SMC : "Lazy I"~ KRENSHAW

VEDHEAD27

Woohoo it's my turn!

Well, being the huge local music lover/supporter that I am I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to expose you all to one of my absolute fav local bands. The band sadly broke up (RIP) but they left behind this amazing album to be remembered by.

I remember the first show I ever went to...I was completely blown away. not only did the lead singer have the same sound & energy as Layne Staley...but he even kinda looked like him too! It was eery. I felt like I was watching a young Layne in a local metal band.

Anyways, with influences aside the band won me over. I heard a variety of sounds coming through but they successfully created a one all their own. They instantly became one of my fav local bands...following them around show after show, each time getting better and better!

I bought "Lazy I" and was hooked. Stand out track without a doubt for me is "Inside". I swear that sucker gets lodged into my head for weeks on end! I LOVE that song!! Peel, Pig and Sorrow are other favs that come to mind. Overall I have had the entire album in heavy rotation since the day I bought it. Catchy, chunky, dark, heavy, melodic......powerful, fierce! I could go on and on....

This is one hell of a band imo and it is an honor to be able to share "Lazy I" with you all.

Hope you enjoy!



Posting a brief review from a local show a few years back.....



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By Ed Ricketts and Danny Cong
January 8, 2002

The band to watch by far was Krenshaw. With an influence of sounds from the likes of metal bands such as Sabbath, Alice in Chains, Tool and Godsmack, Krenshaw powered through an extremely tight set characterized by hypnotic vocals, slow and heavy guitar grooves and powerful rhythms, ultimately bringing the soul back to metal.

"Pig," the latest track from their 2001 release "Lazy i," bore witness to the punishing sounds that Krenshaw delivers. The music is beauty meets the beast; slow but driving, grinding but powerful, and definitely a sound you can relate to and understand.

Formed in mid-1999, Krenshaw has proven itself to be an up-and-coming band within the underground heavy scene. The thrust behind this group is very simple: each member is a veteran of former bands. This has created a level maturity and focus that propels Krenshaw easily to the local forefront. These guys create music that is honest, deliberate, brutal and uncompromising. What you see is what you get. If you like it great; if you don't well...

With R.J. Newkirk on drums, Kelly D. on vocals, Ryan Landes and Matt Castle on guitars and Leon Marcelis on bass, the circle is complete. Front man, Kelly D, with his mesmerizing antics on stage, draws you effortlessly into the huge wall of sound that is Krenshaw. At times it is even difficult to keep the ladies off the stage. The visuals mixed with highly intense vocals and blistering licks makes this band a must see thanks for leading the local seen in the right direction.

You can learn more about the band, find their next show, and sample a few tracks from "Lazi I" on their web site at http://www.krenshaw.com.

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viggs20

Its on download right now.

VEDHEAD27

viggs20 wrote:

Its on download right now.

Awesome!!


Seriously they have such amazing energy to them!! The lead singer is amazing as hell. He really demands your attention! They all just totally draw you in.

Again, hoping you guys dig it.

Echoes

"Pig" is pretty good (listened to it first), but shit, if I wanted to hear Layne Staley I'd listen to AIC. Way to much of a doppleganger, and ultimately just casts them as an inferior Alice in Chains. I mean, he projects exactly the same way, and many of the songs are sludge tonelessness or just plain bad ("F.M.O." and "Undone" to name a few).

I can see them being a large local band, but quite honestly I don't find them to have any particularily fascinating talents or intruiging songs. They are a band who has a low, growling sound and a lot of AiC-like vocalizations and guitar squees. Nothing spectacular.

VEDHEAD27

Well ouch! First pick and it has such a postive response already.:D haha. Nah, I do respect your brutally honest opinion Echoes even though I disagree. As a HUGE AIC fan I personally do hear Layne *of course* but in no way do I think he's trying to be him dead on...music either. I completely hear the influence but don't at all see them as a rip off band or anything. I hear "their" style and "their" own take on things and I love it.

Nothing spectacular to your ears though and to each his/her own. Thanks for atleast giving it a shot.

Echoes

no problem. It'll stay on my PC, I might listen to it again, but it does zilch for me. And I hear more than just a layne influence on it.

but "Pig" was decent.

VEDHEAD27

Echoes wrote:

but "Pig" was decent.

ha! Hey, I'll take what I can get.;)

I was thinking of starting things with my all time fav local band, use to be BREACH, now VENTING MACHINE...<~~ these boys are HEA-VY! Maybe they'll be more up your alley. We shall see next time. I thought I'd kick things off with Krenshaw cuze I could see them getting a positive response around here. Ah, can't blame a girl for trying. Glad to "expose" them if nothing else...even if it's not for everyone.

swede

im looking forward to it - but now im gonna be behind with 2 reviews lol - ill get to these ASAP! sorry people.

transplant

downloaded it yesterday, I'll give it a spin tonight.

transplant

Well, I think I just relived my entire college career while listening to that. Which is a good thing.

There has been several times I have walked into a bar, enjoyed the band that happened to be playing there and walked out with their CD only to find out later I much preferred to see them live than listen to the disc. that is how I feel about this. I do enjoy listening to local bands, it makes me want to explore if there are any half way decent bands in the Denver area. Just isn't much of a scene (that I can tell).

Obvious influences aside, I don't find much wrong with it, I do enjoy Inside and yeah Pig is pretty good as well however I find this period of music, the early '90's era to be too dated for my current taste. You can bet your ass if they were my local band at the time I probably wouldn't miss a show.

To be fair, I haven't played AIC, Soundgarden et all in years.

Also, if I played in a band, VEDHEAD27, I would want you as a fan.

psycosmic

transplant wrote:

Well, I think I just relived my entire college career while listening to that. Which is a good thing.

There has been several times I have walked into a bar, enjoyed the band that happened to be playing there and walked out with their CD only to find out later I much preferred to see them live than listen to the disc. that is how I feel about this. I do enjoy listening to local bands, it makes me want to explore if there are any half way decent bands in the Denver area. Just isn't much of a scene (that I can tell).

Obvious influences aside, I don't find much wrong with it, I do enjoy Inside and yeah Pig is pretty good as well however I find this period of music, the early '90's era to be too dated for my current taste. You can bet your ass if they were my local band at the time I probably wouldn't miss a show.

To be fair, I haven't played AIC, Soundgarden et all in years.

Also, if I played in a band, VEDHEAD27, I would want you as a fan.

i shouldn't have waited with my comment until after your review because i totally agree although you worded it much better than i would have...

in fact, after reading the first comments about them sounding like AIC i thought i might not like them if they sound like they try too hard to copy the original...
but after a couple of songs i forgot what i was listening to and just started rocking out in front of my computer... yes, they are influenced by AIC; yes, they're nothing spectacular... but, damn, i enjoyed listening to them!
i wouldn't go out and buy an album... but i would have gone to see them at a local club in the 90's... i might even go and see them if they were my local band now...

the one thing that made this so cool for me was that i suddenly felt like a teenager again who was listening to those seattle bands... but since i've listened to all my records from that period a million times already, your pick gave me the oportunity to get a glimpse of how it must have felt like back then when i was listening to a grunge band for the first time...

this doesn't mean it will replace any of my albums in my collection... i don't even think i will listen to this a lot... pig is a great song though... but for me, it served its purpose... so thank you, vedhead27! i can only second what transplant just said... krenshaw can be proud to have you as a fan!

viggs20

There isn't much to add to what has been said already...I don't mean to be rude but Krenshaw falls in the Godsmack category of truly derivative and uninspiring music. I'm sorry Lydia but I couldn't differentiate one song from another...the hoarse vocals just don't compare to Layne Staley no matter how much the singer tries.

barcoach

Sorry for not commenting yet guys, been having some work here. Promise I'll hear it and post my review tonight. And tomorrow I'll be uploading my pick. See ya then.

transplant

barcoach wrote:

And tomorrow I'll be uploading my pick. See ya then.

*cough* new KMFDM *cough*

VEDHEAD27

Aw no worries guys...glad you all gave it shot and that a few of you were actually able to enjoy it. psycosmic, I like your " i forgot what i was listening to and just started rocking out in front of my computer" comment. haha. Awesome! And very sweet of you and transplant both to make the comments about me as a fan. Thanks! That means a lot. I definitely like to think of myself a super devoted, overly supportive one.

Thanks again everyone. Better luck nextime huh?

barcoach

transplant wrote:

*cough* new KMFDM *cough*

Umm, I had something less known in mind, transplant, but being the nice person you are, I'll evalute your suggestion. Cheers.

barcoach

I know the courage that takes to put yourself on a stage and show what you do in front of people, but I also know once you do it there’s no way back, you’re completely exposed to people’s opinion. There are many things I could say about Krenshaw, but I won’t say them ‘cause in the place I live I’ve seen far less talented bands succeed, at least briefly. The only thing I’d like to point out is: when you release a record, man, you try to do the best for whoever that attempts it keeps listening, keeps curious for what’ll come next, and I just can’t believe these guys just chose the most boring intro I’ve ever heard to any album. But when you see the enthusiasm they arise in vedhead27, you think maybe they're not doing it so wrong.

VEDHEAD27

Wow! haha. Well thanks for that last comment barcoach. Seriously...I kinda feel more and more like what transplant was saying may be true, I don't know if seeing them live transfered something to me that isn't transfering to you guys or what? At any rate...looks like I'm alone on this one. Again all is good. I just did wanna swoop on the opportunity the get the word out on local bands that aren't heard to random mass audiences like this. Now I'm not too sure that's gonna work with SMC. Seems like most people stick to actual studio releases and since that's not the case here I can really see that opening the door to increased criticism since they don't "fully" have their shit together ya know? These are just raw demos at this point. Krenshaw did actually start to get well known in the area before they broke up though and even got frequent airplay, which I thought was awesome. I did get quite a few friends into them...but again, they saw them live so maybe that's the secret here.

Well I've learned my lesson. I do appreciate the honest feedback though. It definitely creates a good discussion. Good group we got going here. Props again to you viggs for starting this. I look forward to next time. Please don't be afraid of me when that day comes along.

burnin-candle

Sorry for the late response, been kinda busy with school and all that...

I really have nothing to add since some spot on comments have already been posted, but it certainly made me wanna go back and listen to some of the heavier stuff again. Local bands are always difficult to talk about since there's such a gap in enthusiasm because sometimes there's just not enough known about the band. But I'm always jealous of the local scenes in the US since the level is much higher and sometimes there's some really interesting stuff going on that only local people get to know about. So Vedhead27, I think it was great of you to introduce a local band, who knows, if they hadn't broken up they might have gone a little further. It certainly reminded me of the importance of local, grassroots support, something many bands have forgotten about these days.

Cheers.

swede

how friggen awesome is the song "sorrow" farkkk i love it

the bassline rocks my socks off

swede

F.M.O is yet another cracker on this album

im digging this a lot

trappedinmyradio

sorry, i'm late...i've been on the move up the east coast...just got in from NYC - anyway - getting this now...thanks.

EDIT: maybe not - did i totally miss this one?

swede

trappedinmyradio wrote:

sorry, i'm late...i've been on the move up the east coast...just got in from NYC - anyway - getting this now...thanks.

EDIT: maybe not - did i totally miss this one?

ah sorry mate - i was very very slow on replying to this as i was busy.

but yeh what i thought of this album well - those 2 songs i posted about are pretty awesome in my book - they really get me jumping!

but the rest of the album i think are just solid rock songs but dont stand out to me above any other band or nething like that. its an enjoyable listen but not a mindblowing one for me