Grand Ole Party
By Christopher Petro

In just two years, Grand Ole Party has already secured a place in history with its punchy guitar swagger and singer/drummer Kristin Gundred's brazenly soulful pipes and ability to wreck a drum set. It's earned the band opening slots for the likes of Rilo Kiley, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Vampire Weekend, music awards at home and the attention of notable peers - all before releasing an album. But this month, the San Diego three-piece will officially go on record with the national release of Humanimals, an incredibly confident debut that smacks of accomplishment and lasting appeal. The first release from DH Records, a new Venice Beach-based upstart founded by 3D Management owner Dave Holmes (who manages Coldplay, Interpol and Scissor Sisters), as well as the first production project from Blake Sennett (Rilo Kiley lead guitarist and frontman of The Elected), the album sees Grand Ole Party connecting with respected individuals in the industry and making great strides.

The story begins with a group of friends who met at UC Santa Cruz. After college, the three Party members stayed and played together as aspiring artists in San Francisco before forming Grand Ole Party in San Diego in 2005. This natural connectivity has since branched out to include the band's professional circle of producer, manager and label team.

Guitarist John Paul Labno describes the first auspicious meeting for the band: "We met Blake Sennett after his friend told him about our show in L.A. Blake brought his manager [Darin Harmon, co-founder of DH Records] out to see us play, and they loved our sound and energy. Later Blake sold us on the idea of making a record."
Sennett took a passenger role in the making of the album, emphasizing the band's interests more than his own. Labno remembers Sennett saying, "I just want to press record and have you guys play the way you play." The band ended up recording live, with Gundred's lyrics added later. "It was really important for our producer and for us to retain the energy people say we have at our shows," Gundred says, "Lo-fi over hi-fi, and old analog gear over new shit." Once the album was created, Sennett presented it to DH Records; the label held interest in the band and coincidentally fortified the debut Party album as its own debut as well.

Bassist Michael Krechnyak reminds that even if "they're taking a chance on us, we're still taking a chance on them," adding that it is all working out very well for Grand Ole Party. "The label is new," he says, "but the guys at DH Records have been in the business for a while. We like their attitude and the way they treat us; they really respect what we do. That's what's most important — working with people that respect your band."

With this in mind, Grand Ole Party has learned to ignore the industry gurus who give them flack for having a multi-tasking frontwoman. "People have told us we should get a drummer and make Kristin an up-front singer," says Krechnyak. "They don't realize that would change everything. We sound this way because of our chemistry, you can't add a new element into that and think everything will be the same."

Such chemistry is evidenced in every step along the way, beginning with the songwriting process. "We all write, be it collaborations on an idea or half-song someone brings in, or full-on jams that craft themselves into songs," says Gundred. Within this framework, the 13 tracks on Grand Ole Party's soul by the spoonful debut were made. They are ambitious narratives, lyrical tales that dangle in front of a vintage rock 'n' roll history lesson. Their framework enlists conventional electric guitar, bass and drums, with adjusted playing to emphasize the gaps between beats and strokes, and stripped down to focus on rhythm and buried melody. The vocals are the undeniable spotlight though, as Gundred's range carries the anthems and memoirs of sin and dark corners with pointed attitude, sexiness and miles of depth.

As they embark upon a new year and ready themselves for a winter of national album support, the members of Grand Ole Party aren't thinking about hype or momentum. Gundred modestly explains that in the end, the band's goal is to "make music that makes us feel good, which hopefully makes others feel good. Entertainment with nourishment." Yum!

www.myspace.com/grandoleparty