So many of you have almost certainly been to the very same kind of party Matt Potts and I were at on one winter night in 1987.
The house was full of very weird people, but they weren’t cool weird -- they were very pretentious, unfriendly and self-serving weird. The big party activity was banging on a collection of pots, pans and beer bottles, with no apparent sense of rhythm and even less sense of purpose.
At least, while patting themselves on the back for creating such a cacophony, they were honest enough to not designate what they were making as “music,” instead dubbing it “art.”
Potts, our friend Tim and a few other friends along with myself chose a quieter room in the house and declined to participate. Instead, we listened to “Talk Talk” by the Music Machine, some Count Five, some Standells and other bands whom we both enjoyed.
“Those are all the people who had no friends in high school,” commented Potts with a laugh, at both the humor and the likely veracity of the jibe, and laughing at the idea that they should have been dodging the objects, not pounding on them.
Thirty-some-odd years later, Potts is a guitarist with the band The Grande Machine, who for the past 10 years have rocked venues all around Minneapolis, and likely have never included a pot, pan or beer bottle in the mix.
And yes, full disclosure -- Potts and I have been friends for over 35 years. You may be wondering why I decided to start this post with that little anecdote. Well, it’s because Matt, ever since I have known him, has spent his whole life making music, real music with rhythm, harmony and melody that anyone can identify as music.
“I play music because I have to play music,” said Potts. “It is not a hobby to me, even if it does not pay the bills.”
For anyone that has ever met Potts, that sums him up in a nutshell. We want to make clear that were are posting this story not as a favor to a friend, but because The Grande Machine have recently released one very fine album, One and Only. In fact, we strongly suggest you assume we’re full of hooey and favoritism and check it out for yourself. We won’t even insist that you tell us how right we were after you do.
Here at Garagerocktopia, we would describe One and Only as punkish power-pop. Or, perhaps it’s power pop-ish punk. Either way, we hasten to add the songs all contain a fair amount of variety to them.
“I think ‘punkish power pop’ a perfect description, agreed Potts, who talked to Garagerocktopia by email. “The Beach Boys are my all time favorite band but I don't think you can hear the Beach Boys in our music. I do think you can hear the Ramones, though.”
The band also includes Glen Wadie on lead vocals and guitar; Mike Andrade manning the bass and drummer Walter Baumann.
Minneapolis/St. Paul, aka The Twin Cities, though horribly under celebrated as such, is truly one of America’s greatest rock and roll epicenters. Just giving us Prince and Bob Dylan would be plenty enough to cement that status.
Potts, our friend Tim and a few other friends along with myself chose a quieter room in the house and declined to participate. Instead, we listened to “Talk Talk” by the Music Machine, some Count Five, some Standells and other bands whom we both enjoyed.
“Those are all the people who had no friends in high school,” commented Potts with a laugh, at both the humor and the likely veracity of the jibe, and laughing at the idea that they should have been dodging the objects, not pounding on them.
Thirty-some-odd years later, Potts is a guitarist with the band The Grande Machine, who for the past 10 years have rocked venues all around Minneapolis, and likely have never included a pot, pan or beer bottle in the mix.
And yes, full disclosure -- Potts and I have been friends for over 35 years. You may be wondering why I decided to start this post with that little anecdote. Well, it’s because Matt, ever since I have known him, has spent his whole life making music, real music with rhythm, harmony and melody that anyone can identify as music.
“I play music because I have to play music,” said Potts. “It is not a hobby to me, even if it does not pay the bills.”
For anyone that has ever met Potts, that sums him up in a nutshell. We want to make clear that were are posting this story not as a favor to a friend, but because The Grande Machine have recently released one very fine album, One and Only. In fact, we strongly suggest you assume we’re full of hooey and favoritism and check it out for yourself. We won’t even insist that you tell us how right we were after you do.
Here at Garagerocktopia, we would describe One and Only as punkish power-pop. Or, perhaps it’s power pop-ish punk. Either way, we hasten to add the songs all contain a fair amount of variety to them.
“I think ‘punkish power pop’ a perfect description, agreed Potts, who talked to Garagerocktopia by email. “The Beach Boys are my all time favorite band but I don't think you can hear the Beach Boys in our music. I do think you can hear the Ramones, though.”
The band also includes Glen Wadie on lead vocals and guitar; Mike Andrade manning the bass and drummer Walter Baumann.
Minneapolis/St. Paul, aka The Twin Cities, though horribly under celebrated as such, is truly one of America’s greatest rock and roll epicenters. Just giving us Prince and Bob Dylan would be plenty enough to cement that status.
But for those who dig the kinds of music we exalt here at Garagerocktopia, the Minneapolis/St. Paul
area is special indeed, also birthing so many bands who struck that perfect balance of thrash, melody and harmony, bands like Husker Du, The Replacements and Soul Asylum, just to name a few. Potts, a native of Iowa, acknowledged the great bands of Minneapolis/St. Paul but invoked other influences as well.
“The key for us is to show our other influences,” Potts explained. “Glen and I love the Stones, and he is also a huge Springsteen fan. I love Dr. Feelgood and Status Quo, and I believe this does come out in our music.”
“Also, our name comes from the Grande Ballroom in Detroit and Hawkwind's ‘Silver Machine.’ The MC5 and the Stooges are also a huge, huge influence on me.”
All of those influences are in evidence on the new album, though the sound is 100% The Grande Machine. None of the tracks -- pretty much all uptempo rave-ups -- fail to rock convincingly, and yes, you can hear a fair amount of Ramones, too.
In a different age, songs like the title track and “Right Side of Wrong,” which echoes ‘90s power pop bands like the Gin Blossoms just a teeny bit, are catchy enough that perhaps they would get at least some regional airplay. Many other tracks. Like “My Father’s Stereo” and “I’ll Have What He’s Having” have a pronounced good-time quality to them, The song “Shine” has a vaguely modern country tint to it.
The album will probably be seen by many as being very much in that Minneapolis raw-but-melodic tradition. Besides the songwriting, there may be another reason why. There is a also a very direct connection to the aforementioned Husker Du and the Replacements, one that many bands would dream of having, and one that has recently taken a sad turn.
“I must also mention our producer, Terry Katzman,” said Potts. “Terry was one of my best friends and passed away unexpectedly in November. Terry was an original sound man for the Replacements, Husker, and supplied the tapes for the Husker box set on Numero Uno. Glen and I played Johnny Thunders' ‘You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory’ at his memorial. Terry was a great producer and really knew how to get the best out of us.”
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| Terry Katzman and Matt Potts |
On one hand, artists are freed from many of the shackles that groups from the ‘50s through The 90s had to live with. Giant record labels, headed by suits who seemed to knew little about the artists recording with them (and making their money for them) made all sorts of decisions, especially related to PR, that often made bands look and even sound nothing like what the artist intended.
At this point artist can almost completely define themselves. They can also get their music to the masses themselves and not deal with all the legendary reptilian ickiness that defined, accurately or not, the music biz.
But then of course, with labels not calling the shots, that record company money is also not available, which means so many great talents who should be focusing on making great music, have to compartmentalize out least some of that brain power to attend to the business end. This has resulted in a much different musical environment these days, a total mixed bag to be sure.
“There are more places to play,” Potts acknowledged, “but the music scene is much more fragmented now; more venues and less people at each venue. Also, as you know, there is also less money these days.”
The Grande Machine are not the new kids on the block. The band has been around for more than a decade. Potts is the only original member left, but says the changes always seem to point to an even better band than before.
“The band formed in 2008 and I am the only original member,”recounted Potts. “Glen joined on drums for our second album. After that album, our frontman at the time was transferred with his day job. Since Glen played guitar and sang, it worked out better than I could have even imagined for him to take over the frontman duties. Mike joined on bass in time for album three, and Walter has been on drums for the past couple of years, One and Only being his first album.”
“The lineup is very stable and I don't see it changing. The rest of the band is much younger than me, but different age groups, which I really think is a positive thing. Glen is 38, Walter 33, and Mike is 28. I will be 55 in March.”
With so many decades playing music both with this band and many others before, Potts could be forgiven if he thought he knew it all. But he never acts nor suggests that this is the case and believes he improves with each album.
“I think our songwriting and playing gets better and better,” said Potts. “I am a very positive person, I love every album, but I believe the new album is our best yet.”
While he and the band would, of course, like to see and hear more people talking about and buying his music, Potts seems quite encouraged about the reaction One and Only has garnered so far.
“The immediate reaction from friends has been wonderful,” said Potts. “We have not received any press, yet. We have gotten great press in British music magazines for our past albums; a dream of mine is to one day tour the UK.”
After you listen to One and Only, almost certainly you’ll want to check out the band live. For now, you’ll have to be in the Minneapolis area to do so.
“Because of day jobs and money, it is pretty much local, or close to local,” Potts confirmed. “We have played Illinois and Iowa in the past, and would love to again - it just has to make sense. If I could, I would play every night, and play everywhere. I really do miss playing in other cities.”
Don't Forget to listen to Garagerocktopia Radio, alternating with Blue Mood, Tuesday nights on KUCR Radio, 88.3 FM Riverside, California. We play artists like The Grande Machine, plus many others who have appeared on our hallowed pages and whose music has inspired us.
We have some other features already in the works here at Garagerocktopia. Artists have been sending us some very cool stuff. As always, we don’t make any guarantees in stone but we’re happy to say we’ve gotten a lot of very promising music sent to us, and we’re always happy to spread the word about about bands that are playing the way-out kinds of music we profile here. Send us a line and we’ll talk.
Also, we do have a Facebook page for this blog. We don’t put personal stuff on it – no pictures of grandkids (which we don't have anyway) or our dinners or politics or anything like that. What we do post are announcements about upcoming features, maybe extra stuff about the bands, and any cool music, movies or TV Shows we stumble across that might have even the most tangential connection with the music featured here. While we don't spend all day thinking about it, we do like "likes" if you're so inclined ...
We have some other features already in the works here at Garagerocktopia. Artists have been sending us some very cool stuff. As always, we don’t make any guarantees in stone but we’re happy to say we’ve gotten a lot of very promising music sent to us, and we’re always happy to spread the word about about bands that are playing the way-out kinds of music we profile here. Send us a line and we’ll talk.
Also, we do have a Facebook page for this blog. We don’t put personal stuff on it – no pictures of grandkids (which we don't have anyway) or our dinners or politics or anything like that. What we do post are announcements about upcoming features, maybe extra stuff about the bands, and any cool music, movies or TV Shows we stumble across that might have even the most tangential connection with the music featured here. While we don't spend all day thinking about it, we do like "likes" if you're so inclined ...
It was an absolute pleasure to have started this band with Matt Potts. Super proud of all the songs we wrote together.
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