26 May 2010
Slow and steady wins the race. Grand Lake have, against all odds, honed their stage sound nearly to perfection. Despite their noise rock base and their drummer’s Pavement shirt, achieving a clean, structured sound in concert is obviously their objective. Regardless of where you looked on stage, you could see hours of draining rehearsal emanate from the band. And it paid off, monumentally.Grand Lake have taken their older songs (dispersed through the band’s various lineups) and reinvented them as the newly solidified foursome—guitar, bass, drums, keys. This may be how the band started out, but Grand Lake’s current dynamic with newcomers Danae Swanagon (keys) and John Pomeroy (drums) is much different than it was before. The Oakland outfit, which is fronted by Caleb Nichols (and maintaining its original guitarist, Jameson Swanagon), has evolved, or rather, devolved into a group that has little time or patience for aesthetic. It’s all about the music, and the members of Grand Lake could not be more intently focused if they tried. Nichols may be the forerunner of a revival of 90’s underground in the Bay Area but he retains a lighthearted disposition. “I love you mom,” he said sheepishly before concluding the set with “Louise” as a friend danced with him on stage.
their debut LP, Blood Sea Dream, is now available
Grand Lake on MYSPACE
1 comment:
You always take the best pictures : ) I want your camera
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