If you are in the mood for some cowboy metal, or for that matter want to know what cowboy metal is, or if you like bands like Big Sugar and Govt. Mule, then you will not want to miss Grady. The Austin, Texas based power trio visit Average Joes, Nov. 23.
Vocalist/ guitarist Gordie Johnson, best known for being frontman for Canadian rock juggernaut Big Sugar, doesn’t even know how to describe the band’s sound.
“I’m not in the describing business, I’m in the music making business,” laughed Johnson over the phone, beginning press for the band’s new live CD/DVD “Calling All My Demons.”
“ Though a few years ago we were playing South By South West and a bunch of British journalists booked us to play a a showcase because they wanted to hear some Texas music. And they called us ‘cowboy metal,’ So cool, I guess we’re cowboy metal,” Johnson continued adding he is looking forward to returning to Lethbridge as he has played here many times though he couldn’t remember if he had been here with Grady or not.
“I guess we’ll be playing some cowboy metal there. We’ll be combining things like blistering punk, rock and roll, metal, old cowboy songs and old one chord blues, all in the same show, sometimes in the same song,” he said.
“It all seems normal to us,” he continued adding there isn’t a set list for the upcoming tour.
“We don’t believe in setlists, that’s no way to play a show,” he said adding he expects the band will play selections from all three of the band’s albums.
“If you’ve seen us live, then you know the live CD and DVD set,” he said adding the band hadn’t originally planned on releasing a live DVD and CD from their show at the Pyramid in Winnipeg last year.
“It was the first tour in support of our last record, we rolled into Winnipeg and we had a sold out show. And we hadn’t planned on recording it or filming it. It just ended up that way. There was a crew there that shot it. There was multi-track recording so several months later I uncovered the stuff and said ‘heck, this is pretty good, man. It was just one of those nights. You didn’t know the camera was recording so everyone was in their flow without being too self-conscious about or anything. The crowd was great, so we put it together,” he continued.
“In fact in some regards it was actually a handheld snapshot because the camera crew that was there didn’t cover all of every songs , like there were gaps in the filming so we got up on the internet and got fans to send in cell phone footage. And a bunch of that comprises the video which is amazing,” said addding he was impressed with the quality of the footage they received.
“Actually in some cases it was better than the professional camera crew,” he laughed adding he is surprised by the response to the new CD. “I see fans buying them two or three of them at a time, which is kind of interesting. It’s the only time I’ve seen that happen, where people come to us and ask to have these things autographed, and it’s like are they buying them for Christmas presents or what? I don’t know. It’s like ‘did you really just buy three?’ So that's teriffic,” he said.
“If you came and see the band live and loved it you will love the new DVD because it’s that exactly. You know we didn’t fix anything. We didn’t have the luxury of tweaking anything or repairing anything. It’s what we did, when we did it,” he said.
“ It’s an accurate snapshot of what we were doing that night, you know. We just went with the flow of what the crowd was digging and the crowd was really digging it. It’s like being at any given night seeing us on tour,” he continued adding this CD/ DVD set is being released on Fontana records, which released their second CD ‘Cup of Cold Poison.’
Grady’s live show also is known to include Big Sugar songs.
“They’re my songs, I’ll do whatever the fuck I want. You know what, at the end of the day, we don’t do any of the hits. We’re not there to appease anybody’s need to hear Big Sugar songs. It’s like they’re my songs, hell, we’ll play them if they fit. And we play them like Grady, we don’t play them like Big Sugar. Big Sugar goes out and plays still. We’ll go out and play and we don’t play any songs that sound like Grady, it’s kind of the same thing,” he said.
“We did a bunch of shows over the summer that went really well, so we’ve been thinking of getting that back together. So that will probably happen at some point, but you know, I just really split my time and focus between the different things without confusing them. Like when I go out with Grady, I’m not thinking about Big Sugar. One’s not a substitute for the other. They’re just different things,” he said.
Gordie Johnson also has a strong relationship with Govt. Mule, having not only produced a couple of their CDs, but joining Govt. Mule guitarist/ vocalist Warren Haynes on stage for a variety of different events, including Govt. Mule’s Another One For Woody, an annual show the play for bassist Allen Woody, who passed away in 2000. in New York City, the night before coming to Lethbridge with Grady.
“Warren was a fan of Big Sugar actually and the Allman Brothers were in Toronto at one point years ago and they actually sent word out that they were looking for us, and it kind of got trickled down. Our manager got word that the Allman Brothers were looking for us and we were like ‘wow, cool, all right. So we went to the Allman Brothers Show and met Warren Haynes and Allen Woody. Oh neat, Allen Woody ‘Oh my God, you guys are Govt. Mule. I love Govt. Mule and it was an instant brotherhood established at that point. And we’ve just been real tight ever since. That was the early ’90s and so we’ve been real tight ever since,” he said adding while Grady music is similar to Govt. Mule’s big bluesey riff-heavy rock, it isn’t intentional.
“No man, you know, none of that stuff is intentional. But it couldn’t help but becaome entangled. All the Govt. Mule records I‘ve done, I’ve done in the same studio as the Grady records. And we have the same taste in guitars by large and we listen to and love a lot of the same music, so there’s some similarities I’m sure,” he said.
Lustre Cream and the Motorleague are opening the show. Advance tickets cost $15. Doors open at 8 p.m.
