Grandaddy

Grandaddy was formed in 1992 by singer/guitarist/keyboardist Jason Lytle, bassist Kevin Garcia, and drummer Aaron Burtch. In 1995, guitarist Jim Fairchild and keyboardist Tim Dryden joined the band.

Musically, the band features guitars (both in the indie rock style and in a fashion calling Jeff Lynne to mind), keyboards reminiscent of Philip Glass's minimalist style and vocals in the key of Neil Young. The band's musical style (somewhat classifiable as indietronic) often combines experimental electronic… Show more sounds with elements of folk and rock. Lyrics generally focus on isolation in a high-tech world grafted onto rural America. Common themes in the band's music are wildlife, obsolete technology, robots, incompetency and heartbreak. Lyricist Jason Lytle spent time working in a sewage treatment facility, which heavily influenced many of the songs on The Sophtware Slump.

Around the time that The Sophtware Slump was released, Grandaddy was invited to open for Elliott Smith on his tour for Figure 8. On some nights, Smith would join Grandaddy onstage and sing lead vocals on portions of "He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot".

"A.M. 180" from Under the Western Freeway was featured prominently during a sequence in the 2002 British film 28 Days Later, and is also used as the title music for the BBC Four series Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe and for an advert for Colin Murray's BBC Radio 1 show. As of April 2008, "A.M. 180" also is being used in television commercials for the Dodge Journey automobile. Starting in late 2005, the Grandaddy song "Nature Anthem" could be heard in a Honda Civic Hybrid television commercial and is currently heard in a Coca Cola commercial.

On January 27, 2006, Jason Lytle announced that the band had decided to split up. This was partially due to their work ethic in not releasing music on major labels or playing at typical Ticketmaster/Clear Channel sponsored venues. Lytle spoke to NME: "It was inevitable...On one hand our stubbornness has paid off, but on the other hand refusing to buy into the way things are traditionally supposed to be done has made things worse for us... The realistic part is it hasn't proved to be a huge money-making venture for a lot of guys in the band." He also revealed that the band had a meeting in downtown Modesto during December 2005 to decide on the group's future. The meeting was tense and filled with the airing of grievances, but "far from blows." The feeling at the meeting was described by Lytle as the result of a breakdown in communication between the band members.

The band did not tour after the release of their final album, Just Like the Fambly Cat.

Jason Lytle has stated that he intends to continue making music, and has embarked a couple of quiet solo tours. He has also moved from Modesto to Montana, and released his first solo album in 2009 : "Yours Truly the Commuter", on Anti. The album being very close to the atmospheres Lytle created for the grandaddy records, it was well received by the group's fans and the critics.

Jim Fairchild put out his first solo record, Ten Readings of a Warning, in April 2007 on Dangerbird Records, under the name All Smiles.

Aaron Burtch is now in a country band called The Good Luck Thrift Store Outfit.

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