Grayskul

By Rob Bergquist

Photo by Jeremiah Deseay

An offshoot of the legendary Seattle crew Oldominion - one of the first groups to garner any sort of national attention for the Northwest's up and coming hip-hop scene - Grayskul are on a mission to bridge that gap once and for all and find Seattle a home in the hip-hop universe. Armed with their latest Rhymesayers Entertainment release, Bloody Radio, an album that dares to shuck Grayskul's goth-hop branding while staying true to their verbose lyricism, they are certainly well positioned.

"We really wanted to make an album that appealed to people that listen to mainstream radio," says Onry Ozzborn, rhyming as Count Draven on the release. "So we used a beat that Lil' John might use and another beat that sounds kind of like OutKast. We wanted to make an album full of that really clean style that had our rhyming style and storytelling." The result is an album that brilliantly co-opts the hot beats of FM radio with Grayskul's dark, hard-hitting lyrics.

"Why can't we do that?" JFK as Count Magnus asks. "Mainstream rap wastes some really great beats rapping about money, women and violence. We want to write songs that we care about lyrically, that people can dance to."

And people haven't wasted any time getting on board: in addition to the two Counts, Slug, Aesop Rock, Pigeon John, and even Andrea Zollo of former band Pretty Girls Make Graves make an appearance on the album.

None of this, however, would have been possible without the supportive scene Grayskul helped create in the Northwest. "When I moved out here [from New Mexico] I pretty quickly found a group that was interested in the same type of music and performance that I was, and we became Oldominion," says Onry. Oftentimes at shows the crew would make up most of the crowd, but it was an incredibly encouraging atmosphere that had Grayskul traveling between Seattle and Portland finding influences and meeting new artists. Through their work in OD, they were able to connect with artists like Aesop Rock and Atmosphere, both of whom are on the Minnesota-based indie heavyweight Rhymesayers Entertainment. And it was through connections like these that Grayskul's first LP found its way into the hands of the RSE label head.

What separates Grayksul from many of their contemporaries is their use of storytelling similar to that of a comic book. "Everything that we do is an animated reality. On Deadlivers [their first album] we were kind of like rap superheroes, and at first people responded to the exaggeration. After a few years though, people would come up to us and say 'You guys were really talking about the truth here,'" Onry says.

The tough part has always been selling their challenging style to an audience. Grayskul has been hitting the streets since they started rapping in 2003, trying to sell anyone and everyone on their music - passing out CDs at shows, flyering, doing radio interviews, anything it took. Once MySpace hit, Grayskul was quick to form a page. "Myspace has been a great tool for us," says JFK. "We were able to get a lot of music out there, and since we run the page ourselves it gives us the opportunity to directly interact with our fans. Before MySpace you just didn't have that, and it's become absolutely essential to how we promote ourselves."

Will Bloody Radio catapult the band into superstardom? Probably not, but the foundation has indeed been laid and both Onry and JFK are absolutely confident in their style and their songs. Onry says, "One of the things that makes us really unique is that once we choose a beat, we split up and write rhymes separately. It keeps our styles distinct and makes for better songs." To support the album, they are embarking on a month-long tour with Atmosphere that will probably feature a lot of poker playing with that notorious card shark along with full houses at the clubs. It will most definitely help them get recognized on the national platform.

"Touring with them is dope, and since people know them we'll hopefully make a lot of new fans and create some buzz," says JFK.

After five years of tapping into the consciousness of the great rainy Northwest, Grayskul are ready for the sun to shine on it.

www.myspace.com/grayskul