Crash Kings: “Crashing The Party”

I’m not sure what it is but there’s something about brothers in a rock and roll band that just seems to work oh so well. The examples are countless, Stone Temple Pilots, Kings of Leon, Chevelle and now Crash Kings. Formed out of Los Angeles in 2006, Crash Kings are the latest, greatest thing in alternative rock music. The core of the group consists of singer/keyboardist Tony Beliveau and his brother bass player Mike Beliveau with Jason Morris as the drummer.

You could say that music is in the Beliveau brothers’ blood with their father being an accomplished piano player and their grandfather being a master on the organ. This influence motivated the brothers to get interested in music at an early age and even before forming Crash Kings they had already played in a total of five bands together.

While it often takes most bands years to catch a break, it was only a matter of months for Crash Kings. Shortly after forming, the group was fortunate enough to draw the attention of former 4 Non Blondes singer Linda Perry who quickly signed the band to her Custards Record Label. The group first encountered Perry by chance when Tony was working at a restaurant and happened to be her waiter for the evening. The two got talking and Perry became interested in hearing the band’s music which she was extremely impressed by, even though Crash Kings had yet to even record an EP.

With a record deal in place, it was time for the band to really take their music seriously and record a debut. Perry helped the band garner an opportunity to showcase their talents for the president of Universal Music Group’s Motown Records Sylvia Rhone. Like Perry, Rhone also liked what she heard and hooked the guys up with the very well respected producer Dave Sardy. Sardy agreed to produce the band’s debut record which was recorded mostly during the early part of 2009. The album was released on May 26th, 2009 but success was not so instant for Crash Kings. It took until the beginning of 2010 for the album to really get its due largely thanks to the single “Mountain Man” which has become a massive radio hit and even hit number one on the Billboard alternative rock charts at the end of March.

Since its release almost a year ago, the band’s self-titled debut has been consistently climbing the charts and just recently hitting number thirty on Billboard’s U.S. Top Heatseekers albums chart. They have a busy summer ahead of them with a lot of tour dates scheduled, including a four week trek through Middle America beginning in mid-May. The future certainly looks very bright for Crash Kings. If you like straight forward, no nonsense rock and roll then definitely give this band a listen.

Check out the song: “14 Arms”