KROQ Epicenter Twenty-Ten: Crash Kings

When Crash Kings sauntered onto the stage with their beautiful vintage drum set, skinny jeans, v-neck shirts, and their sexed-up grunge hair, they looked like just another bunch of hipster rockers. While they met the icy, bored stares of the sweaty Epicenter Twenty-Ten audience, the band ignored the crowd hush and kicked off their set with the sort of enthusiasm that portends star power.

Garnering comparisons to The Black Keys, The White Stripes, Cage The Elephant, and Muse, we think those comparisons are not enough; this band is unique in the sense that it captures the grime and grit of classic metal while still eliciting that bluesy back beat.

With a synchronised stage presence, the band is comprised of a pianist on lead vocals, a drummer, and a guitar player who sang background vocals. Their influences were harder to box in than their obvious future success; dirty, swampy,with a mix of Detroit stylistics and the fuzzy glam of 1960s nuggets, the lead singer’s vocals were as scorching raw as much as they seemed classically trained.

He had one of the most sultry, rich voices that we have ever heard from a rock artist with the power of metal in his AC/DC belting and the musicality of Elton John in his perfectly execute musical vocalizations.

Once the crowd heard the apparent musical talent of Crash Kings, they were hooked by the third song. Roars of appreciation resounded over the stage, which acted as a sort of catalyst for the band. The more explosive the audience became, the more vicious the band became.

We are addicted to Crash Kings. Like the band said in their second song “You Got Me”: You got me, where you want me.

They definitely had us–and the audience–in the palm of their hand.

[Photo Gallery] KROQ Epicenter…