Crush 40
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Crush 40 |
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Crush 40 is an Japanese American rock band originally known as Sons of Angels, that was made to create music for the SEGA arcade racing game NASCAR Rubbin' Racing/EA Sports NASCAR Arcade. The band is best known for providing the various theme songs for the games in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The core of the group is the hard rock guitarist and video game composer Jun Senoue and singer Johnny Gioeli, who is also vocalist for the bands Hardline and Axel Rudi Pell.
History
Sons of Angels (1999-2001)
After graduating from college in 1993, Jun Senoue joined Sega as a music composer for videogames. He wrote hard rockin' songs with Eric Martin (Mr. Big), Tony Harnell (TNT, Westworld), Ted Poley (Danger Danger, Melodica) and Paul Shortino (Rough Cutt). Jun has also released several albums in Japan. As the sound producer and main music composer of the videogame Sonic Adventure, he was able to contact Johnny through Doug Aldrich and they tracked their 1st song, "Open Your Heart" in Los Angeles. The relationship between Jun and Johnny was born as they kept in contact, creating music, which they released in the album "Thrill of the Feel" under the name Sons of Angels in 2000 from JVC records for Japanese market. And also they tracked the song "Live and Learn" which became the main theme of Sonic Adventure 2 in 2001.[1]
The project band "Sons of Angels" was formed while Jun was working on the soundtrack for NASCAR Rubbin' Racing, taken from the song on the Daytona USA CCE soundtrack that featured Eric Martin. The lineup was Jun on guitars, Johnny on vocals, Hiro on drums and Naoto on bass. In the March of 2000, the band released "Thrill of the Feel", a compilation of the songs they wrote for the arcade game. The album recieved a warm reception, with its blend of raw, racing rock n' roll and soaring instrumentals coupled with Johnny's legendary voice.[2]
The Beginning of Crush 40
The next appearance of the band was in 2001, when Sonic Adventure 2 was being worked on for Sonic's 10th anniversary. Commitments to other bands meant Naoto and Hiro could not take part, so Katsuji and Takeshi were brought in to record songs for the game. "Live and Learn" was the result, an old fashioned hard rocker but with modern production. They also made "Escape from the City", background music for the first level, City Escape in the game, with vocals by Ted Poley.
All went quiet during 2002, then just under three years from the initial release, under the new name Crush 40, the European version of the Sons of Angels album was announced, under European label Frontiers Records. The self-titled album, Crush 40, was stripped of the instrumentals, and included both prior Sons of Angels songs from the Sonic games and two other songs featuring vocalists Tony Harnell and Ted Poley.
In 2003, Sega announced the first multiplatform Sonic game, Sonic Heroes (Though Sonic Jam was both on the Saturn and game.com). Once again, Jun was the sound director, and began writing, this time as a collaboration with artists such as Gunnar Nelson, Julien-K, Kay Hanley and of course Johnny Gioeli. This time, there were two new Crush 40 songs: the theme tune "Sonic Heroes", a bright, melodic song and in contrast "What I'm Made Of", a distinctly dark, energetic hard rock song with metal sensibilities to describe the final struggle of the game. Sonic Heroes was released at the end of 2003 in Japan, and in early 2004 in the US and Europe. [3]
A Change In Sound
As it would turn out, "What I'm Made Of" would be the beginning of a darker sound for Crush 40. In 2005, Sega announced Shadow the Hedgehog the released in 2006 and once again, Crush 40 returned to compose the game's theme song, "I Am... (All of Me)" which was used in the game's intro movie and also during the true final boss battle. There is also another song by Crush 40 in the game, this one being the true ending theme entitled "Never Turn Back". Both of these songs also appear on the soundtrack called Lost and Found: Shadow the Hedgehog Vocal Trax. These songs are more heavy metal driven than previous Crush 40 songs, matching up with the genre of music that Shadow the Hedgehog is associated with.[4]
Although Jun confirmed on his official fan site that he did not compose any songs for Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, Crush 40 was a participating act in the final edition of the game. They performed a cover of "All Hail Shadow", Shadow the Hedgehog's pure hero pathway theme song, whose same name and lyrics previously performed by Magna-Fi in the game, Shadow the Hedgehog. They have even recorded a version of His World, the main theme of Sonic the Hedgehog 2006. They changed the rap lyrics in the verses and remixed it with their own. In addition, Jun created a remix of Silver's theme, "Dreams of an Absolution" (subtitled 'LB vs JS Remix'). All three of these songs are on this game's soundtrack, Sonic the Hedgehog Vocal Traxx : Several Wills
News from Jun on his website is that, due to some problems with the official Crush 40 myspace page [5], there is a new unimpressive temporary page at http://myspace.com/redstealthmusic
Discography
Crush 40 have currently released 2 albums (as of 2007), as well as individual tracks on numerous soundtracks to the games listed above.
| (2000) Thrill of the Feel | |||
| Track | Title | Time | |
| 1 | The Star Spangled Banner | 1:22 | |
| 2 | Dangerous Ground | 2:32 | |
| 3 | Into the Wind | 4:28 | |
| 4 | Fill It Up | 2:30 | |
| 5 | Revvin' Up | 4:35 | |
| 6 | Rush into the Crazy World | 0:48 | |
| 7 | In the Lead | 4:03 | |
| 8 | Watch Me Fly | 5:09 | |
| 9 | On the Road Again | 1:40 | |
| 10 | Fuel Me | 2:44 | |
| 11 | When the Sun Goes Down | 1:50 | |
| 12 | All the Way | 4:09 | |
| 13 | Open Your Heart (Bonus Track) | 5:11 | |
The album Thrill of the Feel includes instrumental tracks created by Jun Senoue on guitar, including that of The Star-Spangled Banner. The instrumental tracks are the ones that are not on the Crush 40 album. Also to note that the song "Dangerous Ground" has a little introduction before it goes into the song, whereas on the Crush 40 album, it cuts straight to the song. This album also contains a bonus track Open Your Heart - the main theme for Sonic Adventure.
| (2003) Crush 40 | |||
| 1 | Live & Learn | 4:30 | |
| 2 | Revvin' Up | 4:34 | |
| 3 | Into the Wind | 4:28 | |
| 4 | In the Lead | 4:02 | |
| 5 | Watch Me Fly... | 5:08 | |
| 6 | Fuel Me | 2:43 | |
| 7 | Dangerous Ground | 2:10 | |
| 8 | All the Way | 4:09 | |
| 9 | Open Your Heart | 5:15 | |
| 10 | It Doesn't Matter (Bonus Track) | 4:27 | |
| 11 | Escape from the City (Bonus Track) | 2:20 | |
In this album, the track number 10 is known as Sonic the Hedgehog's theme song in the game Sonic Adventure and was sung by Tony Harnell. Live & Learn is well known as the main theme to the game Sonic Adventure 2 and Escape from the City, also from Sonic Adventure 2, is heard in the background to the first level, City Escape. Escape from the City was sung by Ted Poley and Tony Harnell. The reason why It Doesn't Matter and Escape from the City appear as bonus tracks is because Jun Senoue performed in them (noticeably).
Other Tracks:
Sonic Heroes from Triple Threat: Sonic Heroes Vocal Trax
What I'm Made Of from Triple Threat: Sonic Heroes Vocal Trax
I Am (All Of Me) from Lost and Found: Shadow the Hedgehog Vocal Trax
Never Turn Back from Lost and Found: Shadow the Hedgehog Vocal Trax
All Hail Shadow (redone) from Sonic the Hedgehog Vocal Traxx Several Wills
His World (redone) from Sonic the Hedgehog Vocal Traxx Several Wills
Genres
In the Sonic Adventure series, Crush 40 used styles of hard rock and heavy metal for most of their tracks. Other tracks may use influences from other genres.
In recent games (Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, etc.), Crush 40 has experimented with other forms of alternative rock. "I Am...(All Of Me)", for example, exhibits a strong use of industrial metal elements, and the Crush 40 version of "His World" has many symphonic rock influences.
Guitarist Jun Senoue has stated the following:
"I know what my style is, and I know what my favourite genres of music are. I listen to a lot of metal music, as well as other genres of music, and my inspiration is always there. The style of the music in the game does change, and it gives a great sense of progression."
"When we got together to write stuff for Shadow, we found that our fresh ideas were a lot different to the songs we’d written back in 2002 – our sound had changed." [6]
Artists
Current Lineup
- Vocals: Johnny Gioeli
- Guitars: Jun Senoue
- Bass: Takeshi Taneda
- Drums: Toru Kawamura
Previous Members
- Bass: Naoto Shibata
- Drums: Hirotsugu Homma
References
- ^ http://www.junsenoue.com/content/view/2/10/
- ^ http://www.junsenoue.com/content/view/1/14
- ^ http://www.junsenoue.com/content/view/1/14
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_the_hedgehog
- ^ "Problems accessing Crush 40 MySpace page". Retrieved 2007-12-19.
- ^ "Q&A with Jun Senoue Part 1". Retrieved 2006-08-14.