This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Earlier this week, the local rap-rock hybrid band The Beginning At Last opened for Kottonmouth Kings at In The Venue. Many Utahns might have wondered, "Who are these guys?"
Named for a Black Label Society song, the band formed in 2007, after members graduated from Olympus and Granite high schools.
King MF and Simon Eleven share vocals, and Brian Lan and Kevin Crocheron play guitar with DJ Arson manning the turntables.
"As far as our music and our live show, we are most similar to Linkin Park," band members wrote in a collective email. "If we say we are a mix between Linkin Park, limp bizkit and Eminem, that draws a good picture for most everybody."
What did you hope to accomplish with your debut album, "No Music, No Life"?
We wanted "No Music, No Life" to introduce the world to us and get ourselves noticed by music lovers. We wanted to be different and create an album that was interesting all the way through. The first time you listen to it, each song is different so you don't know what you are gonna get next — hip-hop to rock to blues to metal.
What inspires you?
All of us have different inspirations, but a serious love for performing and writing and making music people like is pretty good inspiration and motivation. We all have different backgrounds in music and our own styles, and it comes together to create something amazing and original, and that alone inspires us to make another album and go show it off live.
Why do you admire Linkin Park?
Linkin Park inspires us in so many ways as far as the live show and music videos and how they present themselves and how they are always willing to push their boundaries that the music business tries to place on them. We don't want to be lumped in one category. We want people to say that The Beginning At Last is similar to other bands, but are their own and have their own sound.
If you were a grunge band from the early 1990s, whom would you be?
We don't think we would want to be a grunge band. We think because we are different now, we would have been different then, so we probably would have been like Korn meets Beastie Boys. But we think if we all got together we would probably be doing the same type of s—- we are doing now ... like Aerosmith and Run DMC.
When people ask you to describe your sound, what do you say?
We call it aggressive hip-hop. But sometimes we just let people decide what we sound like. We hear a lot of stuff after we get off stage, or [after] they have a chance to listen to the album. One guy told us we were an Eminem and Rob Zombie mix. A lady at Saltair said we sounded like Kottonmouth Kings with Zakk Wylde. So sometimes it's better to let people decide for themselves.
Describe a perfect day.
Getting a call from Mike Shinoda to pack our s—- for a world tour.
Facebook.com/davidlouisburger
Twitter: @davidburger —
At last …
O Find The Beginning At Last online at facebook.com/thebeginningatlast, On iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody and YouTube. playing with Kottonmouth Kings April 29th at In The Venue.