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Crash Kelly plays The Chip
By Ruth Milne, Journal Staff Writer
STURGIS - "It's amazing. It's like all your teenage fantasies coming true onstage."
That's how Sean Kelly, singer and guitarist for the rock band Crash Kelly, described sharing a stage with legendary rocker Alice Cooper.
Crash Kelly was the opening act for Cooper's concert Saturday at the Buffalo Chip Campground.
The shock rocker's music is a major influence for Crash Kelly; in fact, during the interview, which was conducted by telephone, Kelly and his bandmates were watching footage from Cooper's Dirty Diamonds tour last year. "It's a great lesson on how to put on a great rock show," Kelly said.
But don't expect Crash Kelly to bring out guillotines and smoke machines. It's all about the music for this hard-rocking foursome.
"We don't have the props and the big light show and everything," Kelly said. "What we do have is energy and enthusiasm for the music we're playing. The riffs and songs we play are designed to be played on a large stage."
Kelly grew up in Toronto listening to the music of the early 1980s -- bands like Ratt and Motley Crue -- but he soon realized those groups were echoing older acts such as Slade, T. Rex, Sweet, Kiss and, of course, Alice Cooper. He turned to those pioneers for his inspiration.
"I think at the end of the day, those are just really well-crafted songs," Kelly said. "It comes from a period of time that the art was paramount, more important than the commerce."
Those glam metal and classic rock influences fuse smoothly on Crash Kelly's sophomore effort, "Electric Satisfaction," a production that's more 1976 than 2006. It's an album swimming in hard liquor, rock 'n' roll angels and guitar riffs that seem to scream straight from the heart of the '70s.
The retro feel is deliberate, Kelly said. "I'm trying to craft classic sounding records. Not to mimic an era, but more so -- that's the music that genuinely touches me."
In a tribute to those classic records, the graphics on the band's new CD make it look like vinyl.
Released July 25, "Electric Satisfaction" comes with a rocking pedigree - it was produced by Gilby Clarke, the former Guns 'n' Roses guitarist now starring in "Rock Star: Supernova" on CBS.
"With Gilby, I felt like I met a kindred spirit," Kelly said. "He did an amazing job of capturing what I heard in my head and taking it even further."
"Electric Satisfaction" was released on Liquor and Poker Music, a record label that -- judging by the double-entendre -- seems to be in tune with the often-risque spirit of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. And with lyrics such as "Give me drugs, give me action/Give me electric satisfaction," this band is tough enough to suit any biker image.
And although Kelly has never been to the Sturgis motorcycle rally, he said in a recent interview that he was counting the days until his performance.
"It (the rally) is obviously the stuff of legend," he said. "We love playing in America anyway. The crowds are just so great; it's great rock 'n' roll country, and I can imagine that Sturgis is the heart of rock 'n' roll."
Crash Kelly has one goal for Saturday's concert, Kelly said. "We'll try to be louder than the sound of revving motors."
Bikers, start your engines: that sounds like a challenge.
Contact Ruth Milne at 394-8420 or ruth.milne@rapidcityjournal.com
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