Houston Calling

Review: Grand Ole Party, live @ Warehouse Live, 10.5.07

October 6th, 2007 · 2 Comments

San Diego’s Grand Ole Party was a favorite of mine at this year’s South By Southwest. Other than The Prairie Cartel, Badly Drawn Boy, 120 Days, and Mew, there are not a lot of bands that stuck with me from this year’s SXSW. But Grand Ole Party — a three-piece whose female drummer also takes lead vocal duties — blew me away at the Filter party one afternoon and I have been jonesing for a full-length since, occasionally sedating myself with the three-song CDR I picked up at their show.

Well, their debut album, Humanimals, is now available on iTunes and at the band’s shows. From the instant the band hit the stage last night, opening for Rilo Kiley at Warehouse Live, it was apparent they were on a mission to make their mark on the near-capacity crowd. Within seconds, the band had the crowd grooving along to their short and punchy, sometimes funky, songs. The bassist (Mike Krechnyak) and guitarist (John Paul Labno) work together to propel the songs along, while singer/drummer Kristin Gundred — who sounds like a cross between Siouxsie and PJ Harvey — lends an exotic feel to the band’s music.

Grand Ole Party played a handful of tracks from their Blake Sennett-produced album, each one — especially “INSANE” and “Look Out Young Son” — gaining the band new fans along the way. It sticks out as one of the best shows I have seen this year, and it was refreshing to see a band so into their set and showing genuine feeling for the crowd’s reaction. I briefly spoke with bassist Krechnyak after the show, who affirmed his surprise to the band’s reception (especially considering this is Grand Ole Party’s first tour) and confirmed  that the band will be touring again in January, when Humanimals hits stores on CD.

Download my favorite track from Grand Ole Party’s Humanimals, “Look Out Young Son” (MP3) — and let me know what you think.

Tags: Music · Reviews

2 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Marc Brubaker // Oct 7, 2007 at 1:51 pm

    Um, I’m going to second that with a resounding “Hell Yes.” They were fantastic. I’m hoping we can book them when they start touring the album.

    – Marc Brubaker, Waste No Buffalo

  • 2 chip // Oct 8, 2007 at 8:20 am

    I think it’s hilarious that you didn’t stay for Rilo Kiley. I’m sure you’re the only person on this tour to have left BEFORE indie rock’s most talked about band went on. I did the same thing many years ago, driving 2 hours to watch Stabbing Westward play a 25-minute set opening for Depeche Mode and Primal Scream. As we left the venue, the door people were like “You know that if you leave, you can’t come back in.” They were shocked that we were leaving before Depeche Mode.

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