Knife Crazy Retrospective

Knife Crazy was a three piece rock band from Buffalo, NY. I can proudly say I was, and am friends with the members of this band. Fen Ikner played drums while Vic Lazar and Phil Freedenberg played guitar. Phil was usually playing his guitar with his fingers in a tapping manner. They played loud, technical, dancy, mathy rock. All three members sang. Often with a simultaneous duel vocal attack courtesy of Vic and Fen. Their voices always sounded amazing together. I had never heard a band that sounded like them. And even after hearing them and being well versed in their songs, I still can not think of any band that they sound like.

Theres used to be a long story here but I took it out because it made this post super long. Maybe ill repost it in a future blog. haha ...Well, for some reason Knife Crazy actually liked my band, and we would go on to play more shows together before they broke up/went on hiatus/whatever it actually is. Fen moved away to Arizona, which pretty much put an end to the band playing. Which is too bad because I felt that band had so much potential.

Phil and, his then future wife, Lisa had already started a side project called Red Tag Rummage Sale, A guitar/cello duo. So that became his main project. Vic started the spacey Victory Light Black Honey, and later, Patrons Of Sweet, which he still plays in now. Fen is doing a project in Arizona called Hero Alligator. Which is equal parts weird and awesome. But considering he was in Knife Crazy, that combination is not really surprising. He’s also in a band called The Otterssey, which pretty much needs to be heard to be believed. Dude is a fucking genius I tell you.

Recently I went to see Patrons Of Sweet play in Rochester with Mistletoe. While there, Vic gave me a copy of the unreleased Knife Crazy album. Listening to that CD has brought back all these memories and has made me want to tell and show all of you this band you either never heard of, or didn’t give enough of a listen to.

I’ve uploaded their albums “Delicious, Delicious Science” & their unreleased full length “Sweet Ferrari Pics Dude.” Which I got word probably is not going to be released. Bummer. This band is for fans of mathy rock type stuff? There is nothing I can really do to describe this band accurately and do them justice, so please just check them out and get your groove on.

There was talk at the Sinaloa show Sunday that Knife Crazy might be playing some shows in the future. Lets keep our fingers crossed that that happens. They are greatly missed.

-matthew st.

Delicious, Delicious Science

Personal album highlights:

-Hittin' It Big on the 801's

-Your Shampoo Smells Like the Directors Cut of Cocoon

-An Homage to Ants and All the Hard Work That They Do

-Mao Say What?

Sweet Ferrari Pics Dude

Personal album highlights:

-Intrigue At MinelliCon 97'

-Hmm, That's Fishy - A Computerman And His Soldering Gun!

-Moonwalking Over Isotopes with George Washington's Runaway Coda

(note: The song “Saving the Running of the Bulls from Heart Failure” was supposed to be the opening track on "Sweet Ferrari Pics Dude", but Vic didn’t have the finished version. So I included the demo version so you can get the idea. They never figured out a tracklist except for knowing that “Bulls” was going to open the album. How the tracks are numbered is how Vic put them on the CD for me.)