Crash Kings Interview: SXSW 2010

Appropriately named after their unfortunate disasters with motor vehicles and their party-crashing boldness, the Crash Kings are having the time of their lives. The trio will be soon heading to SXSW, where they will showcase their tunes. Spinner recently spoke with singer and pianist Tony Beliveau about the band's third trip to the festival and the upcoming Crash Kings tour.

How would you describe you sound in your own words?

It's a high energy piano-rock trio comprised of piano, bass, drums and vocals.

How did your band form?

I moved to LA in 2005 and started working on the project on my own in early 2006, did some demos with a drummer and sent them to my brother in New York, and he really liked the project. So he moved out [at] just about the same time when I went on tour supporting an artist, Sierra Swan, and that's where I met our drummer, Jason Morris. When we got back from that US tour, I got back together with my brother, and we called up Jason and asked him if he wanted to join the band, and he was in. So, it kind of formed in mid-October 2006. We played our first show around Halloween in 2006.

When did the band first realize that they had something special that would bring them to the big stage?

My brother and I have been playing in bands since we were so young, so we've had that vision from a lot younger age, even before the Crash Kings thing. It's just been about which application we were going to use to fulfill our dreams, you know, which style of music. Rock was sort of our roots for a while, then we went into jazz, then we came back to rock. But it was always the vision to be playing bigger and better places. From the beginning of this band, it wasn't like we were starting to play music for the first time. We knew exactly what we wanted and where we wanted to go from the beginning of the project.

What are your musical influences?

The Beatles, Beach Boys, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Frank Sinatra, Squarepusher, Buddy Rich, Herbie Hancock, Medeski Martin and Wood. And any kind of alternative rock -- Soundgarden, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots. Supergrass is definitely a big influence of mine. A lot of UK bands, as well.

How did the band came up with the name Crash Kings?

At first, my brother came up with the name when he was driving and he was thinking about how many car wrecks we'd gotten into. The name just sorta came. We're like, "Oh, wow, we're like crash kings. We've crashed our cars so many times and totaled cars." And then we just liked the name. It had a strong chaotic element to it that we enjoyed. To tie in more meaning, we started crashing parties we would find out about -- kind of show up with our equipment, sort of a stripped down version. We'd say, "Hey, we're here. We're gonna play your party." They'd say, "Okay." So, we would just kind of show up to places and play, and we would videotape it. We still haven't done anything with the video. That was kind of the idea behind the name.

Two members of the band are related. Do you think that your parents influenced you two musically?

Yeah, our dad plays piano and would play when we were growing up so that was sort of an influence on his. He would be playing and, you know, looking up to him, [we] thought, "That would be really cool to do that," so we both grew up playing piano. My brother later on switched to bass.

Does the band have a primary writer, or does everyone contribute together?

I write most of the music and we arrange the music [and] the songs together a lot. Sometimes my brother and I will write stuff together, but for the most part, almost all the songs on the record I wrote.

If you could meet one musician, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Jimi Hendrix because he really revolutionized rock 'n' roll in such a big way, especially in America. I feel like he was not afraid to do things that nobody else was doing. He had the soul element of rock that I think is missing so much now, and I think he's just definitely one of my bigger influences.

Have you had the opportunity to open or play on a tour with any of your favorite influences?

Absolutely. Chris Cornell is definitely one of my all-time favorite lead singers of any rock band, ever. It was a complete honor to open for him and be on tour with him, as well as Stone Temple Pilots. Those two bands were probably the biggest highlights thus far of any bands that we've toured with. The DeLeo brothers, specifically, in the Stone Temple Pilots were just inspiring -- not only as musicians, but also [as] role models as rock stars for us, just in terms of how down-to-earth they are and how incredible they were to just hang out [with]. They're just great people, and so is Chris Cornell as well.

How often do you practice?

Never. We're touring [laughs]. We've been touring non-stop since August. I can't remember the last time we sat down and rehearsed anything -- months and months ago. Basically, we just roll into the venues and play shows.

What's your favorite venue to play at or would like to play at?

I'd love to play Radio City Music Hall, and our favorite place that we have played is the Showbox Market in Seattle.

What do you expect at your third time back to SXSW?

Nothing [laughs]. We expect mass chaos, as always. A lot of bands, a lot of vans, a lot of trailers, a lot of buses, a lot of blocked streets. Humidity and the inability to use your cell phone and lots of amazing, amazing fans.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

Wham!

What is the craziest thing you've ever seen or experienced while on tour?

There was this crowd surfer that fell on his head from six feet at an STP concert. It was pretty nuts.


Renee Holmes is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.