grampadrew
San Diego, California, United States | INDIE
Music
Press
Café De Lune was the perfect setting for the acoustic performance from Grampa Drew and the Gut String Girls Friday night. Drew Douglas (guitar and vocal) created an enriching mood into which he dropped his original songs. The sound was mixed perfectly and really worked in this room. Drew was backed by the Gut String Girls- violinist Marta Z. and cellist Erin Browder. Both ladies were more than up to the task, creating a depth to the material, especially Marta Z., who plays around town with The Silent Comedy, Transfer and Republic of Letters, to name a few. Her soaring violin solos really accented the emotion in Drew’s lyrically focused material. Be it a fast workout or a sprinkling of tone here or there, Marta Z.’s violin created a nice chemistry with Drew. Grampa Drew and the Gut String Girls were well received at the popular North Park coffee house and were the perfect way to start my Friday night.
- sdrockandroll.com - Rick Ostop
“I’m a singer-songwriter with alt-country leanings but a punk-rock spirit,” says acoustic troubadour Drew Douglas, aka Grampadrew. “Think John Prine and Neil Young jamming at a sawdust-floor hoedown with Wilco.”
The South Park resident cut his teeth performing at the nearby Whistle Stop on Fern Street. “Sam, the owner, is fantastic about supporting and nurturing the local scene, so they pretty much put South Park on the map with the arts. And I mean no disrespect to Judy [Forman] the Beauty on Duty, the proprietor of the Big Kitchen, who worked tirelessly for decades to better our community...pretty much alone.”
Douglas took a shot at forming a local-based record label, mainly for his own releases, though he found the music biz still clinging desperately to the near-obsolete major-label model of A&R “discovery and development.” “I was sitting at a lunch counter at LAX on my way to Austin for South by Southwest, and my label at that point was just a website and a fancy business card. To my right is Jeff Buckley’s mom, on the phone with the president of Sony Records negotiating the release of her son’s box set. Between phone calls, she asks for my fancy business card and insists I call her Mary.
“On the flight, Mary tells me about a show I have to go to. When I arrive at the gig, she isn’t there, but everyone keeps staring at me and clapping with suspicious enthusiasm, all the while looking back at me and smiling and nodding. Finally, [Buckley’s former] manager walks up to me and says, ‘Mary told us you were coming’ and starts pitching his band to me like I’m the head of Capitol Records. I handed out my fancy business card, waited until nobody was looking, and slipped out as quietly and inconspicuously as possible.”
Grampadrew was nominated Best Alt Country and Best Songwriter at the 2008 San Diego HAT (Honoring Acoustic Talent) Awards. As for nonmusical endeavors, he says, “I’m a registered reverend who’s performed five weddings and a funeral. That’s one more than the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral. So far.” - San Diego Reader 8/11/10
Grampadrew
Austin Mixes 2009
Full disclosure: Gramps is a friend o’ CityBeat, and his next mix will feature drums by a spouse o’ CityBeat. That said, this paper tends not to fraternize with suckjobs, and the job he did with these seven tracks is far from sucky: Folk songs for voice and guitar in the vein of Bob Dylan or Willie Nelson (or the much-covered “If I Were a Carpenter,” in the case of Track 4, “Letter from Prague”), combined with the vocal inflections of Morrissey. MS/Grampadrew.
—Dave Maass
- San Diego Citybeat 3/9/10
John Meeks starts things off, then the man you all know and love… tears his heart out and leaves it on the stage. Yup that's Grampaw. And he does crazy things with a guitar effects pedal, too. - SD City Beat
"Can I get a hellelujah?"
-SD Citybeat 7/18/07
Live show review for Lestat's, with published photo of performance. - SD Citybeat 7/18/07
"Simple, honest and direct. There is nothing that sounds like this on the radio in the UK, and there should be. People would go mad for it".
-Simon Jones, Bassist The Verve - Simon Jones
Best Alt. Country Nominee 2007
-San Diego HAT Awards - San Diego HAT Awards
grampadrew will drink you under the table with his tales of broken hearts and loves lost! Whiskey, wine and women go good with this man! Tell him a tale and he'll sing you a song! grampadrew will be your hangover cure, or the cause of it! Don't forget to sing along...
-Tim Pyles DJ FM94.9
Columnist,
SD Music Matters - Tim Pyles DJ FM94.9 / Columnist SD Music Matters Magazine
2008 HAT Awards Nominations
"Best Alt. Country" -grampadrew
"Best songwriter" -grampadrew - 2008 HAT Awards
Discography
EP
Clairvoyant Adventure
1. Get To Know Me +
2. Ladybug Tattoo *+
3. Clairvoyant Adventure *
4. Alison's Loony Tune *
Preview of Cut From The Cloth, release date scheduled July 2012:
1. Cut From The Cloth +
2. Butch +
3. Ian Curtis
4. Could Be
5 Myra Says
+ Streaming on www.myspace.com/grampadrew
* Airplay on FM 94/9, 91XFM, and FRSD 96.9FM
Photos
Bio
With an eggshaker sewn into the cuff of his pants, grampadrew delivers a lyrical wallop with the footstomping emotional intensity of a street preacher. With the recent addition of Violin and Cello, grampadrew has ramped up the emotional intensity of his live show which never fails to leave a deep, lasting impression. While grampadrew sings well crafted acoustic ballads with a sound that hails from the past, there is something fresh here, with lyrics that keep you solidly rooted in the present. Wounds feel newly cut, and their honest examination draws you in with deceiving simplicity. There is much more here than first meets the eye. There is humor, pain, poignancy, loss, deliverance and exaltation.
grampadrew began his musical career in punk rock, and continues to show the DIY spirit that first drew him to the stage. With maturity, it's tempting to see his acoustic turn as signs of mellowing. But his lyrics and live show bely any such notions.
Quickly attracting attention, grampadrew's debut EP, Clairvoyant Adventure received radio support from the two largest alternative radio stations in San Diego (91X and FM 94/9), while keeping his indie cred with "pirate" stations like FRSD 96.9FM. He has been featured as Artist of the Week, and Member of the Day on FM 94/9.
In October, 2008 grampadrew was nominated "Best Songwriter" and for the second consecutive year "Best Alt. Country" (2007, 2008) by The San Diego H.A.T. Awards.
grampadrew has opened for national acts like Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, played alongside local legends like The Dragons and shared the stage with beloved local faves Transfer, Gregory Page, Blackout Party, Drew Andrews and John Meeks.
Starting in 2006, with a show at Poodie's Hilltop Roadhouse, grampadrew has played every year in March in Austin, TX coinciding with the SXSW music festival. In March of 2011, grampadrew played four shows during the festival week as part of The Texas Rock Fest, The Big Eraser Party (Deadbird Records Showcase) and independent showcases .
grampadrew has performed before The San Diego Symphony for the last four years during their special Comic-Con presentations at The San Diego Embarcadero. Having played every stage in San Diego, from The Casbah to Lestat's, grampadrew has taken his show on the road, performing in such taste-maker venues in Los Angeles as The Echo (with Mike Stintson) and in New York, a special New Year's Eve show at Pete's Candy Store (with Clem Snide and members of Cat Power), and most recently at the Brooklyn honky-tonk institution, Hank's Saloon. grampadrew can also be found touring in Tucson, playing venues such as Hotel Congress and Plush.
With a new full length due in the coming months, and a national tour to follow, grampadrew is poised to perk the ears of the entire country.
Those who have already heard the good word have this to say:
"...a singer-songwriter with alt-country leanings but a punk-rock spirit" -San Diego Reader 8/11/10
"An acoustic balladeer who sings direct, honest music delivered alternatively with the fire of a street preacher or the quiet of a gravedigger" -INsite Magazine (Austin, TX) 3/09
"grampadrew tears his heart out and leaves it on the stage" -San Diego Citybeat 8/08
"Can I get a hallelujah?" -San Diego Citybeat 7/18/07
"Simple, honest and direct. There is nothing that sounds quite like this in the UK and there should be. People would go mad for it". -Simon Jones bassist The Verve.
"grampadrew will drink you under the table with his tales of broken hearts and loves lost! Whiskey, wine and women go good with this man! Tell him a tale and he'll sing you a song! grampadrew will be your hangover cure, or the cause of it! Don't forget to sing along..." - DJ Tim Pyles, FM 94.9.
"An old soul with a DIY spirit who plays songs that bridge the gap between what is timeless and what is current" - Maynard Chastain www.nowwithsound.com
Check http://www.grampadrew.com/news.html for recent Press Clippings.
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