PLAYER: BRIAN EGENESS
BAND: DIE KREUZEN
There are several worthy hardcore
guitar pioneers I could’ve put in this
final slot (East Bay Ray? Bob Mould?),
but I’m going to give it to a player who
has always existed a bit further off the
radar than the others on this list, Brian
Egeness of Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s
Die Kreuzen. Die Kreuzen’s reputation
as one of the pioneering Midwestern
hardcore bands is unimpeachable, and
like many of its equally accomplished
contemporaries, DK progressed quickly
from fast-and-loud to fast, loud, and
thoughtful. Among the most striking
aspects of the band’s musicianship was
the guitar playing of Brian Egeness,
which by the time of Die Kreuzen’s 1984
self-titled debut album, had begun to
blend hardcore with clanging, metallic
rhythmic textures, prog-like harmonic
density, and blistering, atonal fretboard
runs. This heady mixture ended up being
a major influence on the grunge bands
that would come along in the following
decade (particularly Soundgarden,
whose early releases show the clear
imprint of DK). Egeness’s gear choices
also foreshadowed the modern
aluminum guitar boom, as his main
weapon of choice was an early Kramer
aluminum neck model.
Essential listening:
“Pain/Sick People,” from 1984’s Die Kreuzen.
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