Kevin Buckley (vocals, guitar, fiddle, etc.), Ben Phillips (bass guitar, vocals, etc.), Sean Price, (drum kit, vocals, etc.), Eileen Gannon (keys, harps, etc.), more folks (well played instruments, etc)........
Influences
Guided by Voices, The Bothy Band, John Hartford, The Beatles, Neutral Milk Hotel, Planxty, The New Pornographers, Future Clouds and Radar, Gillian Welch, Kinks, Harry Nilsson, Apples in Stereo, that dog, Fleetwood Mac, Gram Parsons, Big Star, Wilco, They Might be Giants, XTC, R.E.M, Nada Surf, Matthew Sweet, Ron Sexsmith, Beach Boys, The Shins, Dylan, Matt Pond PA, Frank Black and the Catholics, Pixies, Shakti, Bee-Gees, The Byrds, Jellyfish, Weezer, Ben Kweller, Ween, N. Young. Emitt Rhodes, Elliott Smith, Pavement, Creedence.
Grace Basement plays guitar based rock music written by a fiddle player who sings and plays fiddle and guitar with a drummer and a bass player. Some songs are pop songs, short and sweet. Others are more free forms...enjoy.
This is a video for "I Miss Everything," featuring Kevin's tribute to John Hartford and Kermit the Frog. Directed by Brendan Burke.
Here's the first record
and some notable quotes...
Voted "Best New Band" by The Riverfront Times (2007)
“The music is smart, and the tone is varied without being scattered; specifically, it's a genre-hop through alt-country, basement pop, fuzzy rock and acoustic folk…. More surprising is the source, 27-year-old Kevin Buckley, who plays every instrument on the record and who is primarily known for his mastery of the fiddle. New Sense is packed with simple harmonic riffs, complex vocal harmonies, and tossed-off lyrics that spring to life in the record's joyful atmosphere.”
- Christian Schaeffer, The Riverfront Times (July 2007)
“The sound is crisp, lush and ever-flowing streams of stellar guitar work and earth fiddle make "New Sense" a wonderfully arranged, smoothly harmonized and accomplished display of what song-craft should be about. VERY Highly Recommended."
- Bruce Brodeen, Not Lame Records (2007)
“Pretty hooks, jaunty verses, slightly-raggedy vocals… He's got real skill as a writer, and he imbues his songs with just enough of an off-kilter perspective to shear off the sharp edges of craft.”
- Jon Worley, Aidabet.com (2007)
“…the Beatles' melodic smarts; Guided by Voices' songwriting quirks; Superchunk's sunny, grungy riffs…”
- Annie Zaleski, The Riverfront Times (November 2006)
“The creative spark comes in many ways. For renowned fiddler Kevin Buckley, it started innocently enough with a project recorded on a Tascam 424 mkII 4-track cassette machine in his parents' basement and ended up as New Sense (Dren Records, 2007), a full-length CD recorded in Adobe Audition that blended power pop and Americana rock and was released under the moniker Grace Basement.”
- Diane Gershuny , Electronic Musician Magazine (Jan. 2008)
"Delicious Pop! New Sense is one of the few great comfort albums! I've listened to it a hundred times and it sounds better with each listen!"
- Nick Acquisto, The Space Parlour, KDHX
“This is a real awesome debut CD. The same kind of enthusiasm that emerged from the first Johnny Polonsky album "Hi My Name is Johnny" is here After a few listens, this one really sticks with you and the song melodies grows like a weed garden in your brain. That makes it a top ten contender in my book."
-Aaron Kupferberg, Powerpopaholic.com (2007)
TO PURCHASE NEW SENSE, CLICK ON ANY OF THE FOLLOWING LINKS
I was secretly wondering when you'd get around to Dylan (although he was probably covering that song, I'm not sure) and it sounds completely lovely. The video looks great as well. Nice work gents.
Have any of you guys had a chance to check out Julia Nunes. Well she has 42 you tube videos and looks super cool. Anyway I am trying to get her to play a stl show this summer tour and I thought maybe you guys could invite her to play a show with you. Let me know what you think.
hey KB what's fun in your town. Pig and I will be meandering through on our way back west soon. You and Joe Kile are the only friends I have in St. Loo.
Or you may e-mail us at: info@stlvicarsandtarts.com
Beautiful Visual Art Provided by:
Mark Berry, Rich Brooks, Jenn Carter,Danielle Correll,Greg Correll, Jimmie Dearduff,Robert Frank (FERD), Catherine Gravias, Ana Hartenbach, Christine Ilewski, Tim Jordan, Connie LaFlam, Joe Laverty (The Hermit), Andrea LeFreniere, Emily Miller, Dallas Moses, Carmelita Nunez,Sara Parry, David Saint, John Schnellmann, Thomas Shepherd, Marianna Simms, Ryan Strong, Rob Tapley Bustamante, Cos Van Mun, Cam Vancely, John Williams, Terri Willits, Hao Zheng, Anitra Zobeck
Scheduled Entertainment Includes (not in particular order of appearance):
Albino Alley Cat Revue Beaver Soup Blair and the Facts of Life Chapters Furious Vixen Gravity Plays Favorites
I hope you guys make millions of dollars so I can be a leach off of Phillips and never work again. Just wanted to let you know that, get that out in the open, you see. Oh, great work by the way... Yours truly.
Featuring Doc and Longhead from the original Billy Coma and new members, Jamey Almond formerly of The Trip Daddys on Guitar and Lorne formerly of the Electric on Bass!
