After completing graduate studies & military service, Steve joined Owens Corning, a leading manufacturer of construction & building products. He held several Human Resources positions & also acted as a business leader for a manufacturing department.

In 1998 Steve joined Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon Endo-Surgery in Cincinnati, Ohio, as HR Director for the Corporate support organizations & Research & Development. He was then promoted to Vice President, Human Resources, J&J Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics-International & was based in London, England.

Steve joined the J&J Consumer Companies in 2004 as Vice President, Human Resources, North America.

In 2007 Steve assumed global Human Resources responsibilities for the Johnson & Johnson Consumer Group of Cos, & was a member of the Consumer Group Operating Committee.

Steve was appointed Chief Human Resource Officer for Catalyst Health Solutions, a leading pharmacy benefit management organization, in 2011.

From 2013-2018 Steve served as Chief Administrative & Chief People Officer for Kindred Healthcare, with overall responsibility for the company’s human capital initiatives.

Steve received a BA in Psychology from East Carolina Univ. in Greenville, North Carolina & also received his MA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from that same institution.

He serves as a Bd. member for the East Carolina University Foundation, Greater Louisville, Inc, USA Cares, & Kentuckiana Works.

Steve, his wife Ellen, & their 2 children live in Louisville.

Listen to this very unique segment where Kirt talks with such various Cosplay characters as Master Chief from Halo Video Game Series,  “Steam Punk” Princess Leia,  Green Arrow, The Flame Hero named Endeavor, AND Rorschach from the Watchmen DC Comics’ series.

Join Kirt for an off-the-cuff segment about the Cinco de Mayo celebrations.

Bin Furuya is best known as the original SUIT actor behind ULTRAMAN which was first broadcast in 1966.

His other roles include films such as GHIDRAH: THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER, THE WARE OF THE GARGANUAS, GORTATH, and INVASION OF ASTRO-MONSTER.

He’s also appeared in several episodes of ULTRA Q and ULTRASEVEN.

Jerry “The King” Lawler is a living legend in the world of professional wrestling! Since 1970, Jerry has headlined main events across the world for Memphis Wrestling, WWF, WWE, NWA, AWA, World Class Championship Wrestling, United States Wrestling Association, and Smoky Mountain Wrestling. He has held 168 wrestling championship titles in his career and has done work acting in film, drawing comic books, as a commercial artist, as a musician, and as a businessman. He is the cover artist for Headlocked, the hit independent wrestling comic book.

Prior to joining WWE in 1992 (then known as the World Wrestling Federation), he wrestled in numerous territories, winning numerous championships, including many world championships, throughout his career. Lawler is a one-time AWA World Heavyweight Champion and a three-time WCWA World Heavyweight Champion. He unified the titles by defeating Kerry Von Erich at Superclash III, forming the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship, a championship which he held 28 times. Lawler has held more recognized championships than any professional wrestler in history, though he has never won any championships in WWE having wrestled sporadically whilst primarily providing color commentary, since joining the company. In 2007, Lawler was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Lou Ferrigno is an American actor, fitness trainer, fitness consultant, and retired professional bodybuilder. As a bodybuilder, Ferrigno won an IFBB Mr. America title and two consecutive IFBB Mr. Universe titles and appeared in the bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron. As an actor, he is best known for his title role in the CBS television series The Incredible Hulk and vocally reprising the role in subsequent animated and computer-generated incarnations. He has also appeared in European-produced fantasy-adventures such as Sinbad of the Seven Seas and Hercules, and as himself in the sitcom The King of Queen sand the 2009 comedy I Love You, Man.

Lou Ferrigno was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Victoria and Matt Ferrigno, a police lieutenant. He is of Italian descent. Soon after he was born, Ferrigno says he believes he suffered a series of ear infections and lost 75 to 80% of his hearing, though his condition was not diagnosed until he was three years old. Hearing loss caused Ferrigno to be bullied by peers during his childhood: “They used to call me ‘deaf Louie, deaf-mute’, because of my hearing and because of the way I sounded.”

Ferrigno started weight training at age 13, citing body builder and Hercules star Steve Reeves as one of his role models. Because he could not afford to buy weights, he made his own using a broomstick and pails which he partially filled with cement.  He was also a fan of the Hercules films that starred Reeves. Ferrigno’s other personal heroes as a child were Spider-Man and the Hulk.

Ferrigno attended St. Athanasius Grammar School and Brooklyn Technical High School, where he learned metalworking.

After graduating from high school in 1969, Ferrigno won his first major title, IFBB Mr. America. Four years later, he won the title IFBB Mr. Universe. Early in his career he lived in Columbus, Ohio and trained with Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 1974, he came in second on his first attempt at the Mr. Olympia competition. He came in third the following year, and his attempt to beat Arnold Schwarzenegger was the subject of the 1977 documentary Pumping Iron. The documentary made Ferrigno famous.

These victories, however, did not provide enough income for him to earn a living. His first paying job was as a $10-an-hour sheet metal worker in a Brooklyn factory, where he worked for three years. He did not enjoy the dangerous work and left after a friend and co-worker accidentally cut off his own hand one day.

Following this, Ferrigno left the competition circuit for many years, a period that included a brief stint as a defensive lineman for the Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League. He had never played football and was cut after two games. Ferrigno left the world of Canadian football after he broke the legs of a fellow player during a scrimmage.

During the competition, Ferrigno at 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) weighed 268 lb (130 kg) in 1975, and 315 lb (142 kg) in 1992.

Ferrigno competed in the first annual World’s Strongest Man competition in 1977, where he finished fourth in a field of eight competitors.

In the early 1990s, Ferrigno returned to bodybuilding, competing for the 1992 and 1993 Mr. Olympia titles. Finishing 12th and 10th, respectively, he then turned to the 1994 Masters Olympia, where his attempt to beat Robbie Robinson and Boyer Coe was the subject of the 1996 documentary Stand Tall. After this, he retired from competition.

Birthed at the Gathering of The Juggalos, and a staple at Juggalo events!

Now emerging at other festivals, and beyond.

The Mankini is going global!

MANKINI IS FOR THE PEOPLE!

Artist/Owner & Manager of Gallery X in New Orleans, Louisiana with an addiction to create.

Heavy music deserves a heavier message.

That’s what Fire From The Gods deliver on their Rise Records debut, Narrative.

Speaking from a platform cast in heavy metal power, hip-hop consciousness, and even a little reggae spirit, the Austin, TX quintet—AJ Channer [vocals], Jameson Teat [guitar], Drew Walker [guitar], Bonner Baker [bass], and Richard Wicander [drums]—urge for change through conveying a story that’s both personal and universal.

That story stems directly from AJ’s life. Born in the Bronx to a single mother of Jamaican descent, he spent his childhood moving between London, New York City, Los Angeles, Norfolk, and even Ghana where he attended middle school. Drawing from this diverse experience, he speaks with unmitigated honesty about the state of the world.

Kirt talks about the history behind the “Ides of March”.

Take Me Home is a not for profit, volunteer-based foundation that has been saving the lives of homeless animals since 2001.

Many families living in low-income areas cannot afford medical care, basic vaccinations, or spay/neuter surgeries for their companion animals.

The donations raised help us to fund mobile veterinary hospitals to travel into these under-served areas to provide free spay and neuter, vaccinations, microchipping and administer medical care for animals in desperate need.

Take Me Home also supports local animal charities.

Danny Wimmer, Founder, DWP, said, “DWP is proud to support various charities, giving them a national platform to promote their messages.

We are particularly fond of Take Me Home, which advocates for animal adoption.

You hear it again and again.

When one door closes, another one opens. However, it‟s true – especially in the case of Sick Puppies. Weathering and persevering through potentially life-changing events, the gold-selling, chart-topping Los Angeles-based and Australian-bred hard rock outfit knew one thing.
They were going to make more music as Sick Puppies.

“There was no question” affirms Emma. “We had no doubt that we wanted to continue. Mark and I got together and basically said, „first and foremost, we love music. We love this band and our fans, and we have put so much into it, and we are not done and want to take it further.‟ In order to do that, we needed to find the right member.”

Instead, the “right member” found them. With stints in several bands under his belt, Texas-born singer and guitarist Bryan Scott reached out to Emma via Facebook within days of the announcement. He sent her a video of himself performing, and she swiftly replied.

“Both Mark and I knew he was the guy right away – he was cool and he sounded great. It was a natural progression. We were totally on to something” said Emma “Something just overwhelmed me,” admits Bryan. “I had a feeling that I needed to reach out. They needed a singer and guitarist and that‟s what I am. I had always loved their music and as soon as I saw the post, I went home and immediately sent Emma a message. We clicked right off the bat. Music is in their blood – it‟s who they are. They live and breathe it every day. I‟m the same way.”
Following the first dinner together at a Los Angeles burger spot, they hit the rehearsal studio together and began jamming. After nailing numerous favorites from the Sick Puppies catalog, they started writing new material over the next several months.

2013‟s Connect saw the band embrace a more experimental side.
“On the last album, a lot of ideas came from many different places, but our core is the rock and that is what we love!” Mark says on this new album, we‟re giving fans what they want, that classic Sick Puppies sound.”

“I think fans will enjoy the resurgence of the heaviness,” smiles Emma. “We love that, so we went all the way with it.”

The group teamed up with producer and songwriter Mark Holman [Three Days Grace, Red, Shinedown, Halestorm, The Struts], to start working on their fourth full-length album. Recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles during 2015, the new music reflects the group‟s, incendiary interplay between Emma, Bryan & Mark.

“We were actually supposed to work with Mark Holman before, but it never materialized for whatever reason,” Emma continues. “It was the right moment in time, and he was the perfect producer to bring out the emotion in these songs.”

Locked and loaded with a muscular riff and booming percussion, “Stick To Your Guns” the band‟s first single announces the band‟s return with a literal bang. Bryan‟s vocals careen from hypnotic to heavy as an arena-size refrain takes hold.

“You have to push regardless of what anyone tells you,” he says. “This was a big thing for us. You can pray, hope, or wish for something to happen, but at the end of the day, you have to “stick to your guns”, go out there, and believe. The song is meant to em- power.”

Then, there‟s the epic “Where Do I Begin,” which spotlights Emma and Bryan‟s impressive harmonies in the chorus. For lyrical inspiration, the musicians actually turned to the diehard collective Sick Puppies World Crew.

“We looked on their Facebook and read everything,” Emma recalls. “We saw that everyone shared a lot in common, and it was quite touching. We grabbed a few descriptive words and came across this theme. A lot of people out there feel like they‟re missing out. They hear things like, „You can do it when you‟re ready.‟ I think, „What‟s ready?‟ If someone‟s going to wait to be ready, they might wait their whole lives. It‟s about struggling with that and making a move.”

With its gnashing chant and pummeling groove “Let Me Live” introduced the album during the first teaser video—which arrived to palpable audience fervor. Meanwhile, “Walls” sees Emma‟s vocals take center stage with gorgeously haunting delivery.

“It describes the painful feelings that come when a friend, family member, or someone you‟re very close to changes, disappoints, disappears, or drifts away,” she sighs. “It‟s just a snapshot of what I was feeling at that point in time.”

That kind of honesty has solidified a bond between the Sick Puppies and their fans since day one. To date, their breakout second full-length Tri-Polar has sold more than 500K albums, yielding 2 million single sales including the gold-certified “You’re Going Down” as well as rock smashes “Maybe” “Riptide,” and “Odd One.”

“All The Same” the band‟s first hit single from their debut album, “Dressed Up As Life” became the soundtrack for the viral video “Free Hugs” campaign racking up tens of mil-lions of online views and saw them appear on Oprah, 60 Minutes, CNN, Good Morning America, and The Tonight Show.

2013‟s Connect earned the band its highest Billboard Top 200 debut at #17 and yielded two top 10 singles at rock radio peaking at #2. Along the way, the trio played alongside the world‟s biggest bands from Muse, The Killers, Deftones, Evanescence, Breaking Benjamin, Papa Roach, Incubus to Tool.
Now, their message is more powerful than ever.

“When people hear this, I want them to take away a feeling of new life, new passion, and new excitement from this band,” Emma leaves off. “Mark and I love what we do. We were going to forge ahead no matter what. We found the perfect guy, and we‟re excited about this next chapter.”

Anemic Royalty is a garage rock band from Louisville Kentucky. Since their formation in 2014 these guys have been hanging out in basements, backyards, dismantled minivans, music festivals, and rock clubs, writing and performing loud melodic hook-laden rock songs.

In 2013 two shaggy-haired weirdos from Highland Middle school, Jeremy Rochman (Vox/guitar) and Seamus Coyle (Guitar/vox) who didn’t know much about anything discovered a mutual unconditional love for guitars and Green Day. Apparently that was enough because after a couple of out of tune jam sessions in the basement they decided to start their first band Sucker Punch. After playing a couple of birthday parties and lock-ins worth of Nirvana and Foo Fighters covers, Jeremy’s buddy Oden rang up and said: “yo I just got this bass for Christmas can a come jam?” And then there were three. Miles was the last to join. It was weird because he didn’t practice, he just somehow just could play the drums one day…. and that became Anemic Royalty.

Their first year they played shows wherever they could. Street festivals, birthday parties, the basement and about a year or so in, they went into the studio to record their first demo “Baby Fang”. Following that release, they began playing more shows and writing more songs and hanging out in more basements and minivans and finally it was time to start their new project. To do this the way they wanted, they started working with musician and producer Extraordinaire Scott Carney and beast behind the mixing board Dave Chale. The basic tracks came quickly… then after months of work, more tracking, raising funds, mixing, and tweaking, they released their first single “Better Hands” and a little while later the second “Fire + Ice”. The record, Anemic Royalty, was released on March 31st, 2018.

Where are they now, they are playing among us, a-lot, as much as they can… see you at the show!

In 2005 after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, “Fxck Cancer” was started by the late Brandon McGuinness in Huntington Beach, California. He was an avid surfer, skater, snowboarder, and loved by everyone who knew him.

Brandon lost his life to cancer in 2007 at the very young age of 26 years old.

He started Fxck Cancer in order to help victims and their families battling this terrible disease.

Fxck Cancer, aka F C Cancer Foundation, is a 501c3 nonprofit organization with proceeds going towards our mission of raising awareness, education of early cancer detection & prevention, and helping victims along with their families deal with this ongoing epidemic through the Dyin 2 Live Dreams program. Join us…

Together We Fight. No One Fights Alone.

The Melvins were formed in Montesano, Washington in 1983 by Buzz Osborne, Matt Lukin, and Mike Dillard. Lukin and Dillard left the band and drummer Dale Crover stepped in shortly thereafter. Osborne and Crover have been the Melvins’ mainstays throughout their 29-year metamorphosis.

To date, the band has released 27 original albums, numerous live full-lengths and far too many to count singles and rarities.

They’ve partnered with Jello Biafra, Lustmord and Fantomas for individual releases and toured the world many times over (side note: the band was in both Christchurch and Tokyo for their 2011 earthquakes).

With the release of (A) Senile Animal in 2006, the Melvins became a four-piece, essentially annexing Jared Warren and Coady Willis of Big Business.

The Melvins, already known for their shattering mix of punk-meets-metal (and often referred to by an assortment of tags including sludge and grunge), we’re now louder and more bombastic than ever leading to a resurgence in the band’s popularity and a run of three original full-lengths.

Never ones for complacency, Buzz and Dale have since created Melvins Lite, a line-up partnering the pair with Mr. Bungle’s Trevor Dunn and most recently teamed with Butthole Surfers’ JD Pinkus and Paul Leary for the 2014 release, Hold It In.

Checking in at six feet one inches and over 350 pounds, not to mention covered in tattoos, it’s impossible to ignore Jason “Jelly Roll” DeFord in a room. And that’s before his booming country-twanged voice enters the conversation. “I’m just a regular fat piece of white trash with some real people that relate,” he loudly explains with a wide grin, sending everyone else within earshot into riotous laughter. For the 27-year-old Jelly, a nickname he picked up from his mother and kept to honor an incarcerated friend, humor has always been a way to cope with the struggle he would go through in life. Growing up in the rougher areas of Nashville, TN, particularly the Southside city known as Antioch, Jelly got an early taste for street life and fast cash. “I’ve always joked that Antioch is the cultural melting pot the government uses to test how different ethnicities live together in a lower and middle-class area,” He laughs referring to the city’s racially diverse, albeit economically bleak makeup.

Captivated by the gritty rhymes of local legends such as Pistol, Quanie Cash, Haystak, and Kool Daddy Fresh, it wasn’t long before the music would mirror Jelly Roll’s personal life. Catching his first case at age 14, Jelly would endure an ongoing cycle of incarceration until 2009 which would include intent to distribute cocaine charges and multiple probation violations. Continuing to soak up the sounds from southern artists such as UGK, 8ball & MJG, Three 6 Mafia, Chamillionare and Paul Wall, it was during these particularly dark times that Jelly would turn to craft his own rhymes as a therapeutic means to deal with his trials and tribulations: “My music is all based on emotions and stories from my life as well as people around me. I want to convey to people the power of faith and perseverance and I hope that it helps them to find a light in whatever darkness they may be going through in there life.” In the summer of 2010, Jelly Roll’s “Pop Another Pill” collaboration with Memphis luminary Lil Wyte would go on to garner over 1 million YouTube views. This viral sensation leads to the SNO group album Year-Round released on Hypnotized Minds in April 2011, a project executive-produced by Oscar winners DJ Paul and Juicy J. Jelly continued his successful 2011 campaign by releasing Gambling On A Whiteboy 4 during the summer and combining his talents with Haystak for the successful Strictly Business joint-album in November. His unique combination of introspection, melody, and punchlines has struck a chord with an ever-growing nationwide fan base and continues to impress. In between new projects, Jelly still finds time to volunteer at and provide financial backing for the local SuCO Boxing & MMA gym to help provide disadvantaged youth with a place to take part in positive activities. “My ultimate goal is to touch and reach people and have a voice of influence with the youth of today, he reveals. “I know that sounds like the opposite of what I’m aiming for by the content of some of my bigger songs, but the real purpose will shine through in the end. Helping people and life, in general, is a marathon, not a 40-yard-dash.” Spoken like someone who has truly been through the fire, its evident Jelly Roll is on a path to even greater acclaim- and that means a greater change for the world.

Learn Kirt’s thoughts on what it was like to be a human being on Planet Earth in the United States of America-in the year 2020 A.D., including the 25 words he was able to add to his vocabulary, YOU MIGHT JUST BE SURPRISED!

An alternative rock band from Houston, Texas,  Junkbunny’s spirited and irreverent deliverance spills from the speakers and all over the stage when JunkBunny comes around.

Crafting rock hooks with an emotive resonance beyond their years, the scrappy riff-rock trio made their major-label debut before they could legally buy booze.

Dropkick Murphys formed in 1996 in Boston, MA. The band was originally just a bunch of friends looking to play music for fun. We started playing in the basement of a friend’s barbershop and our goal was to blend the musical influences we had grown up with (Punk Rock, Irish Folk, Rock, and Hardcore) into one loud, raucous, chaotic, and often out of tune mix that we could call our own.

To our surprise, people seemed to like it and we began to record music and tour constantly. To date, we have released numerous singles & EP’s, a live album, a DVD and six full-length albums and have had the good fortune of being able to play across a large portion of the world. We are truly grateful to the many friends and bands that have helped us out and supported us along the way in the US, Canada, Europe, U.K. Ireland, Scandinavia, and Australia as well as the many countries we look forward to playing in the next century.

The bands’ main goal is to play the music that creates an all for one, one for all environments where everyone is encouraged to participate, sing along, and hopefully have a good time. In the true spirit of punk rock, we view the band and the audience as one and the same; in other words, our stage and our microphone are yours.

In addition to hopefully bringing people together for a good time, we hope to share some of our experiences and beliefs in working-class solidarity, friendship, loyalty and self- improvement as a means to bettering society (i.e. You can preach till you’re blue in the face but if you’re lying in the gutter no one’s gonna listen. If you pick yourself up by the bootstraps and live your life to the best of your ability you may set an example that others will follow).

If you’ve ever heard a room full of people yelling “I hope your husband dies” in some harmoniously sloppy, drunken unison, you’ve probably stumbled into an Amigo The Devil show. Danny Kiranos, better known to the masses as his musical counterpart Amigo The Devil, has been challenging the expectations of traditional folk, country music purists, and rock/extreme metal fans alike with his morbid, yet oddly romantic, take on folk that has amassed a dedicated and cult-like fan-base. Despite being armed with only his vocals and a banjo/acoustic guitar, the live show is worlds away from what people expect of a folk show. Loaded with sing-alongs and an unsuspecting dose of humor to make otherwise grim topics accessible for fans of every genre, the songs remain deeply rooted in the tradition of story-telling that seems to be slipping away from the human condition.

RAMBLING:
“I got tired of seeing people overcomplicate what they feel, or worse, ignore it altogether. Amigo The Devil started as an outlet for the brutal honesty that people didn’t feel comfortable discussing. More than create, I listened. At a bar, while eating dinner, at the DMV. Call it creeping if you want but it’s a pass time nonetheless. Even in the music being released about it, people used metaphors to dance around and avoid mentioning the dark thoughts people have and that just isn’t enough to shake you from the daydream, or a fever. It had to be simple, direct and honest. At the start, it seemed logical to learn this process by taking the worst people and trying to find the humanity in them. I wrote some songs about serial killers and realized that no matter how despicable their crimes were, everything was still rooted in the human condition with the same basic need to be needed, to feel valued, to have worth. Through this learning process, I realized there was actually something so much more dangerous than the people committing heinous crimes and it was stained so deeply into the fabric of our daily lives. Doubt and the depression it leaves us stranded in. Every experience is clearly different but for me, all of a sudden, it felt like I was living in a well so deep that if I shouted up for help, it would be lost on the way and never heard. It’s terrifying when it feels like you’re alone down there and there isn’t enough light to look around to realize how many people are there alongside you. For some reason, I refused to talk to my friends and family about it. It was shameful or irrelevant or any other excuse I can come up with to avoid bringing it up and when they would notice and ask, I caught myself repeatedly answering “everything is fine” or any variation of it at that moment. So this record was born. I started listening again, realizing it wasn’t just me. I saw people around me falling into the well but as I started paying attention, I saw people climbing out of it too. These are the stories of leaving the burden behind, whatever that may be and hopefully, along with it the realization that carrying them for any period of time doesn’t break us but makes us stronger than we ever were.

This is where Ross Robinson comes in. He allowed me to become and guided me towards being the best vessel I could be to filter these stories through. We sat there and accepted what wanted to come through, what wanted to be heard. It was the first process of recording that ever made complete sense with absolutely no filter or veil to compensate for the sounds. Recording in a studio untouched since the ’70s with all the original gear, straight to tape. Everything, recording, mixing mastering, to tape! It was absolute and pure brutal honesty, what I’ve been trying to achieve since the start of this thing. Then Brad Wilk added his pulse to it and it felt like together we had given life to these stories that otherwise are sounds and lyrics filling space. Everyone involved dove headfirst into a pool without water for this one and I’m unbelievably grateful to be in there with them.”

It could double as the soundtrack for the Witching Hour.

A brew of rough-and-tumble guitars, melancholy lyrics, and femme fatale vocal invocations, Dead Posey cast a sonic spell that is seduced as it scorched.

The Los Angeles-based Band with Vocalist/Co-Producer Danyell Souza and Producer/Multi-Instrumentalist Tony F (formerly of Eve 6)-immediately enchanted on their debut 2018 release EP “Freak Show”

While forming Dead Posey, the two tapped into intense creative chemistry while quietly working in the studio for nearly a year to hone in on their sound rather than diving into the live show circuit.

Beyond early acclaim from Huffington Post and more on their first EP, they landed high-profile syncs everywhere from Fox’s Lucifer, MTV’s Teen Wolf, Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger, Macy’s, Sony Playstation, and more.

THIS MOXIETALK FEATURES PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS’ BASSIST-(DEREK ENGEMANN) & DRUMMER-(JOEY “BLUE” GONZALEZ)

During 2011–2012, Anselmo wrote and recorded a solo album, titled Walk Through Exits Only with his backing band The Illegals. The album was released on July 16, 2013.

In October 2017, the second album Choosing Mental Illness As a Virtue was announced, originally due in December but have officially set it for January 26, 2018. The first song, “Choosing Mental Illness”, was made available for streaming.

The next song, “The Ignorant Point”, was released on December 13. Exclaim! scored the album an 8 out of 10!

For more than two decades, The Crystal Method has remained at the forefront of the worldwide dance music industry as pioneers of the big beat genre, innovators of the ‘90s electronica movement and current-day global ambassadors of the American electronic sound. Originally formed as a duo—alongside founding member Ken Jordan, who retired from the music business in 2016—The Crystal Method today lives and breathes as a solo act, with co-founder Scott Kirkland at the helm. And with the artistic reboot comes the next chapter in The Crystal Method timeline: The Trip Home, out September 28 on the band’s own Tiny E Records.

As the sixth full-length The Crystal Method album and Kirkland’s first as a newfound solo act, The Trip Home serves as the creative rebirth of the brand. An artistic manifesto and a love letter to the electronic world, The Trip Home welcomes Kirkland at the driver’s seat with full control of the reins.

For the new album, which he co-produced with Glen Nicholls, Kirkland dove deep into the decades-spanning discography of The Crystal Method. The result is a sound that revisits the roots of the classic Crystal Method aesthetic while pushing its possibilities into the future. Equal parts throwback and dynamic futurism, The Trip Home expands Kirkland’s unrestrained curiosity into new realms and new sounds.

To perfect this fine balance, Kirkland took a back-to-basics approach, which saw him firing up his arsenal of analog synths and reconnecting with his collection of vintage gear. The lead single “Holy Arp” captures this calculated formula perfectly: A brooding intro of darkly tinged bleeps and bloops slowly builds the song’s tension before it pours into a bed of chunky synths, distorted reverb, and alien sounds.

It was “Holy Arp” that gave Kirkland the first flashes of the cohesive sound that would shape The Trip Home. “As soon as I got that track going, I knew I had found the direction for the new album,” Kirkland says. “It reverberates with the sound of Crystal Method classics like ‘Name of the Game’ and has some of the gnarliness of ‘Vapor Trail.’ It’s an angry, ballsy, bombastic trip down the inner workings of the vintage ARP 2600 synth.”

Elsewhere, the emotional ballad “Ghost in the City”—co-produced with electronic artist/producer Le Castle Vania—is a narrative-driven electronic dream that floats through dark clouds and shredding guitars, while singer-songwriter Amy Kirkpatrick delivers an angelic and touching vocal performance. “

“There’s a Difference,” a reimagining of the track “Difference” off The Crystal Method’s 2014 self-titled album, is a full-on alt rock hybrid that mixes melodic electronics, pulsing bass, punching live drums and riveting vocals from singer Franky Perez.

Collectively, The Trip Home pieces together the fundamentals of The Crystal Method’s storied past while adding new, unexplored elements for a cohesive, unique sonic experience that’s as diverse in sound and style as it is anthemic and driving.

“I wanted to create a concept album of sorts,” Kirkland says, “a project that speaks to what’s going on in my life right now and a vision that also brings The Crystal Method sound forward and shapes it in a new way. I’ve been enjoying the idea of making an album like our debut album Vegas, where every song is different. Every song has a different BPM, every song has different emotions, every song has different elements.”

The Trip Home also serves as Kirkland’s message and reaction to the grandiose excess of today’s EDM scene. Where the genre constantly offers tired and recycled noise, Kirkland answers with an album built on organic sounds, a wide emotional range and, ultimately, real music.

Forged from analog synths, recorded through vintage Moog and Electro-Harmonix pedals and mixed through Sound City’s Neve console—not the same one used on Nevermind; Dave Grohl has that one—The Trip Home is a warm embrace of organic electronic music. The natural noise of analog gear is part of the sound. “I’m always looking for just the right amount of wrong,” Kirkland says. “I’m really proud of all the collaborations and incredibly talented artists who contributed to The Trip Home. I wanted to make a timeless album that sounded great and that conveyed an emotional narrative and a strong appreciation of the album format.”

The Trip Home will be released as The Crystal Method celebrates two massive milestones in 2018: 25 years on the music scene and the 21st anniversary of Vegas, the band’s debut studio album. It is the latest installment in The Crystal Method’s lauded discography, which includes the platinum-selling Vegas; Tweekend (2001); Legion of Boom (2004) and Divided by Night (2009), both of which received Grammy nominations in the Best Electronic/Dance Album category; and The Crystal Method (2014).

Most recently, Kirkland wrote his first-ever film score for the 2017 documentary Hired Gun and wrote the theme song for 3 Below, the upcoming TV series from Academy Award winner Guillermo del Toro, which debuts on Netflix this fall.

“The Trip Home refers to my long journey: all these places where I’ve been able to go, the experiences that come with it, the distances I’ve traveled,” Kirkland reflects. “It’s the journey back to all the things that got me here—the touring, the music, the fans—and keep me here. But there’s always home. At the end of it, I go home to my family, I go home to my studio, and then I go back out. It’s a circle. I tried to capture all this in an album.”