Category: The Griswolds
New Music: The Griswolds ‘Beware The Dog’
New Music: The Griswolds ‘The Courtship of Summer Preasley’
A hot new video from The Griswolds – just in time for summer!
New Music: The Griswolds ‘Mississippi’
The Griswolds return with a spanking new onesie music video! This one’s called Mississippi! The crew is set to release their debut album in 2014! You can check out our interview with them here.
Exclusive Special Interview: The Griswolds
theaussieword.com goes one on one in this exclusive catch up with cool dudes The Griswolds!
What can you tell our readers about you? How and where did it all begin?
It all began in a hole really, Dan and I both played in bands that we had no love for, it really sucks your soul away to love music so much but not actually have love for the band you’re in. One night Dan was house sitting a mates place that had a mini home studio in it, and whilst fairly marinated (drunk), he went in the studio and wrote a really catchy little chorus! About a week later we were getting marinated together and he showed me the song and said “wtf are we doing? Let’s quit our bands and make music like this”. We then moved in together, built our own studio and started writing and producing a bunch of tracks together, we later called this collaboration – The Griswolds
It all began in a hole really, Dan and I both played in bands that we had no love for, it really sucks your soul away to love music so much but not actually have love for the band you’re in. One night Dan was house sitting a mates place that had a mini home studio in it, and whilst fairly marinated (drunk), he went in the studio and wrote a really catchy little chorus! About a week later we were getting marinated together and he showed me the song and said “wtf are we doing? Let’s quit our bands and make music like this”. We then moved in together, built our own studio and started writing and producing a bunch of tracks together, we later called this collaboration – The Griswolds
What had you first interested in music?
when i was really young, i wanted to be a rapper, i used to love 2pac and Coolio. My eldest brother is 5 years older than me, he bought himself a guitar and started teaching himself, i knew at that point i wanted to do the same, he also introduced me to rock music. I was probably 13 when i had my first dream of starting a band. My best friend in high school was also in love with music (he later became the drummer for Boy & Bear), we pushed each other’s passion for music into full blown insatiable lust.
Who motivates or influences your quest to make great music?
Dan and I heavily motivate each other to never settle when we create. We’re constantly pushing each other to get the best idea, or the best melody or part for the song and we won’t settle until we are both stoked. We haven’t written anything so far that we both haven’t been 100% sold on and/or stoked with.
Do you have any planned tours coming up?
as a matter of fact we do! We are just about to hit the road for “The Courtship Of Summer Preasley” Tour in April and May. We will be visiting Byron, Brizzy, Melbs, Radelaide, Perth and Sydney before jetting overseas to America, UK and Europe! Pretty chuffed
What are some of your biggest goals you hope to accomplish as an artist?
We just wanna write honest, integrous music for the rest of our lives, music that we love and connect with and can share with our fans and hopefully they’ll also love and connect with it. We’d also love to play Coachella and/or Glastonbury one day, that would be a pretty massive dream come true for us.
What can fans expect from you in the coming months?
We’re gonna have a new film clip out in the coming weeks, we haven’t been more excited about any of releases as we are about this clip. It’s quite controversial, lots of references to drugs, sex, sac-religion etc. We’ll also be releasing another single around mid-year, it’s the first song Dan and I ever wrote together about a year ago and we’ve always had really high hopes for it. I personally think it’s one of the best songs we’ve written together.
Success, what is the secret to it and what has been your biggest career highlight so far?
Success is about realistic goals, great advice and guidance and above all else a F*#k tonne of hard work. Nothing that is worth having comes without hard work. Big Day Out was a huge highlight for us, so much history that we were all of sudden apart of. We’ve been to so many BDO festivals over the years, never really dreamed we’d get to play at it, the crowd was also the most amazing crowd we’ve played to so far even in 45 Degree heat.
Success is about realistic goals, great advice and guidance and above all else a F*#k tonne of hard work. Nothing that is worth having comes without hard work. Big Day Out was a huge highlight for us, so much history that we were all of sudden apart of. We’ve been to so many BDO festivals over the years, never really dreamed we’d get to play at it, the crowd was also the most amazing crowd we’ve played to so far even in 45 Degree heat.
Which stars of the music industry do you find inspiring?
Devendra Banhart, Johnny Cash, Dave Grohl, Jimmy Page, Mike Patton
How would you best describe you and your music to your fans?
We’re a bunch of best friends creating music without rules or borders, we’ll try anything if it works. The music is quite upbeat, light hearted and mostly about good times, much like ourselves.
What can you tell us about your latest album?
Well we only have a 4 track EP out so far, we are currently writing our debut album, it’s pretty exciting because we’ve never had the chance to write a full collection of 12 or more songs together. We’re listening to artists like Frank Ocean, Alt-J, Foals, MGMT, Foster The People, Tame Impala and Devendra for influences, we’re hoping that a lot of these influences come through on the album.
Are there any new exciting projects in the works?
Yeah, I’m creating a lude cartoon about sea creatures who don’t quite live in harmony with each other, and Dan and I working on a menu for a restaurant that we’re hoping to open one day.
The music industry is huge, where do you see yourself a few years from now?
I’ll be in Mexico, nude on the beach, cocktail in hand. Dan and I will have a really nice studio where we will write and produce music for ourselves as well as other artists, we’ve even spoken about starting our own label one day down the track.
Name a few of your favourite Aussie artists.
Last Dinosaurs, Strange Talk, The Trouble with Templeton, Eagle and the Worm, The Belligerents, Tim Hart, Blue Juice, Cloud Control, Dune Rats, Gold Fields, Nantes, The Money Go Round.
The shape of the music industry has changed significantly over the years, including the use of social media, how do you feel about the industry as a whole and what does it mean to you in getting your records out into the public eye?
I might be really ignorant, but i really love the industry a lot at the moment, I think bands and musicians can hold their own without the help of labels and i think labels are being forced to offer better deals to bands because of it. Social media is awesome, we love being able to chat to fans on a daily basis and it’s encouraging to us as well because fans can easily express that they “love the EP” or “last night’s show was amazing”.
Thank you for the interview! What can you leave fans of theaussieword.com with here today? Come drink with us at our next show 😉
New Music: The Griswolds
Sydney’s The Griswolds have kicked off 2013 in style with their single “The Courtship of Summer Preasley” heating up the airwaves throughout summer. To celebrate the track’s success, the band are hitting the road in April to thank fans before heading overseas.
The band have a quick dash around the world, hitting Europe, the UK and the US before heading back to the studio to start on the followup to last year’s Heart of a Lion EP which featured both the title track and latest smash.
It’s safe to say that Sydney’s The Griswolds indie anthem “Heart of a Lion” put them on the map in 2012. The tequila inspired party-pop banger was heard on radio in over 20 countries including high rotation on Australia’s triple j and The Netherlands 3FM, jagging over ½ a million views and downloads online.
Forming in February, the band were triple j Unearthed feature artist and were quickly picked up by over 100 blogs around the globe simply by posting their first track “Mississippi” online.
Despite pounding the sticky carpet for just twelve months, their meteoric rise is compounded by their reputation as being one of Australia’s hottest live acts.
With Homebake, Big Day Out, Parklife and Peat’s Ridge on their gig list as well as supports with the likes of San Cisco, Last Dinosaurs and Kids of 88, it’s their new single “The Courtship of Summer Preasley” that has cemented their momentum into 2013. Since the calendar ticked over to welcome in their second year, the band have one of the most played tracks of the year on triple j, the iTunes Single of the Week in Europe, and have played support for Django Django.
