Instead of an intro in which I will try to find new ways to explain my tender feelings for the blues and funk infused awesomeness that is the Grand Ole Party, I would like to use this opportunity to copy and paste what I wrote about them seconds after seeing them for the first time ever last September at 930 Club:

All I am going to say about Grand Ole Party is that they are your (and our) new favorite band. I never heard of the San Diego trio before Wednesday but I have not stopped talking about them since (texting about bands from shows being my equivalent of drunk dialing-I apologize to all of you that got disrupted in your slumber by me URGING YOU to wake up and look them up).
Anyhoo, the concept is highly simple yet effective:
Mike is on bass, John Paul is on guitar and Kristin is on drums and she sings. (which, if you’ve ever seen 1990s live, you know how amazing a singing drummer can be). It is all fast and furious and driven to a glorious pulp of madness and catchiness. Humanimals, their debut album is out on Itunes now I think, and you DEFINITELY need it.

Since then I have stalked their publicist, bullied people into listening to the record and eagerly awaited just the right time to do a big splashy interview/feature on them. And, as good things come to those who wait, GOP is back in town this Wednesday (tonight!) once again at 930 Club, and so several bad connections later I got a chance to spend some quality phone time with Kristin, band’s front and back woman, who in real life has one of the softest voices and sweetest demeanors I’ve come across in a while. Just don’t tell her on-stage persona that.

Hey Kristin
Hey

How is everything going?
Well, thank you.

So, we’re about to do kind of like a “meet the Grand Ole Party” type interview to make sure DC knows about you before your Wednesday show
Sounds like a plan

Therefore, to kick things off, tell us how did the three of you meet, how did the Grand Ole Party come about…
Well, we all went to UC Santa Cruz, which is where we found each other.

In music class?
No, I was a literature major, John Paul was a philosophy major and Mike, our bassist was kind of one of those “a little bit of everything” class goers.

General “liberal arts”?
Yep

And then….
Then we moved to San Francisco and started playing together. But not really as a band or anything, more like an informal music collective. And after a while, we started to make sense, sound wise, but we didn’t have a drummer and so I started doing that. And Mike switched to bass.

Were you initially a three guitar band?
No, I actually just sang. The switching up worked out though.

I mean, you’re like the best thing I’ve seen with a mike and drums in forever. So, good call. Anyway, urban lore has it that then somehow, miraculously Blake Senett (of Rilo Kiley) stumbled upon your myspace page and decided to make you all stars.
That sounds almost fairytale like…
Haha, well, what ACTUALLY happened is that Blake’s then girlfriend saw us play in LA somewhere (we had already relocated to San Diego by then) and told him about us.

Your live shows seem to have that effect on people.
Yeah, I mean, that is wonderful. So Blake looked us up, liked what he saw and heard on our myspace page and wanted us to tour with his side project “The Elected” though that didn’t quite pan out. Eventually, he got us in touch with his manager (David Holmes, who also handles Interpol and Coldplay-ed) who ended up starting out the label (DH) which eventually put the album out.

So, the album “Humanimals” has been out since….I am kinda confused.
Well, we had it out digitally and you could buy it on tour since October but it is officially, vinylly and physically out as of February 5th. We’re pretty proud of it.

Rightfully so. I was really pleasantly surprised by the very consistent energy levels on the record itself. It wall gels together very smoothly if thumpthumpingly. How did the you go about creating the material itself?
In essence, we’re a jam band. That is how we write songs. Some stuff we demo but mainly, really, people show up with a riff, a hook, and we layer or build around it. We play it out. Very rarely does a song come out of something concrete.

Its a pretty spare sound.
Well, it was kind of inevitable since we’re a three person band. But I think we still try to keep things interesting, Mike plays a mean driving bass, and John Paul has a very interesting, very rhythmic way of playing the guitar.

I mean, I love the stuff. Any favorite songs on the record.
Hmmmmm, well, I love playing “Redrum Heart” because it is such a pop song. I always think of Tom Petty when we play it. We’re HUGE Tom Petty fans. I mean, he is the king of perfect pop song writing. I am also a fan of “Dirty Spirit Rag”. That song is just pure fun. A relentless, driving song.

Excellent choices. Lets talk touring…you’ve been doing some playing with some majorly buzzy bands…
Yeah, we did that Rilo Kiley / Art in Manila tour when you first saw us, we played a bunch of shows with Vampire Weekend and now we’re on board with Rogue Wave for six more dates after DC.

All these bands play bigger venues….I remember thinking when I saw you at 930 Club last time that your music, while it sounded AMAZING there would probably be more fun in a small place, where you could almost fill the rhythm on your face.
Ha ha, well, yes. It is great to play with the bands we’ve played with because they can sell out the kind of places we never could, but definitely the most fun we have at shows is in small clubs where everyone is a Grand Ole Party fan and stuff gets a little crazier. Hopefully, in the future, we can have that spirit in bigger venues too.

It is inevitably going to happen. You’ve been on tour non stop, do you even keep a home?
Oh yeah, we all have our places in San Diego. People take care of them for us.

How do you all pass your time on tour?
You know, the usual, we read, we listen to our ipods, we drive A LOT. We have a 15 passenger van that someone needs to drive at all times.

Any good books, music you’ve been into lately? We always like to ask that…gives people an idea of what’s up?
Oh, I love knowing what people I like are reading or listening to. Well, as for me, I just finished “Confessions of an economic hitman” which is a non-fiction account of someone who was very directly involved in what is now our oil crisis.

Sounds like a breezy read.
It was quite riveting, really. And music wise I’ve been really into Spaceman 3 and the band that later came off of it…Spiritualized.

Good stuff.
Yep.

So, I have to bring this up…the Keren Oh comparisons…
Are getting old

Yes they are.
I mean, I understand that we will probably get compared to some other bands with strong females fronting them, like Keren or Beth Ditto, both of whom I have tremendeous amounts of respect for, but, in all honesty, we’re just kinda trying to do our thing and I think that aside form the fact that we are all females there isn’t much musical similarities.

True.
Ideally, I can just hope that people will listen, like it for what it is, and have fun to it. We really never set out to sound like anyone else.

I don’t think that’s too much to hope for. And finally, tell us what’s up next for Grand Ole Party?
Well, some more Rogue Wave touring which is to include Coachella, then Bonnaroo and some Canadian Festivals (Pemberton)….just keep things rolling, you know.

The more the better really. Well, thank you and we look forward to the show.
So are we. So are we.

all live photos: Joel DidriksenWant more:
befriend Grand Ole Party socially here
and for all that is good and holy, try not to miss them tonight at 930 club.

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