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Keep Them Entertained is The Great Crusades' 6th album since their 1998 inception. The Chicago band will release a decade-spanning career-retrospective DVD in May 2008.

The Great Crusades will showcase songs featured in the DVD, tunes from Keep Them Entertained and new compositions-in-progress when they take to parts of Europe and the United States for a series of live shows in Winter, Spring and Summer 2008.

Keeping Them Entertained

It doesn't take long. In fact, at the 8-second mark of The Great Crusades' newest album, "Keep Them Entertained," his bandmates kick in behind guitarist and vocalist Brian Krumm, adding the kind of driving power and foot stomping beat that can simply and effectively define an act's sound. "Keep Them Entertained" (5 stars; “the rock album of the year,” Musikexpress magazine) showcases everything the group's about, in one, taut package: the gruff vocals and gritty guitars of Krumm; the interlocking rhythm and lead work of guitarist Brian Leach; the insistent bass of Brian Hunt; and the powerful, yet supple percussion of Christian Moder.

Adding color to the album are keys, harmonica and horns, with occasional gang vocals adding to the signature leads of Krumm. But this isn't some kind of overcooked studio product. Instead, it's the kind of work that can only be made by a band that's made its mark as a live group, credited with hundreds of shows in the US and abroad.

Loaded with cuts that achieve the same balance of subtle, airy acoustics and (more often) dense, driving electronics, "Keep Them Entertained" defines the best work of the Chicago band that's now six studio albums deep into a career that, ultimately, stretches back to the players' grade school days.

Formed through mutual friendships in 1998, the group achieved its current, successful lineup a couple years later, right about the time that European labels and audiences began to latch onto the group. That European connection remains a powerful one for the group, with many relationships formed over the years. That's especially true in the group's unofficial second home, Germany, where they maintain an active, enthusiastic fan base of thousands.

Adds Hunt, "The friendship with the [German label] Glitterhouse has been tremendous, as well. Over time they have been involved in the direction of our albums and songs, giving feedback on just about everything, but leaving all the decisions up to us." Those decisions recently revolved around "Keep Them Entertained," which began a 40-song monster, written over four, marathon-length writing sessions in Chicago.

"The songwriting process has gone through several stages," figures Krumm. "I think the new songs have taken a punkier, edgier direction, which is exciting to me after the last album had a more bluesy approach. Sometimes I think the lyrics verge on confrontational on this new record, much more so than they have in the past."

And you wouldn't be mistaken for thinking that the songs of "Keep Them Entertained," themselves, are infused with the spirit of Chicago. Sure, the lyrics of Krumm continue to reflect a slightly cynical, but hard-charging spirit. But the music, too, is delivered with a certain toughness that seeps through, even after the first listen.

"I think our music provides a soundtrack to this city," reasons Moder. "Just driving to the rehearsal space down Chicago Avenue is an adventure that weaves its way into the music, somehow. It's not uncommon to see a brawl on a street corner or two people racing their cars down this street, damn near running you off the road. In a strange way, these are the characters that live in our songs."

The group plans to make 2008 another relaunch for the band, with touring in the US and Europe and the release of a career-spanning DVD in May.

—Thomas Crone

Keep Them Entertained is the band's 6th album since their 1998 inception. Previous releases include: Four Thirty (2006); Welcome to the Hiawatha Inn (2004); Never Go Home (2002); Damaged Goods (2000); and The First Drink Spilled of the Evening (1998). Having toured Europe nine times and the United States in support of their previous releases, The Great Crusades will showcase Keep Them Entertained and other originals when they take to parts of Europe for a series of live shows in September, '07.