with them before they split up to! Gutted!
Gun, Swagger – Best thing to come out Scotland since Irn-Bru and I fucking
love that drink! Reminds me of the Christmas Diki and me spent with Dante
the bass player.
Jaysyn - 1) Red Hot Chilli Peppers: Blood Sugar Sex Magic – great
bass grooves, filthy lyrics and a massive drum sound: a hugely influential
album for me.
2) Extreme: Pornograffiti – apparently, Nuno Bettencourt was
only 19 when he wrote, “Get the Funk Out”! That never ceases to amaze me.
3) Avenged Sevenfold: City of Evil – Every song on this album is
incredible, they’re definitely the most talented American band of this
millennium.
4) The Police: Zenyatta Mondatta – My dad is a huge Police
fan, and they provided the soundtrack of my entire upbringing. This is my
favourite album of theirs.
5) Busted: A Present For Everyone – Really
Catchy Songs
Diki – Backyard Babies, Stockholm Syndrome – Great Songs.
Velvet Revolver, Contraband – All the best parts of a GnR with a way
better front man.
Lit, Self Titled – Catchy as fuck songs with great
riffs, totally under rated band.
Backyard Babies, People Like Us – Enough Said.
Backyard Babies, Making
Enemies Is Good – Just another great album from an awesome band.
Dave – Anything By the Backyard Babies, Contraband by Velvet Revolver,
Anything By Blink182 they have all fucked me up enough to be where I am
today!
MM -
How has the Internet
helped spread the word about the band and do you feel downloading is
harming the scene, or helping to keep it alive?
Jaysyn
- I know it’s an old cliché; but I’m in not in it for the money, so I
don’t care about earning royalties or any of that shit. I just want as
many people to hear the songs that we worked so hard to create, so they
can appreciate them too. For that reason, I have no problem with people
downloading music. Our band owes a lot to Myspace as well; we’ve gained a
lot of fans since we put our songs up on that site.
Flintii
– A lot of my music is downloaded so I ain’t going to complain.
MM -
If you were doing a
gig on a desert island and could only bring one instrument with you for
the whole band, what would it be and why?
Diki
– Guitar I Guess
Flintii
– Bagpipes. They're cool as hell and Scottish!
Jaysyn
- Probably an acoustic guitar, although I hate to admit it. You can tune
one to compensate for the bass, it doesn’t need any power to work, and
it’s probably the best song writing instrument…so aye, it’s gotta be the
guitar.
MM -
Tell us something that most people
don't know, never have known, and probably never would know about you if
they don't read this.
Jaysyn - Um, I’ve known Flintii since we were
like 4 years old. Is that an interesting fact?
Flintii – Although you may have guessed, it takes me about 30/ 45
min to do my hair!
Dave – I Like Llama's!
Diki – I eat shit loads but cant put on weight for shit!
MM - For you, what were the
3 high points of 2006?
Dave - Opening for Hanoi Rocks, Opening for
The Glitterati and doing our first UK Tour.
Flintii – Opening for Hanoi Rocks, Opening for The Glitterati and
doing our first UK Tour.
Diki – The Glitterati Gig, Playing with Hanoi Rocks and doing our
first tour.
Jaysyn - 1) Our UK tour, in which we learned some valuable lessons
and made some great friends. 2) Playing with Hanoi Rocks back in June;
those guys are living legends. Connie Bloom was playing with them too! 3)
Surviving the year!
MM - What do you hope 2007
will hold for Crystal Kicks?
Dave - A lot more of everything we did in
2006 without the bad bits.
Diki – More Touring, less car crash’s/ breakdowns and to get a
record in the shops.
Jaysyn - A world tour, major record deal, moving into our rock star
mansions with our supermodel wives.
Flintii – Record in the shops, Some bigger gigs, new fans and a lot
of travelling around the rest of the world, there’s so much out there I’ve
never seen so that would be good. International fame and a big ass
recording contract would be nice to.
MM - Finally is there any
messages you’d like to pass to all our readers out there?
Crystal Kicks - Thanks for taking the time to read this. Now go to
www.myspace.com/crystalkicks
and check us out. Hope to see you all at our show sometime!
MM - As someone who was lucky enough to catch the band when
they played with The Glitterati last year, I can confirm they really do kick ass.
Check them out, I promise you won't be disappointed. |
