In the beginning, a rock appeared in the firmament, and on that rock a fissure did form. An old man with youthful eyes looked upon this rock and said, “I shall call you ‘Shredrock.'” And upon receiving the reverberations of his utterance, the rock burst forth a great explosion, showering the old man with mystical properties, endowing him with the wisdom of old age and the vigor of youth. And when the phenomenon did cease, the rock told the man, “I shall call you ‘Grampfather.'”
Listen to the album while reading the text.
Becoming Grampfather
Grampfather is an ever-evolving project that I started back in 2013. My friends used to always make fun of me for my old man habits, such as sitting in rocking chairs, reading often, and whistling old jingles on the wind – so they’d call me Grampfather.
Before starting the band, I made instrumental chill-rock under the name Cat People (https://catpeople-elevatormusic.bandcamp.com/releases), but I wanted to get into the house/basement-show scene in New Paltz.
At first, we were a two-piece math-rockish instrumental band, but little by little I wrote more songs with lyrics and we shifted towards a strange array of genres that I guess you could classify as indie/punkish/psych/trashrock.
More Of A Band
After college, I moved back to Long Island and linked up with my good friends Jesse Grayer (drums) and Pete DeMaio (bass). These guys really helped me make Grampfather into a substantial band/project. They are featured on our first and second albums Pipes and Gramps of Wrath. At that time, I was 22 and they were on the cusp of 30, so I would always joke that they were actual Grampfathers. I really appreciate them so much – you should check out their bands: Sugarskull Piledriver (Jesse) and Golden Wave (Pete).
When Pete left the band to focus on one of his many other bands, we luckily were blessed with the bassmanship of Rick Kattermann (also in Golden Wave). Although I moved to New Paltz for grad school, Rick still plays shows with us when he can.
With A Tinge Of Soul
A lot of our songs are either love songs (rather, love-gone-wrong songs) or ridiculous, tongue-in-cheek songs, like “Jimmy Buffet (The Vampire Slayer).” For our newest album The Gramp Stamp, I wrote the lyrics in a more genuine manner, and experimented with our sound, shifting from our former garage-rock type sound to indie/chill/psych-rock with a tinge of soul. I don’t know if this makes it any clearer, but we really love Modest Mouse and we listen to a lot of Al Green, so we’re some kind of weird hodgepodge of those sounds.
The Gramp Stamp
I wrote and recorded the new album while in school, so I had to leave my Long Island guys in order to get another degree in the hopes that I would finally land a decent paying job. I see this album as a way of keeping this project alive while going through many (un)fortunate line-up changes.
Much of The Gramp Stamp is me on vocals, guitar, and bass, but I was lucky to fit some recording sessions in with various other musicians. Rick and Jesse threw down bass and drum tracks on the first track “Para Ti” (and my dude Freddy played some sax on that jammy too); Brandon Bera (of The Other Brothers and Schmave) played drums on “2% Juice,” GOREgonzola!,” and “Vultures Eating Vultures”; and Dan Shapiro (of LS Daniel), who is now our newest live drummer, drummed on “Good Mo(u)rning.”
Playing Live & Streaming
As you can see, it’s difficult to maintain a steady line-up of band members. Every musician I’ve met is in two or more bands, and their work schedules often conflict with practice and show schedules. Fortunately, I’ve recently linked up with Dan on drums and our friend Joe Dunseith on bass – they’re great guys who are down and devoted. I’ll be graduating from grad school in May, so I will soon be free to play many shows.
We’re in the process of booking, but here’s what we got so far:
3/22 at The Anchor in Kingston, NY
4/13 at Crazy Dan’s Secondhand Store in New Paltz, NY
4/19 at Kingston Castle (message for address) in Kingston, NY
7/19 at Snugs in New Paltz, NY
Hope to see you there!
In the meantime, check us out on Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, etc etc etc. If you like us and want us to come to your city, feel free to reach out on Facebook, Instagram (@grampfatherrr), or Twitter (@GRAMPFATHER).
Peace bb’s <3
Grampz
P.S.
Stay tuned for the release of The Gramp Stamp. Out March 25th, 2019 A.D. Pre-order it now at https://grampfather.bandcamp.com/.
Pre-order THE GRAMP STAMP here!
Spotify