We caught up with Scott Kirkland of The Crystal Method at Louder Than Life in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Crystal Method was at the forefront of the big beat genre in the 90s, paving the way for modern club and electronic music. You may also recognize his music from the theme song of Bones.
We got a chance to ask Kirkman about his latest full-length album, The Trip Home, as well his the anticipated follow-up, The Trip Out, which concludes the two-album concept record.
What did you want people to experience when listening to the The Trip Home?
Scott Kirkman: I wanted them to experience a journey. You know, albums that aren’t just a bunch of tracks shoved together. I love concept albums, I want people to consume it like they would a great episode of binge-worthy television. It’s so hard to get someone’s attention nowadays. There’s so much effort put into creating a song.
Having this be the first record without Ken [co-founder of The Crystal Method], I felt the way the music started coming together, it sounds like it could be a score to a movie you want to see, or a score to a series. Or, something that you could put on in the background and it isn’t screaming for your attention all the time.
A lot of people devour music in different ways. We’ve had people come to us and tell us that it got them through a hard time. Or, you know, they play it while they’re coding. Or, that they had to make the journey home because their dad died and they had to drive 14 hours to get home to his funeral.
[Our music] is such a universal language — giving people a different taste and a different shape. I’m really trying to hold their attention for more than three and a half minutes.
The way I think of it, it’s like a film score for your life.
SK: Exactly, exactly, exactly.
If this album were to be adapted into a movie, what would that look like?
SK: It starts out with aggression. It’s a classic journey of someone or somebody or something or a group of people fighting for something they believe in. And then they continue to work to create a balance between not only their personal or professional life, but also to make a connection with people.
As an artist that plays in front of different crowds every night, you want people to leave feeling that they were appreciated that they went to a show where the person on stage appreciated that they were here. It’s a passion project, it always has been, and it always will be.
Louder Than Life is a different crowd than you’re probably used to seeing —
SK: [laughs]
–how do you think your music’s going to translate for people that may have not heard of you before?
SK: You know, I was very pleasantly surprised. I was at Welcome to Rockville, I went to Epicenter [Festival] in North Carolina. [It was the] same sort of thing where I was one of the only “electronic-y throwbacks” on the bill. Over the years, we’ve played a lot of rock shows. Our music has been born and raised in alternative rock.
Our first single came out in 1994 in the hey-day of the grunge movement. I love distortion, I love big aggressive drums, I love making music that people react to one way or another. So I think that comes through when I walk on stage whether it’s an electronic crowd or a rock crowd.
I saw that The Trip Home is part of a two-part album. Do you see the follow-up, The Trip Out, as a continuation or a diversion from the first album?
SK: The Trip Out is evolving in a slightly different way than I would have anticipated. I kind of, after six albums, like the idea of coming up with a concept and moving forward with that concept, so I’ve got a couple of different things I’m working on.
The release pattern is getting a couple of singles out and then release the album. 2020 is going to be a big year. Hopefully, we’ll have that album out and then we’ll do a live tour.
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk.
SK: Thanks for having me!
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You can find The Crystal Method’s latest release here. Be on the lookout for the followup album, The Trip Out, debuting in 2020.