MISS CRAZY is a band formed in 2005 that is rapidly making waves across North America. Heavily influenced both musically and vocally by the likes of Cinderella, Kix, Kiss, and AC/DC, MISS CRAZY was quick to put together their self-titled debut release, which has received nothing but high acclaim throughout media channels everywhere. The Miss Crazy album features simple, straightforward riffs that ROCK, and lyrics and choruses that are as catchy and memorable as everything found on Cinderella’s Night Songs debut. MISS CRAZY is a four-piece band out of San Francisco, California, USA, and vocalist/guitarist/main songwriter Markus Allen Christopher and bassist/songwriter Kim Racer joined us at Metal Express Radio on January 8, 2007, just days before they were ready to embark on an 80 – 120 show tour!
MER: First, talk a little about the band Miss Crazy … you’re fairly new and Metal Express readers may not know much about you yet.
KIM: We play Metal (or Rock) that’s rooted in the 80’s and 70’s, and we definitely enjoy playing live and touring.
MER: What was the initial objective of the band when you formed? With the full face make up and a sound that is very similar to Kix and Cinderella, what were your initial goals?
KIM: Just to play great music and to bring back the feeling and mindset of what bands used to do in the past …
MER: You say you wanted to bring back a vibe of the past … how would you describe your sound?
MARKUS: Well, we describe ourselves as an Arena Rock Band … and we’re attempting to do now what bands no longer seem inclined to want to do, or may even be afraid to do. We feel, though, that our style is “Timeless Rock.” Bands like Def Leppard, AC/DC, and Kiss … these bands continue to live on and on and never seem to die. Even when new styles of music were coming out, they still were packing the arenas. We want to bring back that mindset and direction. It’s hard to find these days bands that have vocals in a style like mine and chord patterns that are basically Power Rock … we just want and wanted to make sure that we play a part in bringing all of that back to the fans.
MER: You mentioned “vocals in the style like mine …” Your style and sound is very much like Tom Kiefer from Cinderella crossed with Bon Scott (r.i.p.) from AC/DC. How do you get that sound, and how do you protect your voice when singing with that rasp … everyone is pretty well aware of the problems Keifer has had with ruptured vocal chords in the past.
MARKUS: Well, I guess I get that sound out of my voice just out of pure frustration. I just sing, and that’s how it comes out. I don’t really understand how it happens, but it does. To protect my voice, I just do a few warm-up techniques and can pretty much sing any time like that. When touring, I thought I may eventually encounter some problems, but I really never have. It’s really the only way to sing that I’ve ever done.
MER: Kim, how did you get into playing the bass. It’s fairly rare to find women in Metal, much less playing the bass …
KIM: I’ve always been into the bass. When I listen to music, I don’t really hear the vocals or guitars, I’ve always gotten into the bass lines. So, when I had the opportunity to pick up playing the bass, I went for it. As far as the style of music that I enjoy and play, I’ve always been into Rock and always will be … but really, I enjoy all kinds of music.
MER: When did you actually start playing music and when did you pick up playing the bass?
KIM: I actually started playing piano when I was 4, and then played in the school band (hate to admit that). As far as the bass, I just picked that up about 3 or 4 years ago, so it’s actually a fairly new instrument for me.
MER: You mentioned influences by Kiss and Def Leppard to name a few … those bands all had and have huge stage shows and stage productions. What’s a Miss Crazy show like? You incorporate the full-face makeup concept, which obviously originated with Kiss … do you also incorporate stage show ideas used previously by these bands?
MARKUS: We’re actually pretty laid back on stage. We don’t want to use a lot of the cheesy things from the 80’s. Overall, we don’t do anything that is totally planned out and choreographed or anything like that. We’re very real with the crowd and personalize with people. Nothing is rehearsed. Our philosophy is just to interact with the audience and have a great time together.
MER: Your debut album, entitled Miss Crazy, came out in early 2006 and was recently re-released with 3 bonus tracks. How will you support this album … will you be touring?
MARKUS: We’re starting our tour on January 12th, actually, and we have about 35 dates already booked. We’re hoping before all is said and done that we’ll play somewhere between 80 and 120 shows. We’ll play as much as we can, and the demand to see us play extends all across the United States … in some places we’re even booked to play 2 nights. We recently received word that we’ll be supporting Buck Cherry in the Arizona Cardinals stadium, and 2 nights with Army Of Anyone, and that should be 30 or 40,000 people each night. We’re just really excited about hitting the road and seeing all the fans … the fans coming out is what does it for us.
MER: So, will your tour be mainly in a supporting act role, or will you be headlining most times?
MARKUS: Most dates we’ll be headlining. Right now, the only shows we have booked as a supporting act are the Buck Cherry and Army Of Anyone shows. We’ll be doing a few co-headlining shows, but mostly we’ll headline our own shows.
MER: Usually bands only re-release albums with bonus tracks after a number of years. Why did you decide to re-release Miss Crazy before even a year has elapsed?
MARKUS: Well, we had recorded 3 additional songs that we were really proud of, and since so many people are just now getting to know about the band and our popularity is growing quickly, we decided to include those 3 songs on the album and re-master and re-release it. For most people, the reality of it is that the re-released version will be their first exposure to the band.
MER: How can people pick up your album?
MARKUS: Through our original label, who now will just be handling some of the distribution of the album, Metal Mayhem, is one way … or through CD Baby, Napster, iTunes, Best Buys … and a good way to go is to visit MissCrazyMusic.com and simply download the songs. Each track is $.99, or the whole 13 track album can be downloaded for $10, which is about as good of a deal as you will get.
MER: Do you see it as a difficult challenge to follow up your debut album? Miss Crazy, afterall, is about as good as it gets for people who like that 80’s style, Arena Rock sound that you defined earlier. So many bands shoot their wad, so to speak, in their first album and have difficulty coming up with material that’s as good as what they put together for their debut release …
MARKUS: Well, we already have written 4 new songs since the re-release of our debut album, and 3 of them are available now to hear on MissCrazyMusic.com. During our touring, I think we’ll probably just concentrate on touring, but I do have a lot of songs in my head that are coming together. For us, writing songs really isn’t that long or hard of a process. I’m sure we’re not going to vary too far from the proven formula, perhaps just a bit heavier, as people can hear in the 4 new songs we’ve already recorded, but overall, I don’t think it will be any problem at all to finish up a full-length follow-up record that’s at least as good as the debut.
MER: Is it you, Markus, who does all of the writing, or do others in the band contribute?
MARKUS: Kim assists in the writing process, and I think she’ll continue to get more and more involved. For example, if you listen to one of our new songs on our Web site, “Can’t Get Enough,” you’ll hear her really stepping forward with her bass lines … it’s really impressive. Overall, I’m looking forward to having Kim more involved with the songwriting in the future.
MER: Your song topics are not conventional 80s Arena Rock … if anything, that is one thing that stands out and differentiates Miss Crazy from the bands you mentioned as being influences. Your topics aren’t necessarily about sucking down booze, partying all night, or bagging girls. Instead, Miss Crazy lyrics have a bit of twisted humor, or even slightly demented themes. Could you comment about that?
MARKUS: Overall, our song topics have tried to focus on situations in life that are “real.” It’s true that our lyrics aren’t exactly “happy” lyrics, which would be more of a fantasy technique than a reality technique. For many people life just isn’t always that great. People get their hearts broken … people want to tell other people to “go to hell” … people trust people and come up on the short end. I think it just works best for us to write about real life situations than about flying through space on spaceships or living life with bottles of booze in our hands and screwing girls.
KIM: Wait a second … what about “Billie?” (laughs)
MARKUS: Well, “Billie” is actually about a true story of a kid I knew growing up … he had this really hot mom that all of his friends wanted to hang around and get hooked up with. And, she was in to younger guys too, which made the whole situation more bizarre and interesting. It was always like, “Hey Billie, how’s it going, man? Hey, where’s your mom at by the way?” So again, even though that song is humorous, it’s still a bona fide real life situation! (laughs)
MER: How can people keep up-to-date with what’s going on with the band, and especially, how can people keep track of tour dates as they are being added?
KIM: Go to MissCrazyMusic.com, or you can check out our Myspace site. We’ll keep posting new information there as it becomes available.
MER: Any final message to your fans out there or people who should check out Miss Crazy?
KIM: We hope to see you out on the road! One thing I want people to know is that we always come out to meet the fans after our shows, so stick around, we’d love to meet all of you!
MARKUS: Check out our Web site … there’s plenty of items there to pick up and we’re happy to autograph many of the things that you can buy, or personalize a message if you’d like. Then, I’d also just like to thank the fans … you’re the reason we do this, and like Kim said, we’re really anxious to meet you all on the road during our tour! So, come see us!!!
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