Amund Maarud (Guitar/Vocals)
Henrik Maarud (Drums/Vocals)
Per Tobro (Bass/Vocals)
Eirik Tovsrud Knutsen (Hammond B3 Organ/Drums/Vocals)
Influences
Cream, Led Zeppelin, Queens Of The Stone Age, Ramones, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, The Knack, Mötorhead, Them, Faces, Humble Pie, Grand Funk Railroad, Wishbone Ash, Free, Nirvana, 13th Floor Elevators, The Sonics, The Detroit Cobras, The Band Of Gypsys, Black Sabbath, Groundhogs, Deep Purple, The White Stripes and the list goes on..
Sounds Like
--------------------------------------------------- BUY THE ALBUM/EP HERE
-I have always dreamt about being in a band, says Amund Maarud, singer and guitarist in the Norwegian power-quartet The Grand, without the slightest touch of irony.
Well, most rock musicians do just that, right? So what..s up with Amund?
Thing is, Amund has actually always been in a band. More accurately; Amund has always fronted his own band. He has put out three albums, the first one when he and drummer brother Henrik were in their mid teens and still played with their father. He has travelled his native Norway for the last five-six years as a professional musician, and is actually a decorated veteran of the remarkably large Norwegian blues scene. He has headlined festivals and he has played with and alongside guitar legends, international as well as local. And yet, Amund Maarud is not even 25.
The Grand..s debut EP, released on The Grand Recordings/Sonet in May 2007 received excellent reviews from the Norwegian music press and the band is said to be one of the most exciting things to come out of the Norwegian music scene this year. Their dirty and razor-sharp, but still highly psychedelic and eclectic sound makes one think of creative pioneers like The Groundhogs and Cream, or garage-greats like The Sonics or 13th Floor Elevators, but in spite of their marijuana-hazed musical foundation they refuse to be just another one of those middle-of-the-road-retro-bands and remain relentlessly inventive and fresh-sounding.
Now, the great thing about The Grand, says studio-engineer Sven Olsen (Ricochets, Sivert Høyem, Dum Dum Boys), who recorded and mixed The Grand..s debut EP, is the fact that the quartet works as a four cylinder engine. This is not at all about Amund showing off his impeccable guitar skills, he says. Every member of the band is crucially important and they somehow seem to feed creative energy off each other on stage. Even this early in their career, these guys have gained a reputation for their mesmerizing live performances boasting multiple-personality-disorder-style guitar playing, out-of-whack Hammond organ, thundering ten-minute-long drum solos and growling bass guitar hung well below the belt buckle.
The Grand..s musical direction came about in a very unusual way:
-We struck up this routine of jamming at the end of our shows. After a while that was the coolest part of the evening, the one everyone in the band looked forward to, even though sometimes the audience didn..t dig it. Some even got seriously mad and flipped the bird to us as a parting gesture, so that..s really what sparked the whole thing, Amund confesses. -After a while some of these jams turned into full songs, and we just kinda took it from there...
Upon hearing the four songs that make up The Grand..s debut EP, Freeloader, Lust to win, Girl, you..re a waste of time, and Traveling Bound, the latter of which has received heavy rotation on Oslo..s indie radio stations, it seems one is instantly transported through a strange time-warp. Has Rick Rubin travelled back in time to produce Leslie West..s Mountain? Did Cream actually secretly make a ”Disraeli Gears Part II”? Has Groundhogs teleported from the dirty backstreets of London..s early seventies to the east side of Oslo, Norway anno 2007? Perhaps their first album, due October 2007, will provide some answers?
Oh, we are living strange days indeed. The Grand is busy putting together the most remarkable soundtrack!
hey! just wanted to stop in let you know that I've changed my artist name to Adrian Edward but it's still me, I'm not going anywhere! lol! have a great night much love ~adrian edward
Hi THE GRAND Don't miss the opportunity to play at the world's biggest festival for upcoming bands! Play at the best and biggest venues in your country. Sign up your band today at www.emergenzanordic.com Hope to see your band ON stage! All the best Emergenza Festival
Hei! Takk for add! Kult om dere tar turen når vi spiller en gang! Forresten bra konserter dere hadde på Union og Roskilde ifjor. Noen jobber på gang dere?
Vi spiller foreløpig her:
13.06 Gamla, Oslo 03.07 Pakkhuset, Farsund 29.08 Energimølla, Kongsberg
Ta hvertfall turen innom vår myspace og legg igjen en beskjed :) Get your kicks!
Hi everybody, just here to say our new RORY GALLAGHER HAWK BOOSTER is ready for shipping. Have a listen if you get a chance, All the best, Stevie Flynn.
We have just released 3 songs from our debut album on our MySpace page. It would be awesome if you could listen to them and let us know what you think...
Hei (beklager spamkarakteren på denne kommentaren, men hva skal man gjøre)
Hjelp oss å spille på Arvikafestivalen. Gå inn på www.myspace.com/arvikafestivalen og stem på Tyst! Vi er evig takknemlige for all hjelp vi får. Tusen takk.
Vi vill med denna lilla kommentar bara påminna om vår Festivalkampanj som nu har startats. Vi har satt ihop flera mycket billiga paket till de band och bolag som behöver trycka t-shirts, eller annan merchanidse, till sommarens festivaler och spelningar. Besök vår webbsida redan idag för mer info.
Trevlig rocksommar önskas alla våra vänner på MySpace!
Vod Printings ************************** We print & supply t-shirts, merchandise & backdrops to the independent music scene, contact us for more info! www.vodrecords.se
Hey, Glad we are new friends. I work with the best clubs in Lodo… let me know if you ever need anything for a birthday or any other special occation… I always have my events updated on my page so be sure to check it out!
