While the worldwide music scene is reportedly in the doldrums, San Diego has largely escaped the brunt of the damage. Clubs are packed, local acts are still getting signed to national labels and area imprints turn out hundreds of releases annually. Meanwhile, a steady stream of artists continue to relocate to our city to be a part of the music community. One such group is Grand Ole Party, which performs Friday, Aug. 1 at the Che Café. Having taken San Diego by storm, they now seem poised to do the same on an international level.
The trio, originally from San Francisco, includes Kristin Gundred (singer/drummer), John Paul Labno (guitar) and Mike Krechneyak (bassist), arriving in San Diego in 2005. Prior to his time in the Bay Area, Krechneyak was actually a local resident, having been raised in San Pasqual.
By summer of the 2006, they were already one of the hottest bands performing in area clubs. Indeed, their first show, on a bill with UV Tigers, was a sellout at The Casbah. The band began a regular schedule of touring and local shows and made a quick impression, winning a nomination in that year’s San Diego Music Awards. Though they lost out to the defunct Kite Flying Society, the following year saw Grand Ole Party take home the trophy for Best Alternative Band. On Nov. 6, 2007, the band made an appearance on the television show “Fox Rox,” performing their song, “Bad, Bad Man.” While the members of Grand Ole Party weren’t quite ready to give up their day jobs yet, music was clearly becoming a viable choice as a career option.
Their local buzz got the ball rolling in terms of national attention, but it was their connection to a band a bit farther up the ladder, Rilo Kiley, that truly caused their careers to pick up steam.
Rilo Kiley frontman Blake Sennet, impressed by Grand Ole Party’s music, left a message on the band’s Myspace page. The ensuing friendship would yield major dividends almost immediately.
Sennet came to a Casbah gig to check out the band and soon introduced Grand Ole Party to Rilo Kiley’s management. The result was a management contract and a record deal with their new label, DH Records. Recorded in March 2007, the album was also produced by Sennet.
The group’s debut album “Humanimals” was released Aug. 7, 2007, though only in online form. Physical copies were issued on Feb. 8, 2008, but in the meantime ensuring that Sennet took the band on tour throughout Europe. His support of the band even included Gundred as a back-up singer during his own band’s set. This arrangement resulted in national exposure for Gundred when Rilo Kiley made an appearance during NBC-TV’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” on Sept. 24, 2007.
This has been a banner year for Grand Ole Party. In January, San Diego Magazine named the group one of its “50 People to Watch,” while music fans found them in the May issue of Spin. More recently, FM94.9 has been playing their song “Look Out Young Son” in regular rotation.
“It’s not luck, it’s talent,” said FM94.9 DJ Tim Pyles. “They have great music, which is always the foundation a group has to have. But they also have real drive and work hard to make things happen.”
Pyles takes extra pride in spinning the music of San Diego’s artists.
“It’s great when a band like this takes off on a national level,” he stated. “There is definitely a sense of civic pride that goes into effect when I hit the ‘play’ button on a local release.”
Grand Ole Party performs at the Che Cafe, Building 161, on the UCSD Campus, 9500 Gilman Drive, at 8 p.m. All ages will be admitted. For more information, visit www.checafe.ucsd.edu.