Grand Lake, photo by band
Grand Lake may be the self-described "Trans-Bay Experience," with only two-thirds of the band living in the East Bay and the remaining third across the bridge in San Francisco, but don't let that fool you. The band is truly Oakland in name and in spirit. Just consider the group's ideal concert lineup: Grand Lake would love to share the stage with the likes of fellow-Oaklandeers MAN/MIRACLE, maushaus, and Rogue Wave. And if that's not enough to convince you, the name itself is an homage to the local historical theater of the same name.
The band formed when bassist and lead singer Caleb Nichols left the indie rock group Port O'Brien to take a break from performing. After enough time off to recharge his musical batteries, Nichols was ready to play again. First came the task of naming the band and zeroing in on what it hoped to accomplish musically.
"I was just trying to find a name that would fit a lot of different things," Nichols said. "The thing I like about Oakland and living here is there's very much a feeling of old and new kind of dovetailed together. I don't know if we really reflect that in our music so much, but I just like the aesthetic."
Nichols' next step was to fill out his project with members, and he began by contacting his best friend, Jameson Swanagon, who plays guitar and had recently moved to San Francisco with his wife. He also threw a drummer and keyboard player into the mix.
Although the band has been in existence for more than a year, it wasn't until six months ago when it settled on the current lineup, dropping its keyboard player and switching out its old drummer for the current one, John Pomeroy.
"Everything changed," Nichols said. "We kind of moved ahead as a trio."
During the initial six months as a band, Grand Lake put out an EP, but shift in membership made for a parallel progression in sound.
That new sound is reflected in the band's second EP, "Louise," which is already available for pre-order. While Grand Lake has been working on a full-length for three months, it won't be released until next year. In the meantime, the EP offers a sneak preview of two tracks from the pending release. In addition, it features a cover of "Slow Education" by the Silver Jews and "Pigeonhold," a Port O'Brien song that the group no longer plays live.
As to the group's sound, the members have no specific way to describe themselves. "We're a rock band," threw out Nichols at the same time Pomeroy said "kind of arty".
"We're kind of an arty-rock band," Nichols said, compromising on a hybrid of the two terms. "I don't know if - between the three of us - if we're all on the same page in terms of what we want to sound like," he explained further. "So it kind of remains song-oriented [and] not like we have this big idea that we're trying to convey."
And he's right. Each band member brings something different to the table musically, resulting in a unique sound that ranges from something akin to TV on the Radio to something a bit like the Flaming Lips (arguably the band's biggest influence) to something a lot like its own thing. Nichols plays a minimal bass, but his somewhat-ethereal, somewhat-strained vocals are his predominant instrument. Swanagon's guitar is distorted and experimental, and Pomeroy's drums are sparse, but communicative in their play on punctuation.
The band's songwriting process utilizes this interplay between members, with Nichols writing the skeleton of a song and then letting Pomeroy and Swanagon add in their own parts until the songs take on a life of their own.
"It just kind of happens," Pomeroy said of the way the music comes together.
As for the lyrical content of the songs, Nichols writes predominantly from a personal standpoint. While he doesn't attempt to pen lyrics that are so obscure they will alienate potential fans, he also acknowledges that he's not catering the words to people just so that they'll relate. Instead, he incorporates his own take on larger themes and issues.
"Sometimes [lyrics are] rooted in personal pain or social anguish," he said. "We definitely work out a lot of darker emotions...Musically the experience is about catharsis."
Grand Lake plays the Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco tonight, with Silian Rail and Ash Reiter. Already have plans? Head on out to an all-ages show on Saturday at Kaleidoscope Club, also in San Francisco! And be certain to check out streaming versions of songs from the upcoming EP on the band's Myspace page.
Comments