Grand Lake - Biography
Grand Lake is a Bay Area indie-rock band that was formed in 2008 by longtime friends, bassist/vocalist Caleb Nichols (formerly of Port O’Brien and Bloody Heads) and guitarist Jameson Swanagon (formerly of Bloody Heads). Heavily influenced by The Pixies, The Flaming Lips and literary figures such as Dave Eggers, the two reunited off a “gut feeling” after forays into other projects, hashing out a richly diverse, avant-garde sound that at times ventures into alt-folk and indie-pop. Before ever playing a live gig as Grand Lake, they brought in keyboardist/vocalist Erika Pipkin and drummer Ryan Parks (found on a Facebook post, formerly of Nos) to head into Shark Bite studio in Oakland and record what would become their debut EP, Nevermint (2009 500 Records). The band coalesced in the studio, and soon generated a buzz in the Bay Area as they began playing out, being voted “Best Emerging Bay Area Artist 2009” on SF Deli. Since that time they have played shows with bands as diverse as The Thermals, OK GO and Manuok, have released another EP entitled Louise and, in May 2010, dropped their debut full-length, Blood Sea Dream (Hippies are Dead).
Saying they took their name after a theater that was named after a lake that was named after a man, the band’s core members of Nichols and Swanagon were school chums that played in jazz band together, and over the years bumped into each other before forming Grand Lake. They worked together at a bookstore, experimenting with spoken word and free-jazz enterprises before they were old enough to drink, before starting up the short-lived bass-less trio, Bloody Head, which served as a preamble to the stripped down indie amalgamation of Grand Lake.
After recording the eight-song EP Nevermint—which featured the anthemic track, “Concrete Blonde on Blonde,” Parks contrasting drum playing and plenty of two-part harmonies—the band began gigging regionally and became a popular act in the Bay Area. Soon thereafter their roster evolved to what it is today—Jameson’s wife Danae took over for Pipkin on keyboards and backing vox, and John Pomeroy replaced Parks on drums. They also put out a two-song “cassingle” called Sandusky Sunset and another sparse four-song EP called Louise (500 Records), which included covers of Grandaddy and The Silver Jews.
In 2010, Grand Lake put out its debut long player, the 12-song Blood Sea Dream, on the New York and San Francisco-based music blog/indie label, Hippies Are Dead. The full-length album contained the larger juxtapositions of themes and topicality, ranging from personal to poetic to angst, while the music itself alternates between heavily textured and layered to stripped down and bizarre. Tracks like “My Father As A Forest Full of Trees,” which carries the tortured confrontation of Nichols with his imprisoned father (who is serving at Folsom Prison), who walked out on the family when he was six years old, stand out.
Grand Lake continues to tour the central and northern coast of California.