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BIO:
Grandville is the dream project of songwriters Robb
Vallier, Todd McCool, George Nakonechny and Eric Eldenius.
On the band’s self-titled debut, the quartet delivers a
high energy, straightforward rock n’ roll album.
Grandville is driven by Vallier’s fervent vocals, the fret
board wizardry of lead guitarist McCool and the powerhouse
rhythms supplied by bass man Nakonechny and drummer
Eldenius (Jackson Brown, Vanessa Carlton, Michelle
Branch). The ten tracks on the band’s self-titled album,
Grandville, are an intoxicating blend of brains and brawn,
an engaging brew marked by vibrant melodies, chiming
guitars, inventive rhythms and lyrics that cut straight to
the heart of the wild, wondrous human condition. “We don’t
try to be anything we aren’t,” Vallier explains. “We’re
all smart, energetic guys who like to get people excited
and maybe give ‘em something to think about as well. The
lyrics are deep, but the music is fun: a combination of
intelligence and energy.”
Grandville was recorded at Vallier’s Rumpus Room studio,
live, with minimal overdubs. Vallier has worked with many
top artists and his studio expertise gives every song on
the record a subtle, individual character. “I’m a big Todd
Rundgren fan and appreciate production that can take a
song to the next level without overwhelming it,” Vallier
says. “We like to create different textures, but don’t
fill up every space just cause it’s there. The songs
always start with Todd [McCool] and me singing and playing
our acoustics. If it doesn't work that way, it won’t work
no matter how much fancy stuff you put on top of it.”
The album kicks off with “Follow,” a rocker with a bright
buoyant melody, beautiful harmonies from Vallier and
McCool, icy shimmering guitar work and a drum pattern full
of dramatic stops and starts. “We cut that one after we’d
been working on the album a while, doing all kinds of
intricate stuff,” McCool explains. “It got written and
recorded in about four hours, very spontaneous. It sounds
like a monster snowball rolling down a hill.” “Deliver” is
a pop tune with an R&B/Gospel feel that’s highlighted by
the sanctified piano work of Kenneth Crouch, brother of
Gospel superstar Andrea Crouch. Vallier’s vocals here are
full of yearning and confusion, driving home the song’s
message of lost love. “It’s about sitting alone by the
phone, waiting for the call that never comes,” Vallier
says. “It’s another one that was written and recorded in a
couple of hours.” “Disaster Fiend” is a psychedelic blues
that tips its hat to The Beatles, with a groove adapted
from “Tomorrow Never Knows.” The crunchy guitars and
Vallier and McCool’s battling harmonies give the tune a
dark, treacherous aura. The song explores a turbulent,
dysfunctional relationship, with a seductive arrangement
that pulls you deeper into the chaos with every listen.
Other standout tracks include “Ghost (Inside My Head)”
which lives up to its title with its odd instrumentation:
spooky, moaning old school Mellotron and vibes that chime
like a graveyard church bell. “While You Were Sleeping”
harks back to the glam rock of the 70s with a simple
guitar riff that keeps building and building and the
relentless drumming of Eric Eldenius. “Lovers And Madmen”
is a dynamic, driving ballad with a percussion track that
features woodblocks, trashcans, stomping feet and the
drumming of special guest, Abe Laborial Jr. (Paul
McCartney). “It’s a real meat and potatoes kind of album,”
Nakonechny says modestly. “There are a few mini-Moogs and
Mellotrons, but it’s still earthy. We didn’t think about
making a song for radio. We let it came from our souls and
didn’t question ourselves. We did what felt right. I think
it’s the best record I’ve ever worked on.”
Grandville has only been playing together for 13 months,
but they’ve already developed into an exciting live unit
that can play as a full rock band or in smaller acoustic
settings. They’ve been knockin’ ‘em dead at hometown
Hollywood venues like, The Viper Room, Roxy, Key Club, El
Rey as well as the House of Blues in Las Vegas. They have
thousands of MySpace fans and also headlined the “I Can't
Believe They're Not Signed” showcase put on by Sean Healy,
the man who helped The Strokes and Tea Leaf Green climb
the ladder of success.
Grandville is already getting played by Carolyn Fox on KHZ
1580 AM in Los Angeles; KCCQ, Des Moines, Iowa; WKHZ 1590
AM Ocean City-Salisbury, Maryland and KMXU 105.1 FM
Southern Utah. Songs from the album have been placed in
the Olsen Twins movie Passport To Paris, Michael
Ogasaware’s Cause & Defect, Kurt Voelker’s Park, Beverly
Hills 90210 Season Two Box Set and Westwood One’s
best-unsigned bands compilation.
Grandville came together in LA, but band members come from
all over North America. Vallier is from Ames, Iowa and has
been playing guitar as long as he can remember. “By the
time I was 13, I was playing fairs, shows, festivals and
dances; I got my chops down young.” Vallier went to The
Berklee College Of Music with a full scholarship, studying
production, engineering and songwriting. “The day I
graduated, I moved to LA and started starving,” Vallier
quips. After arriving on the West Coast he opened his own
studio, the renowned Rumpus Room in Studio City. He’s done
vocal arrangements, engineering and editing for R. Kelly,
engineering and arranging for Jon Bon Jovi’s first solo
album and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Producer for
Psychedelic Souls, an album by the Jamaican close harmony
group The Wailing Souls. He was playing in an LA club band
when he met Grandville’s soon to be lead guitarist Todd
McCool. “I’d moved out to LA from Indiana,” McCool says.
“I was playing guitar when I was 11. I was in a couple of
LA bands that fizzled before I ran into Robb. We had
chemistry the first time we played together. We both want
to inspire people with our music and started writing
positive, uplifting, motivating tunes together.” The duo
of Vallier and McCool started testing the new tunes at
acoustic venues, and the buzz they generated told them
they were on the right track. Vallier recruited bass
player George Nakonechny shortly after he moved to town
from Toronto, where he was a well-known session player.
“We were already writing the album,” McCool explains.
“George clicked right in to place.” “He refocused us and
gave us a drive we didn’t even know we were missing,” he
adds. The studio session took on a new intensity and the
fledgling band ran through a few session drummers,
including the legendary Abe Laborial Jr. (Paul McCartney)
before meeting Eric Eldenius. “After Eric played on a
couple of tracks we knew he was going to be our drummer,”
Vallier says laughing. “He was forcefully recruited into
the band.” With the line up solidified, the air in the
studio began to crackle with an uncontained creative
power, a force you can feel on every track. “We’re a
solid, tight tasteful group,” McCool concludes. “We’re
real guys having fun, writing music that hopefully makes
people think as well as tap their feet.”
The band is already in the studio working on material for
the next Grandville opus, due out in March 2007. In the
meantime, the band is keeping busy playing the Southern
California club circuit and plotting out a national tour
that will bring their muscular, melodic rock n’ roll to a
venue near you.
www.grandvillemusic.com
www.myspace.com/grandville
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RECENT CLIPS:
“There’s this general lament among music fans that the
popularity with portable mp3 players is driven in part by
the discernible lack of artists capable of writing an
album’s worth of fixating fare. So when a band like
Grandville comes along, you need to shut up and listen.” -
NUVO NEWSWEEKLY
“Their melodic nature is the band’s biggest strength...the
bands sound is layered, but not complex. The different
layers are perfectly constructed and there are hand claps
and production elements throughout.” - PULSE WEEKLY
“Grandville reminds us that, as cynical as we may be, we
can still tremble at the thought of a sensuous romantic
kiss.” - MUSIC CONNECTION
“When most bands are hating life, and being over dramatic,
Grandville does it all right by making music fun again
while singing lyrics that people can relate with.”
- ALL AGES ZINE
"...this band has potential of making it big for sure --
songs like “Throwaway", "While You Were Sleeping" and
"Follow" should be released on a major label!” -
MELODIC.NET
“At last, here’s a band who seemingly couldn’t care less
about trend or genre, just writing, playing and performing
GREAT songs, and believe me, this record is packed with
great songs.... That, in a nutshell, is Grandville, the
latest contender for album of the year. Hell, it’s a
contender for the album of any year...” - SUBBA-CULTCHA
"Grandville is on its way to becoming the next great
classic rock group. They have all the elements to
maintain a career in rock and roll and turn out hit
records." - THE METRO SPIRIT
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