Grand Champeen with Kruddler at The Turf Club on 5/16/07

By: David Rachac

Shane Gallivan of Kruddler - Photo by David Rachac

Grand Champeen has long been one of those bands that I always intended on seeing... one day. Long-time fans have raved about their incendiary live shows, and I received many recommendations from friends and other bands that I respect (Richmond Fontaine called them the greatest band alive) to check them out sometime. But I have to be honest – when every record review, live review and interview I read used both Soul Asylum and the Replacements as musical anchors to describe Grand Champeen’s sound, it didn’t really motivate me too much. Yet another loudly impassioned drunk guitar band, I thought – I’d go see them, but there was no need to hurry.

But when I got a promo copy of their newest CD, Dial T For This, I was so taken aback by what I was hearing, I had to check to make sure that I didn’t click the wrong disc on the CD changer. It wasn’t the sloppy, adrenaline-fueled power-chord drinking anthems that I expected, but well-constructed songs surrounded by three-part harmonies and precisely detailed guitars. Reminiscent of Sound Of Lies-era Jayhawks and Here’s Luck-era Honeydogs, Dial T For This embraces the '70s British guitar rock sound but adds a decidedly Midwestern feel. Suddenly, I was a lot more interested in seeing Grand Champeen – and at the Turf Club on Wednesday, I finally understood what the underground buzz was all about.

Kruddler opened the show, and after finally seeing them for the first time at Little Man’s CD release party in March, I continue to be impressed. They played four new tunes, starting their set with a song about feeling helpless to bring about positive change called “American Idle,” and a song called “Hannibal At The Gates,” which is probably the first time I have ever heard the word “Carthaginians” mentioned in a rock song. It was obvious that the Kruddler boys and Grand Champeen go way back; early in the show, guitarist Shane Gallivan thanked Grand Champeen for not getting bassist Tony Zaccardi so drunk that he couldn’t play. Apparently, there was a pre-show party where Sea Breezes were the drink of choice, a theme which carried throughout the night.

Grand Champeen - Photo by David Rachac

When Grand Champeen took the stage, there was no intro, no hellos, just tuning guitars and then launching into the first six seconds of thrash that starts “What It Beats” before quieting down into the tension-filled “Different Sort of Story.” Just two songs in, I was already marveling at how tight the band sounded. Singer/guitarist Channing Lewis may be the emotional center of the band, jumping around and hammering his guitar, but the band plays together so well, duplicating the precision of the performance of the CD while feeding off the crowd and turning the emotion up to another level.

After bassist Alex Livingstone sang on his Beatlesque “Nice Of You To Join Us,” they played “The Good Slot” to an even more raucous reception. It really didn’t dawn upon me until then that most of the fans that were there had not yet heard the songs on the new CD, which had just been released. Don’t get me wrong – people were getting into the new songs, but their enthusiasm went up a notch when the crowd was familiar with the song. The middle of the set was filled with all new songs, including the driving “Wounded Eye” and “Rottweiler Hair,” a song they smirkingly dedicated to “the late Robert Cray” to much laughter. Their musicianship continued to blow me away – effortless harmonies with sharp-attack guitars while stretching beyond the standard verse/chorus/verse into more challenging orchestral compositions.

In the final third of the show, Grand Champeen really caught fire among the faithful, playing “No Hope” before the Foo Fighters-flavored “To The Ides.” The evening ended with a couple of songs I wasn’t familiar with, including a cover of the Kinks’ “Brainwashed,” so I was a little out of the loop, but watching the fans stomp and head-bob to the tunes that were familiar to them gave me a better understanding of the intense devotion between the fans and the band. Grand Champeen put on a first-rate show, and I can’t wait until they come back into town.

Kruddler’s Set List:

American Idle
Beer And A Half
Get Sum
About Her
Hannibal At The Gates
Pour Me
HJ Through The Fabric
Potty Mouth
Operator
I Don't Think You Are Going To Like This
Axes of Evil
She Knows
Terms of Engagement

Grand Champeen’s Set List:

What It Beats
Different Sort Of Story
Nice Of You To Join Us
The Good Slot
Wounded Eye
Cities On The Plain
The Songs You Want To Hear
Gonna Be The Death Of Me
Rottweiler Hair
No Hope
To The Ides
Brainwashed (Kinks Cover)
Broken Records
Fakin’ It

Location Info: The Turf Club
Artist Info: Grand Champeen, Kruddler

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