Grandaddy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Grandaddy
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Jason Lytle performing live with Grandaddy in London in 1998
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Modesto, California, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1992–2006, 2012–present |
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| Associated acts |
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| Members | Jason Lytle Jim Fairchild Tim Dryden Aaron Burtch |
| Past members | Kevin Garcia |
Grandaddy is an American indie rock band from Modesto, California. The group was formed in 1992, and featured Jason Lytle, Aaron Burtch, Jim Fairchild, Kevin Garcia and Tim Dryden, until Garcia's death in 2017 following a stroke.
After several self-released records and cassettes, the band signed to Will Records in the US and later the V2 Records subsidiary Big Cat Records in the UK, going on to sign an exclusive deal with V2. The bulk of the band's recorded output was the work of Lytle, who worked primarily in home studios.
Grandaddy released four studio albums before splitting in 2006, with band members going on to solo careers and other projects. Grandaddy reformed in 2012, and after several successful tours, released its fifth studio album, Last Place, in March 2017. Following Garcia's sudden death, the band cancelled its touring plans for the release and re-entered an extended hiatus.
In 2024, Lytle revived the Grandaddy name to release the project's sixth studio album, Blu Wav.
Contents
History
Complex Party Come Theories is their first work. After that, they got new guitarist Jim Fairchild and keyboardist Tim Dryden. They released EP A Pretty Mess By This One Band in 1996, and their first full-length album Under The Western Freeway in 1997. “Summer Here Kids”, one of the songs in Under The Western Freeway, earned Single of the Week honors in NME. In 2000, in Sophftware Slump, they created vintage, electronic, drift-off music. In , Concrete Dunes was released, without the band's permission. In 2003, the group released another album, Sumday, and received good reviews. In 2006, Just Like the Fambly Cat was released.
After the album, the band broke up in 2005. They did not do Just Like the Fambly Cat tour concert. The band was utterly content and happy about the decision to end Grandaddy. In the song 'Elevate Myself', he says "I don't wanna work all night and day. On writing songs that make the young girls cry." Other members all worked in their own field, but Jim Fairchild was still working with music. He joined a guitarist in Modest Mouse tour, and he released his first solo album, Ten Readings of a Warning. In 2012, the band reunited for Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco. In the same year, they played in End of the Road Festival.
From 2014 to 2015 Lytle produced the album Why Are You OK by Band of Horses, to which he contributed material; this collaboration also produced the single "Hang an Ornament", which was issued as the work of Grandaddy and Band of Horses. In September 2015 Lytle tweeted that the band was working on a "new GD LP", which was interpreted by the media as confirmation that a new Grandaddy album was being recorded. Following a second reunion tour in the summer of 2016, the band announced that a new album called Last Place would be released by Danger Mouse's 30th Century Records on March 3, 2017, and released a video featuring the actor Jason Ritter for the single "Way We Won't". In March 2017, Lytle said that he could "at least promise one more" Grandaddy album after Last Place, since it was the first of two that the band was contracted to create.
Kevin Garcia (born Kevin Michael Garcia on June 22, 1975 in San Jose, California) died on May 2, 2017, aged 41, one day after suffering a "massive stroke". He became a member of Grandaddy at the age of 15. Following his death, the band canceled all its planned live appearances. Two commemorative shows were planned in Modesto for October 2017 – the first was a scheduled date that had already sold out – but these were also canceled due to the band members' ongoing grief over Garcia's passing.
Minor activity during the rest of 2017 included the releases of a music video featuring the comedian Jonah Ray for the single "Brush with the Wild", taken from Last Place, and an EP of live and alternative versions of songs from Last Place titled Things Anyway. To commemorate its 20th anniversary in October 2017, the album Under the Western Freeway was reissued as a double vinyl LP that included eight demo tracks. In November 2018 a song titled "Bison on the Plains" was released: Lytle revealed that it had been written prior to the completion of Last Place .
On August 28, 2020 it was announced that Grandaddy would release their 2000 album The Sophtware Slump in a 20th anniversary edition but with a twist—the whole album being performed by Jason Lytle with piano and no other instruments. The album was initially recorded during lockdown by Jason Lytle and was released in November 2020.
In October 2020, Lytle confirmed that he had plans to record a sixth (and possibly final) Grandaddy album: "I'm working on a solo LP, then I'm gonna do another Grandaddy record. I'm gonna go big on the Grandaddy; I want it to be this all-encompassing, cool send-off. I have life plans that don't involve playing live. I want to spend more time outdoors, off the grid." Lytle elaborated, suggesting that it might not be the project's final release: "I am just embarking on a new album of my own; it’s gonna be under my own name, but right after that I’m starting on a new, very big, comprehensive Grandaddy record; I’m not gonna call it the last [Grandaddy record], it’s gonna be the most comprehensive-sounding, and it’s gonna be tied in with a documentary."
In April 2022, Lytle and a group of French musicians embarked on a short tour of Europe under the name "Grandaddy and the Lost Machine Orchestra," playing the entirety of The Sophtware Slump.
On February 25, 2023, Lytle announced via Twitter in response to a fan that a new album had been recorded and would be released "in the middle of" that year."
On May 12 2023, Sumday: The Cassette Demos released, featuring demo versions of the songs off their 2003 album, Sumday.
On October 25, 2023, 'Watercooler', the lead single from their forthcoming album Blu Wav was released alongside a music video. Two months later, on December 1, 2023, 'Cabin in My Mind', the second single/music video from the album released.
Style
Grandaddy's music has features in the late 90s lo-fi indie rock. Their music has the catchy melodies that they are able to create with the synths and distorted guitars. Most of their musics are slow and emotional. Also, they used electronics. Their lyrics are mostly vague and abstract, but inventive. The album's most enduring image is a man sipping a beer and strumming an acoustic guitar in quiet, beautiful countryside. The Sophtware Slump is generally regarded as the band's masterpiece, but other albums like Under the Western Freeway are popular, too.
Discography
- Studio albums
- Under the Western Freeway (1997)
- The Sophtware Slump (2000)
- Sumday (2003)
- Just Like the Fambly Cat (2006)
- Last Place (2017)
- Blu Wav (2024)
Images for kids
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Grandaddy live at Concorde 2 in Brighton, England, April 1, 2017: Kevin Garcia is at right
See also
In Spanish: Grandaddy para niños
