Lou Poster, guitar and vocal;
Jason McKiernan, drums;
Will Pugh, bass (on Jumpstart Wire)
Chris Burney, bass (on Tour)
Influences
hubba bubba, trampolines, cut-offs, broken glass, ojII's, '74 SS nova's, Marlboro and later Camel, cisco wine, ford EXP (not explorer but crappy little sports version of escort), bassholes, mule, getting beat, the thick gray called columbus, 1000 petty indignities, 7am to 3:30pm, younger kids who do it better but aren't as good...somehow, the promise of potential, stale toast w/ or w/o peanut butter, eighty-thousand miles in 3 years, indoor propane heat, rewired amps, hernias, blown everything, that guy who let you stay at his place last time, cat piss, that girl who let you stay at her place last time, more cat piss, terrible music, great movies, more more more....
Sounds Like
a knife fight between Mudhoney and Mule officiated by a man with his leg in a beartrap.
Come close, dearest fucko, and dig the old, smelly breed: Grafton. But before we start, let’s have a pop quiz, for we are all thinking adults, schooled, literate beings, are we not? To you I pose the following query: What is the sound of desperation? Nay, not desperation as in “I neeeeeed to be heard above the mountain of dunggg otherwise known as ‘modern music’.” Nor even desperation in the form of “I’m filled with angst because I’m in a fight with my special lady and it’s really tearing me up inside and I gotta get it out, bro.” Grafton shit out that sort of turd a decade ago into a broken toilet in some dude’s house who let them stay there after a gig one night. Theirs is more of the end-of-the-line, don’t have a hell of a lot to fucking live for but this, desperation. Many try, very few can lay claim to it. This beast, Jumpstart Wire, you have in your possession, is the sound of unhinged desperation. And forget that band of British tarts from a while back, when Lou Poster screams on “Never Had Less” --- that is the real primal scream, Nigel. For, truth be told, Grafton have lived the uncherished life since forming a decade ago: they’ve been shat upon, fired, stranded, frozen out, stiffed, seen friends die, been passed over by better looking bands, and all those hard knocks add up to the furious snort contained herein. If one must suffer for his art, it could be argued you hold the MagnafuckingCarta here, Nadine. Ah yes, the sound, what of the sound? Critical Theory is built upon precedents, yes. Ok, then think of the fattest, most inbred version of Black Oak Arkansas (circa High on the Hog) with Blixa Bargeld sitting in on guest Stihl chainsaw. See Hoss, when people call Grafton, “backwoods” (and plenty have), they get it about half right. On this, their third longplayer, they go so far backwoods that they keep crawling and run smack into the industrial rendering plant on the other side of the forest. The resultant burp might best be labeled “industrial swamp” or “kudzu metal” or even “recently laid-off from assembly line job.” Just listen to the hot-jizz riffs on cuts like “I Say Try” or the positively molten “Gave You Up” and see if you don’t begin to see the permanent glower on Poster’s face.
That their hometown of Columbus (“the thick gray” as it’s otherwise known) has also been home at one time or another to the likes of the Gibson Brothers, Bassholes, Cheater Slicks, and New Bomb Turks, is inconsequential. Take a listen to the sound of Grafton on Jumpstart Wire and all those close cousins begin to fade into the gray. This is the sound of a trio who have little time for nuance, shades of distinction, or artistic ass-baggery. Pretension has a negative life-span in Grafton’s world, and what they are living, painful as it is, is what you get.
And quite clearly, these are desperate times.
--Jerry Dannemiller
February 2007
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The new issue of Juice Magazine - Issue 66 - featuring ANDY KESSLER (R.I.P.) skating the streets of NYC on the cover (Photo by Ivory Serra) is available now. www.juicemagazine.com.
JUICE MAGAZINE ISSUE 66 features:
ANDY KESSLER interview by STEVE OLSON BEBE BUELL interview by STEVE OLSON BOOTSY COLLINS interview by STEVE OLSON CRAIG JOHNSON interview by JIM MURPHY FRITZ MEAD interview by JIM MURPHY KALANI DAVID interview by JAY ADAMS MIKE WEED interview by STEVE OLSON NATAS KAUPAS interview by STEVE OLSON OMAR SALAZAR interview by STEVE OLSON PAUL SCHMITT interview by STEVE OLSON PETER GUNN interview by MARK "RED" SCOTT and THE CONFESSOR ROB PALMER interview by JIM MURPHY SCOTT CAAN interview by STEVE OLSON JACK GRISHAM of T.S.O.L. interview by STEVE OLSON TIM JACKSON interview by AARON MURRAY WADE SPEYER interview by JIM MURPHY YANIV EVAN interview by STEVE OLSON VENICE SK8 WALL OF FAME features interviews with AARON “FINGERS” MURRAY, BART SARIC, BOB "THE BULLET" BINIAK, C.R. STEYCK III, CESARIO “BLOCK” MONTANO, CHRISTIAN HOSOI, CHUCK KATZ, CRIS DAWSON, DANNY BEARER, DOUG SMITH, ERIC “TUMA” BRITTON, ERIC DRESSEN, GEORGE WILSON, GER-I LEWIS, JAMES "RED DOG" MUIR, JEFF HO, JOEY TRAN, JOSH “BAGEL” KLASSMAN, LANCE LEMOND, MARK MUNSKI, JAY ADAMS, JEF HARTSEL, JESSE MARTINEZ, KELLY JACKSON, PAT BAREIS, PAUL CONSTANTINEAU, PAUL HOFFMAN, PEGGY OKI, RAY FLORES, SKIP ENGBLOM, SUSANNE MELANIE BERRY, TIM JACKSON, WENTZLE RUML IV, WES HUMPSTON.
Tacoland will air on NPR tomorrow at about 8am central time! I have awesome memories of you guys! I miss ya and hope to see ya again in the future. Take care!
I just added a new painting titled "Neon Nights". You can view it by clicking on 'Pics' on my profile. You can also view my video on my main Myspace page.
I have awesome memories of you guys! I miss ya and hope to see ya again in the future. Take care!
