Interview: Crystal Castles

Electronic night at Churchill's

BY PAULA GONZALEZ

Finesse and Runway
Crystal Castles
The Presets
March 22 @ Churchill's Pub, Miami

I don't blame bands for not wanting to come to Miami. Not one bit.

Tonight had to be very frustrating for those of us who were curiously waiting to see these bands.

Although they had the kids dancing and enjoying themselves, Finesse and Runway can stay in the Michael's crafts store that they came out of. Between screams, shrieks and echoes, it was just a messy crafts project gone wrong.

The Crystal Castles were next, and there was a sign that something was going to happen as they took longer than expected checking audio.

They began to play and Alice managed to hype up the audience. Then came the problem: Ethin's keyboard could no longer be heard. He got frustrated and screamed in the microphone, "Fuck this place!" They walked off: the drummer, Alice and Ethin. For a couple of minutes, they huddled at the bar, and the audience said nothing, whereas in other venues, the audio guy would have been assaulted. Crystal Castles decided to come back and perform a short set, with Ethin on drums and Alice on vocals, but no keyboards. Luckily, they played great and had all the kids dancing.

After their set, Scenestar chatted with Ethin:

SS: How was the gig at Mansion? (The Presets, Crystal Castles and Peaches had played a gig at Mansion, a South Beach venue, two days before.)
Ethin: It's a really fancy place. [Laughs] Very swank. Totally packed.
SS: Were you wowed?
Ethin: We are never wowed by anything.
SS: So what wows you then?
Ethin: Umm ... What wows us? Umm, nothing.
SS: Crystal Castles releases the majority of its songs on EPs. Is there a plan to put them all together on one album?
Ethin: We have a lot of EPs. About six or seven. But our debut album will come out; we hope by the end of this year.

During the conversation, Ethin mentions that they can't wait to hang out on Miami Beach while it rains. I recommend that when they visit Chicago, to taste the pan pizza. And one thing we agree on is that in order to have the best audio, a band should bring its own audio guy.

So why was I disappointed? Good bands from out of town barely visit Miami. Some leave impressed and come back, but others never show up again. In cases like these, the venue had a perfect opportunity to open the door to more guests, such as electronica musicians, but ruined it by showing them no consideration. Hopefully during the Winter Music Conference, these venues will show that they are the it place to have an event.

Tonight, that just didn't happen. And then we wonder why many bands turn back after Orlando, Fla.

Comments

[paula]

i like the picture. dope.

[Oscar]

Dance Alice, DANCE!

[matthew]

you obviously have very little understanding/appreciation of sound guys or what happened that night. it's the perception of miami as uniformed that keeps bands out. you're only contributing.

[paulag]

yeah well when it happens various times and not just this time with crystal castles, that stands out.

and yet, there i am again at the next gig.

[paulag]

and also fyi-- look at rest of site and there's plenty florida coverage here.

[crystaltheft]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kb-J6NFBss&eurl=http://www.dsfanboy.com/2008/05/12/crystal-castles-rips-off-chiptune-artists/

[dr ops]

crystal castles have already lost all cred by lying that they knew nothing of the scene and chiptune artists that it's now been proven that they sampled heavily

then they disrespect their fans by lying to the press about it.

http://www.pileup.com/babyart/blog/?p=130

or just google 'crystal castles steal'

[paulag]

info has been noted.

[animal style]

MYSPACE.COM/CRYSTALTHEFT

8BITPEOPLES.COM

FUCK CRYSTAL CASTLES.

[the truth]

His name Is Claudio, he changed to Ethan when they started getting big! who the the hell changes their name to Ethan?

I also heard they stole a pair of dj cd players from a festival Vice put on in the UK, just another thing they stole.

[DHANI]

EVEN IF THEY DID STEAL THOSE SAMPLES, THEY'RE OUT TOURING THE WORLD AND YOU'RE SAT AT YOUR COMPUTER BITCHING ABOUT THEM.
W H O S E T H E L O S E R ?

[Oscar]

Damn, MAD haters on Crystal Castles. Now that they're getting bigger, people are trying to knock them down. Everyone is influenced by everything. I'm still waiting for Paul McCartney to start a page blasting Interpol for wearing suits when they play. Ha!

"Drops" & "Animal Styles", here's a link for you explaining the sample situation: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/51349-crystal-castles-respond-to-chip-music-controversy

Enjoy =)

[Wolf Nibori]

Yanno.. CC is one of the most awesomely innovative bands the way they combine the elements out there. Absolute originality would sound awful to our ears, most likely, but these guys perform some awesome alchemy!

[satr]

amazing interview :)

[d.jarv]

I love how all these nerds blasted CC for stealing samples and in the end it was merely a sample in an ancient song that was never released, it was made years before Ethan even met Alice. Alice has never heard according to this interview with Pitchfork:

"These infringing songs are early unreleased tracks which were never performed. They are the most awful tracks associated with the band and [vocalist] Alice [Glass] herself hasn't heard most of these tracks.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/51349-crystal-castles-respond-to-chip-music-controversy

[Nay]

Florida ruins everything, i hate this place

[sam]

you spelt ETHAN wrong. fool

[Kay]

They spelled Ethan's name wrong, lol.