I wonder what happens if I hit the cray button?

I was just too tired to go to a concert, my feets and my body ached and screamed for a good night's rest. But instead of going to bed I decided to drag my body to see the crunk-rock band Family Force 5 from Atlanta perform in the concert arena Skeppet at the Gullbranna festival. Right from the first chord I was hooked and I quickly forgot about my acing body, and my sleepy eyes were opened wide as I was drawn right into the music.



I have had the privilege to see and photograph a lot of really good bands this year. But two bands stand out among the others - Family Force 5 (FF5) and the veteran Swedish hard-rockers Jerusalem. All of us who gathered in Skeppet and choosed to skip the footy game between the Netherlands and Costa Rica in World Cup got to see a really awesome concert instead. The concert-arena exploded into a pure cascade of crazy energy when Chap Stique, Crouton, Fatty, Nadaddy and Hollywood invited us to a wild and crazy show.

I was really impressed by the band's intensive performance. They hit the "Cray Button" from the very first chord and gave us an awesome stage show with a lot of presence. FF5 had the large crowd in their hands from the very first moment. The fact that the show was a little bit crazy is not so surprising given that "Cray" is modern slang for crazy. Hit the Cray Button means that you should press the crazy button! And that was what the band did! :) I really hope that it was not the last time that FF5 played in Sweden and Gullbranna. They gave the best show at the whole festival in my opinion. If you have an opportunity to see them live, go!

Family Force 5 was founded by brothers Solomon "Soul Glow Activatur" Joshua "Fatty" and Jacob "Crouton" Olds. They have a long and successful history with four studio albums, two remixes, 9 EPs and many live concerts in their big trunk. Last year Solomon Olds left the band to concentrate on songwriting and other musical duties for the band. His brother Jacob step up from his drums and took care of the lead vocals and Teddy Bolt "Hollywood" took care of the drums instead. I like that kind of music that Family Force 5 plays. And I had a hard to keep the camera still enough to get the images sharp enough because it was absolutely impossible for me to stand still as the band played the songs Chainsaw, Cray Button, BZRK and Zombie! :)



It's been a while since I hung on the lock to buy a new record. But Family Force 5's latest album Time Stands Still that came out august 5 is so incredibly good that I bought it right when it came out. It still too early to talk about the album of the year. But Time Stands Still will definitely be a candidate for that title. Buy the album at iTunes or Amazon, that's an direct order!

Click the following link if you want to see the slide show on your phone or tablet: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chasid68/sets/72157645889273306/ 

Click the following link if you want to read this review in the tounge of angels: http://chasid68.blogspot.se/2014/07/watch-me-hit-cray-button.html

Text and photo: Mikael Good, Music Lover and Rock Photographer