| So. That’s it then. Nearly.
Hairy psychedelic sun-dried heroes Grandaddy began 2006 very much as they
meant to go on, by calling a day on a decade drifting through the cosmos like
Neil Young on a magic carpet, disbanding into the ether in a rainbow of lumberjack
shirts. And now, as is usually the case in such situations, the business of a
posthumous release looms. But quite unusually it’s neither a quasi peace offering
to fans borne out of a guilt trip, some lazily opportunistic final dash for the
cash, nor does it sound half done or cobbled together. It is, as last year’s sterling
mini-album ‘Excepts From The Diary Of Todd Zilla’ already suggested, the real
deal. Quite possibly even a late return to form. For while we loved them for all
their careful ambling and sedated exploration, they were always more than that.
They’re the band that wrote wonky classic ‘A.M. 180’, fergawdsake! And with final
album ‘Just Like The Fambly Cat’ they feel that kind of wind through their hairs
again. It could even be referred to as occasionally raucous. Which is something
that could never be said of its leader, Jason Lytle, who lets us inside
his head one last time before the door closes for good… 1. Where are
you now? What can you see?
I’m riding shotgun, driving through Idaho and
listening to Chopin looking at a stunning sunset that’s illuminating snow covered
mountains. 2. What was the last thing you ate?
We stopped at
a Mexican restaurant that was named ‘Plum Loco’. The name alone should have been
sufficient enough deterrent. I had two chicken tacos that I suspect were actually
imported seagull. 3. What was the last album you bought?
New
one by The Rosebuds. Someone made me a mix CD and it had a song ‘Leaves Do Fall’,
and it was a very interesting sounding song. 4. What was the last thing
you saw on TV that you liked?
The last thing I saw on TV was an American
baseball team being beat by a Korean baseball team in a bar. At first I was disappointed
because I thought I should be, but then I was stoked, because I don’t care about
baseball, and I thought of all the meat-head jocks who were gonna be having stupid
tantrums throughout the country. This pleased me. 5. What are you looking
forward to?
Trying to have days that consist of coffee, bicycling, piano
playing, hiking, skateboarding, a good meal and a few drinks with friends in a
scenic environment. 6. What do you hate right now?
Fanatic religious
fucking freaks trying to ruin it for everyone else. 7. What was your
favourite subject at school?
My favorite school subject was art. I had
been drawing since I was old enough to hold a pencil, so I became known as the
“kid who could draw good.” On my bus ride home everyday I would draw pictures
of members of the band KISS, complete with forged autographs for 25 cents. 8.
Do you remember your last dream?
I was making a video with my digital
video camera about wild animals at the garbage dump who were stuffing themselves
while bad funky porno music played and a woman’s voice was mysteriously moaning
and groaning from somewhere above. 9. What would you class as your defining
moment?
Laughing in the face of my third grade teacher when she sent me
to the principal because I refused to hold my pencil the right way. (I never did
and still don’t.) Or. . . .maybe when my dad used to yell at me for playing the
piano at our house when I was a kid in too slow and depressing of a manner. 10.
What are your plans for tonight?
Continue, driving through stormy weather
until we reach Reno, Nevada. Then get a $35.00 hotel room and try and pick up
some chain-smoking drunk old women. www.grandaddylandscape.com
www.myspace.com/grandaddy The
final single ‘Elevate Myself’ is released on May 8
The final album ‘Just
Like The Fambly Cat’ is released on May 15
James Berry for Crud Magazine 2006©
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