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Biography
Infobox musical artist| name = Crush 40| image = Crush 40.JPG| caption = Jun Senoue (left) and Johnny Gioeli (right) performing at Summer of Sonic 2010| image_size = 300| background = group_or_band| alias = Sons Of Angels| origin = Japan and United States| genre = Hard Rock , Alternative Metal , Heavy metal music|Heavy Metal , Alternative Rock , Hair Metal | years_active = 1997–present| label = Victor Entertainment , Frontiers Records , Wave Master|Wave Master Entertainment | associated_acts = Anthem (band)|Anthem , Axel Rudi Pell , Hardline (band)|Hardline , Jun Senoue , Loudness (band)|Loudness Cash Cash|Alex Makhlouf Cash Cash|Jean Paul Makhlouf | website = http://crush40.net| current_members = Jun Senoue Johnny Gioeli Takeshi Taneda Toru Kawamura| past_members = Naoto Shibata Hirotsugu Homma Katsuji Mark SchulmanCrush 40 , formerly known as Sons of Angels , is a Japanese-American hard rock band formed in 1997 that is best known for their contributions to the soundtracks of several video games, predominantly the Sonic the Hedgehog (series)|Sonic the Hedgehog series. The core of the group is the hard rock guitarist and video game composer Jun Senoue and vocalist Johnny Gioeli , who is also the vocalist for the bands Hardline (band)|Hardline and Axel Rudi Pell .
Since forming, Crush 40 has released two studio albums, Thrill of the Feel , Crush 40 and recently a compilation, Super Sonic Songs , which includes remastered versions of many of their originals. They have also contributed songs to several video games that do not appear on these albums.
History
Formation and Thrill of the Feel
Crush 40's origin began with guitarist Jun Senoue and his employment with Sega . After graduating from college in 1993, Jun Senoue was employed by Sega to be a music composer for video games. His first project was creating two songs for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 .cite web| url= http://junsenoue.com/content/view/13/19/| title=Style Factory interview with Jun Senoue| accessdate=2008-01-27|publisher=junsenoue.com |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080103005741/ http://junsenoue.com/content/view/13/19/ |archivedate = January 3, 2008 Later, he worked on other games such as Dark Wizard , Sonic 3D Blast ( Sega Mega Drive version), Sega Rally 2 , and Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition .cite web| url= http://junsenoue.com/content/view/13/19/| title=Style Factory interview with Jun Senoue| accessdate=2008-01-27 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080103005741/ http://junsenoue.com/content/view/13/19/ |archivedate = January 3, 2008
In 1997, Senoue contacted the singer from Hardline (band)|Hardline , Johnny Gioeli , and recorded their first song as a group, Sonic Adventure#Music|Open Your Heart . After making the track, which would later be on the video game Sonic Adventure , the two stayed in contact. Eventually from this relationship spawned a project band to make the soundtrack for another game Senoue worked on, NASCAR Arcade . The band was formed under the name "Sons of Angels", the same as a song that Senoue performed with Eric Martin (singer)|Eric Martin on the Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition soundtrack.cite web| url= http://www.junsenoue.com/content/view/2/10/| title=Jun Senoue's Biography| accessdate=2008-01-09 |author= Parminder Gill|date=2005-04-10|publisher=junsenoue.com |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20071230072826/ http://junsenoue.com/content/view/2/10/ |archivedate = December 30, 2007
The original band included Senoue as the guitarist, Gioeli singing, and Naoto Shibata and Hirotsugu Homma from Anthem (band)|Anthem playing the bass and drums, respectively. In 2000, the band released their album Thrill of the Feel through Victor Entertainment .cite web|url= http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/-/Discography/A014575/VICP-61014.html|title=JVC Music/Victor Album Information: Thrill of the Feel|language=Japanese|accessdate=2008-04-10|publisher=jvcmusic.co.jp The album contained all of the tracks which they had written for NASCAR Arcade .cite web| url= http://www.junsenoue.com/content/view/1/14| title=Crush 40 History| accessdate=2008-01-07 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080130073822/ http://junsenoue.com/content/view/1/14 |archivedate = January 30, 2008
The band resurfaced during the development of Sonic Adventure 2 . Naoto Shibata and Hirotsugu Homma could not take part because they were performing with Loudness (band)|Loudness and later Anthem (band)|Anthem , so Katsuji and Takeshi Taneda were brought in to play the songs for the game. The resulting track was "Live and Learn", the main theme of Sonic Adventure 2.
When the Norwegian band "Sons of Angels" reunited under this alias that they had before, Gioeli and Senoue decided to change their band's name to Crush 40.cite web| url= http://digilander.libero.it/aorwebsite/jan03.htm| title=Review of "Crush 40"| accessdate=2008-01-12|author=Andrea Bertamino|date=2003-01-31|publisher=digilander.libero.it When Senoue was asked why he picked "Crush 40" as the name, he responded, "When we had to find another good one, we picked up the word we like…“Crush” is one of them, and Johnny added the number on it. Crush is the name of the soda too…that's my favorite!"cite web| url= http://junsenoue.com/content/view/10/19/| title=MelodicRock.com interview with Jun Senoue| accessdate=2008-01-13|author=Parminder Gill|date=2004-02-07|publisher=junsenoue.com |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20071201025824/ http://junsenoue.com/content/view/10/19/ |archivedate = December 1, 2007
Two years after the release of Sonic Adventure 2 , the album Crush 40 , a European cover version of "Thrill of the Feel", was released by Frontiers Records .cite web| url= http://www.revelationz.net/index.asp? ID=601| title=RevelationZ's article on Crush 40| accessdate=2008-03-05|author=Michael|date=2003-02-23|publisher=revelationz.net The album contained the same music as their previous album with the same racing theme of the songs written for NASCAR Arcade, but without the previous album's instrumental tracks. Senoue claimed that Crush 40 was the project of himself and Gioeli, which is why the instrumental tracks were removed.cite web|url= http://junsenoue.com/content/view/5/11/|title=Frequently Asked Questions to Jun Senoue|author=Parminder Gill|date=2004-02-27|accessdate=2008-04-12|publisher=junsenoue.com |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080205221118/ http://junsenoue.com/content/view/5/11/ |archivedate = February 5, 2008 There were, however, both prior Sonic theme songs "Open Your Heart" and "Live and Learn", as well as two bonus tracks: "It Doesn't Matter" featuring vocalist Tony Harnell , and "Escape from the City" featuring Ted Poley and Tony Harnell. Senoue's rationale for including these two songs was that he wanted to introduce some of his favorite songs featuring other singers to the fans.
Continued work with Sega
Crush 40 did not release any new albums between 2003 and 2009, instead, the band wrote and recorded original music for several video games. The songs the band performed for these games were released on the soundtracks of each game, under Sega's Wave Master|Wave Master Entertainment label.cite web| url= http://www.chudahs-corner.com/soundtracks/index.php? catalog=WWCE-31020| title=Disc Information: Triple Threat Sonic Heroes Vocal Trax |author=Lucy Rzeminski| accessdate=2008-04-08|publisher=chudahs-corner.comcite web| url= http://www.chudahs-corner.com/soundtracks/index.php? catalog=WWCE-31114| title=Disc Information: Shadow the Hedgehog Vocal Trax |author=Lucy Rzeminski| accessdate=2008-04-08|publisher=chudahs-corner.comcite web| url= http://www.chudahs-corner.com/soundtracks/index.php? catalog=WWCE-31142| title=Disc Information: Sonic the Hedgehog Vocal Traxx Several Wills |author=Lucy Rzeminski| accessdate=2008-04-08|publisher=chudahs-corner.com
In 2003, Sega announced the first multiplatform Sonic the Hedgehog (character)|Sonic game, Sonic Heroes , which featured two new Crush 40 songs: the theme tune " Sonic Heroes (song)|Sonic Heroes ", a "bright, melodic song", and "What I'm Made Of...", a "distinctly dark hard rock song with metal sensibilities". The music itself was also released on the Sonic Heroes (soundtrack)|Triple Threat: Sonic Heroes Vocal Trax soundtrack. In the booklet for Triple Threat: Sonic Heroes Vocal Trax , Katsuji is credited as the drummer for "Sonic Heroes", but Mark Schulman is credited as the drummer for "What I'm Made Of..."Cite book|title= Sonic Heroes (soundtrack)|Triple Threat: Sonic Heroes Vocal Trax booklet|publisher= Wave Master|Wave Master Entertainment |page=3Cite book|title= Sonic Heroes (soundtrack)|Triple Threat: Sonic Heroes Vocal Trax booklet|publisher= Wave Master|Wave Master Entertainment |page=8
When Sega announced Shadow the Hedgehog (video game)|Shadow the Hedgehog in 2005, Crush 40 returned to perform the game's theme song, "I Am... All of Me". There is a second song by Crush 40 in the game, the ending theme named "Never Turn Back". Both of these songs also appear on the soundtrack called Shadow the Hedgehog (video game)#Music|Lost and Found: Shadow the Hedgehog Vocal Trax . For Crush 40's contributions to this soundtrack, the drumming duties were passed on to Toru Kawamura, who remains the band's current drummer to this day.
Crush 40 also made contributions to Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 game)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 . The band created its own rendition of "All Hail Shadow", previously performed by Magna-Fi in the game Shadow the Hedgehog (video game)|Shadow the Hedgehog . Crush 40 also recorded a version of " His World ", the main theme of Sonic the Hedgehog in 2006. The latter of these two did not appear in the game, but both of these songs are on this game's soundtrack, Sonic the Hedgehog Vocal Traxx: Several Wills .
The band also contributed several of its songs, including "Live and Learn", to the video game Super Smash Bros. Brawl .cite web| url= http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/music/music19.html| title=Smash Bros. Dojo Music Update 19| accessdate=2008-01-22|author=Masahiro Sakurai|date=2007-12-25|publisher=smashbros.com The song was also featured in an episode of the Japanese version of Sonic X .
In 2008, the album True Blue: The Best of Sonic the Hedgehog was released in Japan, and featured Crush 40's cover of the Sonic and the Secret Rings theme "Seven Rings in Hand", originally performed by Steve Conte . Also included on the album are Crush 40 songs "Live and Learn" (2007 Remastered Version)", "What I'm Made Of..." (2007 Remastered Version), "Sonic Heroes", two versions of "Open Your Heart", two versions of "It Doesn't Matter" (with Tony Harnell), and "Escape from the City" (with Ted Poley and Tony Harnell).cite web| url= http://www.sonicstadium.org/sonicnews/405| title=Sonic Stadium's Track List for True Blue | accessdate=2008-01-24|author=Dale Gennard|date=2008-01-18|publisher=sonicstadium.orgDead link|date=April 2012|bot=H3llBot The band record several songs for Sonic and the Black Knight , including the game's main theme, Knight of the Wind .
In 2010, Johnny Gioeli confirmed that Crush 40 was collaborating with Sega once again for the then-upcoming Sonic Generations , released in November 2011 to coincide with the series 20th Anniversary. One of the tracks is a 'remix' rendition of "Open Your Heart."
Recent releases and appearances
On October 12, 2008, Jun Senoue and Johnny Gioeli performed their first ever live concert, at the Tokyo Game Show . The songs of which they performed included shortened versions of "I Am... All Of Me," "His World," "Sonic Heroes," "What I'm Made of," "Knight of the Wind" and the full version of "Live and Learn." A live recording of this concert has been uploaded on YouTube and is linked from Crush 40's website.
In November 2009 the band released a compilation album, The Best of Crush 40 – Super Sonic Songs , covering the band's 11-year history. It featured a new Crush 40 song, "Is It You," and two new cover songs: " Fire Woman " (originally by The Cult ) and "Un-gravitify" (originally from Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity ).
In August 2010, Crush 40 performed live at the third Summer of Sonic convention, which was held at the Shepherd's Bush Pavilion in London . It was the band's first ever concert outside of Japan, and also their first full-length concert. Senoue and Gioeli also hosted a live Q& A session at the event, where they answered fan questions from the audience and questions submitted online.
At the Summer of Sonic Q& A session, Jun Senoue confirmed that Crush 40's second studio album of new material is currently being worked on, with an aim to possibly release it before the end of 2011. Johnny Gioeli also announced that Crush 40 are planning a tour of Japan in 2011. This was supposed to happen on April 2, 2011, but has been postponed to July 30 and 31, due to the recent earthquake and tsunami.
On June 8, Crush 40 appeared at Sonic Boom, alongside Alex Mahklouf of the band Cash Cash to perform a Sonic the Hedgehog 4 medley, Green Hill Zone, "Open Your Heart," "His World," "Sonic Heroes," "What I'm Made Of...," "Free," "Speak With Your Heart," a new mix of "Escape from the City," a new mix of "Super Sonic Racing," and a new mix of "Sonic Boom," the last of which has been confirmed to appear on their next studio album, and lastly "Live and Learn."
For the first time, Crush 40 performed live with bass player Takeshi Taneda and drummer Toru Kawamura on July 30 and 31 in Tokyo. They performed "Sonic Boom," "Free," "I Am...All of Me," "With Me," "Seven Rings in Hand," "Un-gravitify," "Love Leads the Way" (by Johnny's band Hardline), "Revvin' Up," "Fire Woman," "Song of Hope" (a new Crush 40 composition), "Everything" (Hardline), "All Hail Shadow," "Never Turn Back," "Into the Wind," "Watch Me Fly," "Open Your Heart," "Sonic Heroes," "His World," "Knight of the Wind," "Hot Cherie" (Hardline), "What I'm Made Of," and "Live and Learn."
In late 2011, most of the band's material was released on iTunes. These included The Best of Crush 40 - Super Sonic Songs and the charity single "Song of Hope."
As of January 23, 2012, they have finished three new songs: "Rise Again," "One of Those Days," and "Sonic Youth". http://twitpic.com/8au5jw They also performed two concerts in Tokyo on March 29 and 30.
On the 7th and 13th of July 2012, Crush 40 will take to the stage to perform at two Sonic conventions in the US and UK respectively. The first show will be on the 7th of July at the Summer of Sonic event in Brighton where they will perform their old and new songs including the new songs they have recently released previews of. The 2nd show is at Sonic Boom in the US on the 13th of July during the San Diego Comic Con where they will team up with Jean and Alex of the synthpop band Cash Cash to perform old and new songs from the Sonic franchise
Musical style
Listeninbrowser|filename=What I'm Made Of.ogg|title=What I'm Made Of...|description=An example of how Crush 40's style has changed since their early works. In a review of their self-titled album, the band's style was referred to as "melodic hard rock, somewhere between XYZ (US band)|XYZ and Burning Rain " by Bjørnar Bevolden of ProgressiveWorld.net.cite web| url= http://www.progressiveworld.net/crush40.html| title=ProgressiveWorld's article on the album Crush 40 | accessdate=2008-01-12|author=Bjørnar Bevolden|date=2003-04-01|publisher=progressiveworld.net |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070807031403/ http://www.progressiveworld.net/crush40.html |archivedate = August 7, 2007 Among the songs of this album is "Live and Learn", a "cool in your face rocker", according to Michael of RevelationZ Magazine. However, Crush 40 has also experimented with other forms of rock music . For example, "I Am (All of Me)" is a darker song with elements similar to heavy metal music|heavy metal .
When interviewed about his style and that of the band, Jun Senoue said, "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 the Hedgehog (video game)|Shadow , we found that our fresh ideas were a lot different to the songs we’d written back in 2002 – our sound had changed."cite web| url= http://junsenoue.com/content/view/114/19/ | title=Q& A with Jun Senoue Part 1| accessdate=2006-08-14|author=Adam Tuff|date=2006-08-14|publisher=junsenoue.com |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070223060735/ http://junsenoue.com/content/view/114/19/ |archivedate = February 23, 2007 Clear
Discography
Crush 40 has released three independent albums, as well as individual tracks for a number of video games including those for "NASCAR Arcade" and various "Sonic the Hedgehog" games.
Thrill of the Feel
main|Thrill of the FeelInfobox album | Name = Thrill of the Feel | Italic title = no | Type = studio | Artist = Sons of Angels | Cover = Sons of Angels Album.jpg | Cover size = 150 | Released = March 23, 2000 | Recorded = | Genre = Hard rock | Length = 41:01 | Label = Victor Entertainment | Producer = | Reviews =
Thrill of the Feel is the first album by Crush 40. It is the only album released under their original name, Sons of Angels. The album contains all of the tracks that the band recorded for NASCAR Arcade . This album was released by Victor Entertainment and was released for the Japanese market. "Into the Wind" was later used on the soundtrack for Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing on the Nintendo DS. Track listing| headline = Track listing | title1 = The Star-Spangled Banner | length1 = 1:22 | title2 = Dangerous Ground | length2 = 2:32 | title3 = Into the Wind | length3 = 4:28 | title4 = Fill It Up | length4 = 2:30 | title5 = Revvin' Up | length5 = 4:35 | title6 = Rush into the Crazy World | length6 = 0:48 | title7 = In the Lead | length7 = 4:03 | title8 = Watch Me Fly | length8 = 5:09 | title9 = On the Road Again | length9 = 1:40 | title10 = Fuel Me | length10 = 2:44 | title11 = When the Sun Goes Down | length11 = 1:50 | title12 = All the Way | length12 = 4:09 | title13 = Open Your Heart | note13 = bonus track | length13 = 5:11
main|Crush 40 (album)Infobox album | Name = Crush 40 | Italic title = no | Type = studio | Artist = Crush 40 | Cover = Crush 40 album.jpg | Cover size = 150 | Released = February 18, 2003 | Recorded = | Genre = Hard rock | Length = 44:13 | Label = Frontiers Records | Producer = | Reviews =
Crush 40 is the self-titled second album of Crush 40, released in Europe by Frontiers Records . The album contains all the same vocal tracks as Thrill of the Feel , but does not contain any instrumental tracks. Added to the track listing are "Live and Learn" and the bonus tracks "It Doesn't Matter" featuring Tony Harnell and "Escape from the City" featuring Ted Poley and Tony Harnell .
Track listing| headline = Track listing | title1 = Live and Learn | length1 = 4:30 | title2 = Revvin' Up | length2 = 4:34 | title3 = Into the Wind | length3 = 4:28 | title4 = In the Lead | length4 = 4:02 | title5 = Watch Me Fly | length5 = 5:08 | title6 = Fuel Me | length6 = 2:43 | title7 = Dangerous Ground | length7 = 2:10 | title8 = All the Way | length8 = 4:09 | title9 = Open Your Heart | length9 = 5:15 | title10 = It Doesn't Matter | note10 = bonus track | length10 = 4:27 | title11 = Escape from the City | note11 = bonus track | length11 = 2:20
main|The Best of Crush 40 – Super Sonic SongsInfobox album | Name = The Best of Crush 40 – Super Sonic Songs | Italic title = no | Type = compilation | Artist = Crush 40 | Cover = Crush40supersonicsongs.jpg | Cover size = 150 | Released = November 18, 2009 | Recorded = | Genre = Hard rock , Heavy metal music|Heavy metal | Length = 70:21 | Label = Wave Master | Producer = | Reviews =
The Best of Crush 40 – Super Sonic Songs is the third album by Crush 40, and is also their first compilation album. The album contains songs from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, from their past albums, and some newly recorded songs. A couple of the songs have also been given brand new mixes (although "What I'm Made Of..." had been previously included on the True Blue: The Best of Sonic the Hedgehog|True Blue compilation album).
Track listing| headline = Track listing | title1 = I Am... All of Me | length1 = 3:51 | note1 = New mix | title2 = His World | length2 = 5:16 | note2 = Zebrahead cover remix | title3 = Un-gravitify | length3 = 4:44 | note3 = Cashell cover | title4 = All Hail Shadow | length4 = 4:01 | note4 = Magna-Fi cover | title5 = Never Turn Back | length5 = 4:39 | title6 = Revvin’ Up | length6 = 4:35 | title7 = Into the Wind | length7 = 4:29 | title8 = Watch Me Fly... | length8 = 5:11 | title9 = Fire Woman | length9 = 5:16 | note9 = The Cult cover | title10 = Sonic Heroes | length10 = 3:28 | title11 = What I’m Made of... | length11 = 3:44 | title12 = Live Life | length12 = 5:38 | title13 = Knight of the Wind | length13 = 4:31 | note13 = New mix | title14 = Live & Learn | length14 = 4:29 | title15 = Open Your Heart | length15 = 4:49 | note15 = New mix | title16 = Is It You | length16 = 4:58 Track listing| collapsed = yes | headline = iTunes bonus tracks | title17 = Free | length17 = 3:21 | title18 = With Me -Massive Power Mix- | length18 = 3:55 | title19 = Seven Rings In Hand | length19 = 4:49 -
Song Of Hope
Infobox single | Name = Song Of Hope | Italic title = no | Format = Digital single | Artist = Crush 40 | Cover = | Cover size = 150 | Released = 1 November 2011 | Recorded = | Genre = Alternative Rock | Length = 5:12 | Label = Wave Master | Producer = | Reviews =
Song Of Hope is a song written to support and in honour of those who suffered from the earthquake and tsunami that occurred in March 2011 in Japan. It is a charity (practice)|charity single, released on iTunes in November 2011. It was written by Johnny Gioeli and composed by Jun Senoue .
Track listing| headline = Track listing | title1 = Song Of Hope | length1 = 5:12
http://www.myspace.com/junsenoue Jun Senoue's official Myspace profile
http://sonicsoundtest.wikia.com/wiki/Sonic_Sound_Test_Wiki Sonic Sound Test – Official Sonic Music Wiki
Good article Category:American rock music groups Category:Japanese rock music groups Category:Musical groups established in 1997 Category:Sonic the Hedgehog Category:Video game composers Category:Video game musicians
