Global Dub Festival 2014: Krewella, Datsik and Crizzly

AEG Live is thrilled to announce GLOBALDANCEMUSIC.COM presents GLOBAL DUB FESTIVAL 2014 featuring KREWELLA, DATSIK, CRIZZLY + more to be announced live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Friday, May 16.

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They are innocent, if ignorant tweets. “I love krewella like her music is amazing and her vocals are just perf.” Legions of Krewella fans jump in defense on Twitter. Krewella is not a her, it is a them, they correct. Krewella is a band—yes, a band—of contradictions, surprises and unexpected influences. Krewella does not quite fit in with the EDM herd, and therefore resonates deeply with anyone who does not quite fit in. To wit: It is one of the biggest rising names in dance music, but its beat-maker proclaims, “People standing behind tables putting their hands in the air is remedial.”

The group name-drops Fall Out Boy, Blink 182, the Faint and Timbaland as inspirations. It is ostensibly an electronic act, though one formed by singer-songwriters and a guitar shredder who put live performance above all else, who cherish being flesh to flesh with their flock. Krewella is difficult to pigeonhole, and thus speaks to all those who view themselves as difficult to pigeonhole. Which is all of us.

In 2010, a trio of young musicians from suburban Northbrook rented a loft in the heart of the neighborhood. The oldest, Kris “Rain Man” Trindl, 22 at the time, a metal head who first picked up a guitar at age 11, tried to look his most presentable when meeting with the apartment agent. He wore a peacoat. Kris and his two bandmates, sisters Yasmine and Jahan Yousaf, then 18 and 20, respectively, moved into the 2,500-square-foot space with cardboard boxes and empty beer cases as furniture. They slept on mattresses on the floor. Kris ran his computer through a flat-screen television. He turned his closet into a vocal booth, drilling holes in the walls to thread cables, insulating the interior with comforters and foam padding. Inside that closet, Jahan and Yasmine belted the vocals to “Alive,” as Kris crafted the amphetamine-pumping beats and longing piano arpeggios of the hopeful dance anthem on the hardwood in his bedroom. “Cardboard is a pretty good acoustic  dampener,” notes Kris. “But we probably didn’t get our security deposit back,” says Jahan.

In July of 2011, Krewella began performing live in the Windy City underground. They played raves in rusted warehouses near Midway Airport. They rocked a multi-level Halloween party in a dilapidated hotel. Sometimes, there’d be a mere 20 kids dancing on tile floors. Sometimes, the three would earn a measly $50. Sometimes, Kris worried for his younger bandmates’ safety at unlicensed gigs in gritty venues. Yasmine and Jahan insisted on taking any and every chance to bring Krewella to the people. “We’re gonna play where we can play.” Krewella booked its first official concert in November 2011, opening for Porter Robinson at the Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago.

The band made an immediate impression on Zach Partin of React Presents, the concert promoter. “All the fans just went nuts for Krewella’s set,” he recalls. “Even then you could tell they were on to something.” That something: Krewella’s unique recipe of gut-hitting songwriting, spirited performance and dancefloor know-how.  In 2012, Krewella continued to build its reputation over a hundred plus performances across the United States and Australia. With each stop back in its hometown, Krewella progressively played larger and larger stages to a growing fan-base. First, the side-stage tent at React’s Spring Awakening Festival; then, the cavernous Congress Theater; finally, in May of 2013, the main stage of Spring Awakening inside Soldier Field.

Speaking of rockstars, two of the Yousaf’s childhood heroes, Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump and Blink 182’s Travis Barker, belt hooks and pummel drums on “Dancing with the Devil.” Jahan gushes, “I didn’t think we were capable of getting those people on the record.” Yasmine was in equal disbelief: “I’m the biggest Fall Out Boy fan.” As proof of the uncanny mind-meld shared by group, each member quickly declares “We Go Down” as his or her favorite. It’s easy to figure why. It is the track that straddles the most lines, opening with an easy reggae bounce that builds into bright, irresistible pop hooks and busy breakbeats.

Jahan equates Krewella’s mish-mash of styles with growing up in a multi-ethnic household. The Yousaf sisters were raised by their Pakistani father and German-Polish-Lithuanian mother. Yasmine can remember being 5 years old, sitting in the backseat of her dad’s car as he sang along to Nirvana’s “Come As You Are.” She now has a tattoo of Kurt Cobain’s face.

“Growing up, after 9/11, Yasmine and I never really fit in. We were too white for Pakistanis, too different for the white kids. We didn’t feel 100% embraced in one community,” Jahan says. “That pushed us into creating our own lane.” The record was recorded in Los Angeles, Krewella’s new base. (Well, except for “Alive.” You’re still hearing the incredible closet take.)  Jahan and Yasmine still live together. “We’ll probably always live together,” Yasmine says. Kris is not far away in Studio City. Of course they moved there together. California is where they were working. Their record label is in L.A.  All in. Head first. Get wet. “Get Wet” is the Krewella mantra, its mission statement. Get your mind of out of the gutter. Or don’t. Do whatever you want. Be who you are. Just go do it. “You need to be able to jump and lose yourself,” Yasmine proclaims.

Purchase tickets online at WWW.AXS.COM or charge tickets by phone, call 888.929.7849.

General Admission tickets are $42.50 – 55.00 plus applicable service charges.  All ages are welcome.
VIP tickets available for $110.00 plus applicable service charges and include access to a prime VIP Seating Area.