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Crazy Town
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By Michele Stefancic From the unkind streets of Los Angeles, California comes a new seven-piece hard rock, rap collective called Crazy Town. Lyrically the band are punk rock with their shocking, offensive lyrics, hip hop lovers with smooth rap flows courtesy of vocalists/rappers Shifty Shellshock (a.k.a Seth Brooks Binzer) and Epic Mazur (a.k.a. Bret Mazur) and hard rock to the bone with remaining members, Faydoedeelay (a.k.a. Doug Miller, bass), Trouble (a.k.a Antonio Lorrenzo, guitar), James Bradley Jr. (drums) and DJ AM (a.k.a. Adam Goldstein, turntable mixing).
Crazy Town participated in this year's South By Southwest Festival and supported friend Tommy Lee's new band Methods Of Mayhem on tour. Before a gig in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Shifty Shellshock spoke of his first hand lyrical-accounts and his affection for music. Shifty describes Crazy Town as an X-rated version of Dennis The Menace. Painting a visual picture of what is going on with today's youth, Shifty and partner Epic Mazur are Crazy Town's principal songwriters. Whether the duo are writing about their infectious sound as described in first single "Toxic," or various sexual encounters in "Revolving Door," to being a mac daddy with the honeys in "Players Only Love You When They're Playing," the duo are brutally honest in their deliverance. Res! pective of their offering, I wondered if any feminist groups had yet knocked on the band's front door. "Actually the girls really love "Revolving Door," says Shifty in his dressing room after consuming a ham and cheese sandwich. Shifty quickly points out the balance with the sexual references in "Revolving Door," where he writes, "Now ladies come, ladies go, out my revolving door, some ladies never come back, most come back for more, they call me Shifty Capone, I make them moan..." to the lyrics of "Butterfly," a tale of a man in search of finding that one special woman to be with for the rest of his life. The majority of songwriters claim they can only write from first-hand experiences. Revealing he had run into some difficulties while writing the band's 14-track album, mainly serving time in prison for a "stupid robbery," Shifty affirms most of the material he writes does come from first hand knowledge. Relaxed in an orange colored armchair, donned in various facial piercings and a flannel coat, Shifty admits music was always his calling. Dropping out of high school in the ninth grade, Shifty didn't think he'd need an education. He already knew he'd either be creating clothing designs or he'd be a rock star in the future, so he ditched school in favor of pursuing his dreams. Epic on the other hand, went to high school with Ice Cube, Everlast, Divine Styler and House of Pain's Danny Boy. In the music biz for eight years before the inception of Crazy Town, Shifty maintains when he hooked-up with Epic there was an instant connection between them. He had worked with other artists but there was something about the vibe between the duo that was uniquely different. Lovers of hip hop and rock, Epic and Shifty eventually recruited the rest of their band through a string of connections and the L.A. music scene. Working with producer Josh Abraham (Orgy, Coal Chamber) The Gift Of Game also sees Crazy Town working with guest vocalists Jay Gordon (Orgy), KRS-One, dancehall master Mad Lion and sharing song writing credits with the Chili Peppers on "Butterfly." Once again stating it was through a string of connections that allowed the band to hook-up with these musical greates, Shift! y says Jay Gordon would come in and play around on Crazy Town's songs, while it was like getting the stamp of approval from the rap scene of KRS-One's involvement. When describing Crazy Town's live show, Shifty automatically states the live translation is much harder than on CD. He also says it's been great to build the band's live performance but he worries there are new problems the band will hav! e to face in the near future. Now that The Gift Of Game is out and a label is backing the band, Shifty worries about maintaining a level of performance that can be topped by the band come the release of their next album. A consistent writer, Shifty is currently working on new material, which will see all the band members contributing to the next release. For more information, tour dates, sound clips or to hear live messages Shifty has left on the band's official web site, you can visit Crazy Town at: www.crazytown.com. Copyright 2000, BallBuster, The Official Int'l Underground Hard Music Report |
Since the release of their debut The Gift Of Game (Columbia/Sony) last November (1999), Crazy Town have been on an unhinged musical ride with performances in Australia with the Chili Peppers and Nine Inch Nails, while winning fans over and receiving high praise for their live set.
