Grown Children are the following, in no particular order, at no particular time...without forewarning...
Jared sings and plays guitar. Megan sings so so loud and plays glock and tambourine and shakers. Aaron bangs the premiers. Sean plays bass and sometimes drums. Josiah plays Mandolin and blazing electric leads. Megan C. plays violin. Jake plays bass. Sam plays violin, banjo and keys. Andrew plays bass. Jordan plays drums and violas. Kevin plays drumkits. Josh plays the bass guitar and sings gang vocals. Gilbert plays keys, organs and synths. Cam plays percussion and drum set. Lisa plays gutar, and washboard and tambourine and sings. Brianne sings. Bri sings. I sing. You sing. yes.
"Stories are told with the cleverness and refined skill of an old-fashioned songwriter and filled with words that need to be heard – and shouted along to." -PERFORMER MAGAZINE
“Wicked-smart lyrics are in full effect...the brash, powerful sound of Mees' acoustic guitar and jumpy vocal melodies continues to chop his songs into delectable little pieces.” -LOCALCUT
"each song on Caffeine, Alcohol, Sunshine Money exudes a tone of child-like optimism." -NPR
"With Caffeine, Alcohol, Sunshine, Money, Mees has divorced the pursuit of a quick buzz and has wed himself to his band, who prove that man cannot live on guitar alone." -PENSATOS
"...one of the BEST I've heard in a while. Seriously - this band is my new favorite." -REVOLT MEDIA
"...quirky and trippy folk rock pop bop in the vein of The Flaming Lips, Weezer, King Missile and The Violent Femmes." -THE RUN OFF GROOVE
PRAISE FOR "If You Wanna Swim w/ The Sharks"
"Like Elvis Costello if he had grown up an American Stoner... If you wanna swim with the sharks... is fucking fantastic. " -WILLAMETTE WEEK
"A distinctly Portland blend of lo-fi and high quality – pervades his new album, “If You Wanna Swim With the Sharks …”... These are songs for the morning after and the night before" THE PORTLAND TRIBUNE
"Mees croons out emotionally laden numbers reminiscent of Conor Oberst but with a wordmanship indicative of the Lucksmiths..." PDX MAGAZINE
"Packed full of irresistible melodies and clever turns of phrase…between the varied instrumentation and deliberate dashes of harmony Mees displays an impressive talent with composition and signs of greatness to come” HARMONIUMMUSIC
If You Wanna Swim With the Sharks... is full of songs mixing highly palatable pop-punk and sincere and rambling indie-folk, with a wide-eyed exuberance... -INDIE FOLK FOREVER
PROFESSIONALS HARD AT WORK ON OUR BEHALF
Booking:
Indiecon Booking
theo (at) indieconbooking.com
Label:
Tender Loving Empire
jared (at) tenderlovingempire.com
Santiago Uceda has made us a brand new T-Shirt. Tender Loving Empire printed them on super soft American Apparel shirts with a cool fade from Silver to Black. They're available from us in unisex sizes X-Small to X-Large. If you missed us on our summer tour, these are the very same shirts we had out there! Get one while they last!
Video from Neurolux in Boise of a NEW Song called shake shake shake shake shake shake shake shake shake shake. Its a slow burner, so just grab a milk and cookie and chill for 6 minutes. Enjoy
The Summer 09 Children Megan S., Megan C., Nicholas, Josiah, Jared
The Spring Children:(l-r) Sam, Jared, Sean, Aaron, Megan Phtoto by G*Force
.. Caffeine, Alcohol, Sunshine, Money.. Hand Screenprinted Version Available for $10 from Tender Loving Empire
The Fall Children: Sam, Jared, Kevin, Megan, Jake Photo by Cameron Browne
The Summer Children: Sean, Jordan, Megan, Jared Photo by Tim Gunther
The story so far...
The brainchild of songwriter/composer/arranger/screenprinter Jared Mees, “The Grown Children” are the catchall name for the current amalgamation of players collaborating with Mees on recordings or on stage. Mees’ first solo effort “If You Wanna Swim w/ the Sharks” was named one of the best albums of 2007 by Willamette Week and called “fucking fantastic” by current Willamette Week Music Director Casey Jarman.
The first incarnation of the Grown Children was borne of a Panamanian Island, where Mees, his wife (and Tender Loving Empire co founder) Brianne and 2 friends wrote the bulk of the songs that would eventually become “Sharks...” After recording Sharks in L.A. and moving to Portland Mees embarked upon 2007’s ill fated and aptly named No A/C tour, with the members of Finn Riggins playing many of Mees’ songs.
Since then many friends have joined the Grown Children Family, and while the constant lineup changes and improvised, infrequent rehearsals would cause many bands to suffer, they have become the vitality of the Grown Children, giving live shows a devil-may-care energy and keeping the recordings on the new album Caffeine, Alcohol, Sunshine, Money dynamic, vibrant and honest.
About ..Caffeine, Alcohol, Sunshine, Money .. (out 10-07-08 on Tender Loving Empire)
Tender Loving Empire is proud to announce the release of Portland OR based, Jared Mees and the Grown
Children’s new full length album Caffeine, Alcohol, Sunshine, Money. The 11 song (+ bonuses) follow up to
2007’s “If you Wanna Swim W/ The Sharks” (Named one of the best albums of 2007 by Willamette Week will
cause fans of “high quality/lo-fi” (Portland Tribune) “wry wit and slacker folk charm” (West Coast Performer)
or “sprawling box car folk songs” (Portland Mercury) to take note. The band will tour the U.S. in October
Recorded at Mastan Music Studios in Portland OR and Produced by Jeremy Wilson (Dharma Bums/Pilot)
and principle songwriter Jared Mees, Caffeine, Alcohol, Sunshine Money features percussion/drum work from
Ezra Holbrook, (Decemberists, Dr Theopolis) viola and string arrangements by Jordan Dykstra, (VP - Marriage
Records, sometime contributor to Valet, Atlas Sound) accordion, piano and organ from Eric Gilbert
(Finn Riggins) and vocals by Megan Spear as well as contributions from a host of others.
Hey, we're playing at the Ash Street Saloon.....Nov 22nd....CDs WILL BE available!!.....also, we'll have music available at CDBaby.com and iTunes, soon......hope to see ya there....
"In the old days, according to conventional wisdom, punk rock records sounded shitty because getting access to a professional-quality recording setup was prohibitively expensive. These days, you can turn a laptop into a recording studio for less than it costs to buy a used touring van. So when a record sounds shitty in 2009, it's either because the bands are just bad at recording music or it's a deliberate aesthetic choice, an intentional nod to those bygone times and their innocent "authenticity." With the backing of indie heavyweight Matador, scuzz-punks Times New Viking could presumably produce pristine pop nuggets if they wanted to, but instead, on latest album Born Again Revisited as much as on previous releases, they make a clipped, fuzzy, blown-out racket, roughing up the obvious hooks of their songs until they are bruised, bloody things. They're great live." - WWEEK
hey jared how is it going? hope all is well, we wanted to let you know that we have a new site up yarnowlmusic.com with some new songs and fun stuff. also we would love to set up a portland show with you guys for the new year. hope to hear from ya soon cheers YO!
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