Grandaddy

Grandaddy was an indie rock group from Modesto, California, United States.

Biography

Grandaddy was formed in 1992 by singer/guitarist/keyboardist Jason Lytle, bassist Kevin Garcia, and drummer Aaron Burtch. In 1995, guitarist Jim Fairchild and keyboardist Tim Dryden joined the band.

Musically, the band features guitars (both in the indie rock style and in a fashion calling Jeff Lynne to mind), keyboards reminiscent of Philip Glass's minimalist style and vocals in the key of Neil Young. The band's musical style (somewhat classifiable as indietronic) often combines experimental electronic sounds with elements of folk and rock. Lyrics generally focus on isolation in a high-tech world grafted onto rural America. Common themes in the band's music are wildlife, obsolete technology, robots, incompetency and heartbreak. Lyricist Jason Lytle spent time working in a sewage treatment facility, which heavily influenced many of the songs on The Sophtware Slump.

Around the time that The Sophtware Slump was released, Grandaddy was invited to open for Elliott Smith on his tour for Figure 8. On some nights, Smith would join Grandaddy onstage and sing lead vocals on portions of "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot".

"A.M. 180" from Under the Western Freeway was featured prominently during a sequence in the 2002 British film 28 Days Later, and is also used as the title music for the BBC Four series Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe and for an advert for colin murrays radio 1 show . Starting in late 2005, the Grandaddy song "Nature Anthem" could be heard in a Honda Civic Hybrid television commercial and is currently heard in a Coca Cola commercial.

On January 27 2006, Jason Lytle announced that the band had decided to split up. This was partially due to their work ethic in not releasing music on major labels or playing at typical Ticketmaster / Clear Channel sponsored venues. Lytle spoke to NME: "It was inevitable...On one hand our stubbornness has paid off, but on the other hand refusing to buy into the way things are traditionally supposed to be done has made things worse for us... The realistic part is it hasn't proved to be a huge money-making venture for a lot of guys in the band." He also revealed that the band had a meeting in downtown Modesto during December 2005 to decide on the group's future. The meeting was tense and filled with the airing of grievances, but "far from blows." The feeling at the meeting was described by Lytle as the result of a breakdown in communication between the band members. [1]

The band has no plans to tour on their final album, Just Like the Fambly Cat. Lytle has stated that he intends to continue making music, and has recently embarked on a solo tour. He has also made known his intentions to move from his longtime home in Modesto to Montana.

Jim Fairchild has also played for the bands Earlimart[2] and Great Northern. He put out his first solo record, Ten Readings of a Warning, in April 2007 on Dangerbird Records, under the name All Smiles. He currently lives and works in Chicago IL.

Aaron Burtch is now in a band called The Good Luck Thrift Store Outfit which also features Chris Doud who was once part of the band Built Like Alaska whose drummer, David Burtch, is Aaron's brother.

Discography

Albums

Main studio albums

• 1997 Under the Western Freeway
• 2000 The Sophtware Slump
• 2003 Sumday
• 2006 Just Like the Fambly Cat

Mixtapes, compilations and unofficial releases

• 1997 Zum Audio vol. 2 (compilation)
• 1999 The Broken Down Comforter Collection
• 2000 The Windfall Varietal
• 2000 XFM It's a Cool Cool Christmas benefit compilation
• 2002 Concrete Dunes
• 2002 I Am Sam (soundtrack)
• 2004 Below the Radio (songs by other artists compiled by Jason Lytle)

Early self-financed albums

• 1992 Prepare to Bawl
• 1994 Recorded Live Amongst Friends And Fidget
• 1994 Complex Party Come Along Theories
• 1997 Live At The Art Factory

EPs

• 1996 A Pretty Mess By This One Band
• 1998 Machines Are Not She
• 1999 Signal to Snow Ratio
• 2001 Through a Frosty Plate Glass
• 2005 Excerpts from the Diary of Todd Zilla

Singles

• 1994 "Could This Be Love"
• 1995 "Taster"/"Nebraska"
• 1998 "Everything Beautiful Is Far Away"
• 1998 "Laughing Stock"
• 1998 "Summer Here Kids"
• 1998 "A.M. 180"
• 2000 "The Crystal Lake"
• 2000 "Hewlett's Daughter"
• 2000 "Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland" (Note: Promo single)
• 2000 "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot"
• 2001 "The Crystal Lake" (re-issue)
• 2003 "Now It's On"
• 2003 "El Caminos in the West"
• 2004 "I'm on Standby"/"Stray Dog and the Chocolate Shake"
• 2004 "Nature Anthem"
• 2006 "Elevate Myself"

Split singles

• "MGM Grand Single" (2000) (Note: Split single with John Wayne Shot Me)
• "Fishing Boat Song" (2000) (Note: Split single with Persil and Beachwood Sparks available with Devil in the Woods magazine)
• "The Rugged and Splintered Entertainment Center" (2003) (Note: Split single with The Polyphonic Spree)
• "Aisle Seat 37-D" (2003) (Note: Split single with Verbena available with Devil in the Woods magazine)

External links

• Grandaddy official website
• Grandaddy complete illustrated Discography on the official website
• Grandaddy official message board

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