Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Wander On on "Mercy"



Wander on by davederby
I'm very happy to announce a very last-minute but fantastic thing:

Our song"Wander On" will be featured on "Mercy"

Tonight at 9 PM ET on NBC

http://www.nbc.com/mercy/

You can stream the song here at:

http://soundcloud.com/davederby/wander-on

You can download "Wander On" and the rest of our debut record on iTunes

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/gramercy-arms/id296278753

Monday, November 23, 2009

looking at the sun - remix

I've got 9 reasons to love you!



Good God. That was brilliant. So nice to see a return to form. I had almost forgotten but that's what Spurs looked like at the beginning of the season. That's why people were talking about them as a top 4 team.

JD, Azza, Krancjar were absolutely on. Palacios, Crouch, Huddlestone all looked great too.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Reveal/Navigator Mixtape


Tom Rose, mastermind of the mighty Reveal/Navigator axis of musical brilliance (disclosure: our label) has just put up a fantastic 30 track online mixtape/compilation of fabulous artists on his label. In addition to Gramercy Arms you can hear great songs by Mascott, Joan As Police Woman, A Camp, Dead Air, Jon Redfern, Kris Drever, LAU and all sorts of other wonderful artists. Tom wrote some excellent liner notes.
It's only available for 28 days so visit and download it now!!!!!

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/navigator--reveal-records-mixtape-giveaway-1819588.html

Sunday, October 25, 2009

el rayo!!!!


We just want to say that we are extremely happy to see that our favorite La Liga team is having a great season so far!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Get your red hot Surface Wound free mp3 - secret friend


check it out, people! Gramercy Arms bassist Sandy Smallens (Too Much Joy) has a new project called SURFACE WOUND and you should check out their new mp3, Secret Friend, right here.!!!
The song features our longtime collaborator Kendall Jane Meade of Mascott and super-fantastic drummer Tommy Vinton (also Too Much Joy) who played with Dave Derby and the Norfolk Downs on a few occasions.
Celebrate Woundtober!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Thursday, October 8, 2009

LookingAtTheSun-GramercyArmsFeatKJM by davederby

Here's a version of "Looking at the Sun" featuring our favorite singer, Kendall Jane Meade of Mascott. LookingAtTheSun-GramercyArmsFeatKJM  by  davederby

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

remix


We'll be unveiling our new remix of "Looking at the Sun" very soon. In the meantime, for no particularly good reason, we just wanted to share this video with you.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Slap the Ginkels!

Monday, September 21, 2009

regarder le soleil



We are hard at work on a french language version of "looking at the sun." our brilliant and insanely talented co-conspirator Verena Wiesendanger just wrote a superfab translation of the song and rocked the mic on it. More to come.
Other than that we're starting to gear up for our next record and have all sorts of crazy ideas brewing in Gramercyland.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Thursday, August 27, 2009

shining bright-wichita remix!



We have a brand new free download for you here at gramercyarms.org.
Gramercy Arms bassist Sandy Smallens' pal Jeff Pickering of Wichita, Kansas laid down some gorgeous pedal steel on "Shining Bright" and we loved it so much that we wanted to share it with you.
Download it for free from our myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com/gramercyarms

or rock it on soundcloud

ShiningBright WichitaRemix by davederby

Monday, August 24, 2009

get ready to rock!!!


Get your skinny ties out!

Our UK label, Reveal, have made us aware of a very cool UK radio show devoted to power pop, hosted by Jim Henderson.

Check it out
http://www.getreadytorockradio.com/presenters3.htm
http://www.getreadytorock.com/radio/index.htm

Needless to say, we at Gramercy Arms.org are huge Power Pop fans and we are quite honored to be mentioned in the blurb about the show alongside other bands we love!!!

Jim's weekly GRTR! output will predominantly focus on acts associated with power pop. These will include 60's pioneers (The Easybeats, The Hollies) and 70's legends (Badfinger, Big Star, The Knack, The Raspberries) through to modern day groups (Fountains Of Wayne, Gramercy Arms, Nada Surf) and the downright obscure (The Boyfriends, Cargoe, Daryll-Ann, Hot Dogs, Orange, The Pinkees).

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

the album, we hardly knew ye


Is the album dead? What's the point to making a full length record these days? What's the point in even having that discussion?

Well, to be honest we do think about that a fair amount here at gramercyArms.org/co.uk
We happen to love EPs. I remember loving all those later Jam EPs when it was clear that Weller was trying to make Foxton and Buckler get their soul on. There was an exciting tension to those records but also a sense that because they were EPs they could document a time in the band's history without being too precious about it or overthinking things.

Radiohead is officially over it apparently

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/aug/11/thom-yorke-radiohead

Maybe their decision will add a little grist to the mill to the death of the album, or whatever the cliche is. So sayeth Herr Yorke:

"None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long-play record again," he said. "Not straight off ... It worked with In Rainbows because we had a real fixed idea about where we were going. But we've all said that we can't possibly dive into that again. It'll kill us."

The problem isn't the format – "obviously, there's still something great about the album," Yorke said – but with the scale and consistency of vision that is required. "In Rainbows was a particular aesthetic and I can't bear the idea of doing that again. Not that it's not good, I just can't ... bear ... that."


--------------------------------------------
This is the bit that got left out of the interview:

Thom: Jonny, we had a fifteen-year ride, mate.
'Mean, who wants to be a fuck'n forty-five year old
rock'n'roller farting around in front of people less than
half their age?....
Jonny: So true, so true, yeah....
Thom: ...cranking out some kind of mediocre head-banging
bullshit, you know, that we've forgotten...
Jonny: It would b...it's beneath us...who wants to see that...
not me.
Thom: That's right...absolutely right. I mean, we could take
those projects that we thought, you know, we didn't have
time for....
Jonny: Oh, there's dozens, there's so many dozens of projects.
Thom: You know, we didn't have time for 'em because of Radiohead and
bring 'em back to life maybe.
Jonny: Do you remember what we were...do you remember the time?
Thom: At the Luton...at the Luton Palace...
Jonny: Yes.
Thom: We were talking about a rock musical based on the life of
Jack the Ripper...
Jonny: Yeah,'Saucy Jack.'
Thom: Right.'Saucy Jack.' Now's the time to do that.
Jonny: "Saucy Jack, you're a naughty one, Saucy Jack, you're a
haughty one, Saucy Jack."
Thom: Right...

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Soft Power and Gramercy Arms


We are excited to announce we have a couple of shows coming up next week with the fantastic Soft Power, featuring Mary Timony and members of Aloha.

Come on down!

Saturday August 1st
The Cake Shop
152 Ludlow Street NYC
Soft Power featuring Mary Timony with members of Aloha 11 pm
Hot Lava 10 pm
Gramercy Arms 9:15

http://cake-shop.com/
$10, 8pm doors, 21 and over

Sunday August 2nd
TT the Bears
http://www.ttthebears.com/
Soft Power 11 pm
Gramercy Arms 10 pm
Shepherdess 9 pm

Monday, June 29, 2009

welcome back mascott!


A heroes' welcome to our pals in Mascott!!! It sounds like they had a fantastic time across the pond! Check out the details at http://mascottsongs.com/ or http://myspace.com/mascott.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

remix us!




Remix our song "Looking at the Sun" as seen on Chuck and the new Lenscrafters spot!!!!

Check this space for more details but we might actually make this into a contest with prizes and all.

In the meantime you can access the splits/stems/elements/whatever you want to call them here:

Looking at the Sun Stems

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

make a deal with the city

livin the city.

Here's our late night, bourbon-infused, shambolic cover of East River Pipe's classic "Make a Deal With the City" featuring Kendall Meade, Dave Derby, Doug Gillard, Sean Eden and Hilken Mancini. Katya Gorker filmed this at the Chelsea Hotel last month. More of this craziness to come.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

follow you, follow me



I don't know exactly what's been taking us so long but we are finally on twitter. The band is at @gramercyarms
so um ... follow us


or you can find us this way: http://twitter.com/gramercyarms to access the hijinx and hilarity that will ensue.


In other Gramercy Arms related news, our recent shows with +/-, Versus and Mascott in NYC and Shepherdess in Cambridge, MA were fantastic! All of the bands were incredible. We had wonderful guests in both cities: guitar superhero Chris Brokaw in NYC and bass god Winston Braman in Cambridge. We'll post some video from the shows on YouTube as well as some more footage from our crazy music party in the Chelsea Hotel.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Looking at the Sun



We're very excited to report that the Lenscrafter's ads with our song "Looking at the Sun" are now running.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Summer rock


Summer is here and the time is right for rocking out. We are working on more East Coast North American dates for later in the summer as well as the fall but want to announce two really fantastic shows coming up.

Thursday June 18
Mercury Lounge (NYC)
Plus Minus/ Versus / Gramercy Arms / Mascott
http://www.mercuryloungenyc.com/

Saturday June 20
Plough and Stars (Cambridge MA)
10 pm
Shepherdess/Gramercy Arms
http://www.ploughandstars.com/

lenscrafters


We've heard that "Looking at the Sun" is running on the new Lenscrafters ads but haven't seen it for ourselves yet! We are totally thrilled about this at GA.org Our friend, bandmate, muse, heroine, mascot and co-conspirator Kendall Jane Meade from the fantastic Mascott told us she saw it the other day but today on Good Morning America!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

92 luftbaloons


Gramercy Arms is moving on up in the CMJ charts to 92!
Which is a great excuse to post a picture of Nena and the boys from their halcyon days

Monday, May 4, 2009

Chuck on Hulu


If you're like us at Gramercy Arms. org, you watch a lot of your TV shows at Hulu. This is by no means an endorsement of Hulu (though we do like it), but we just thought we'd let you know that the episode of Chuck with "Looking at the Sun" is now up on Hulu and you can check it out right here.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Uncensored Interview


The fine folks at Uncensored Interview--and they really are fine folks!--just wrote something nice about us on their blog

Five New Supergroups That Prove that Opposites Attract

Here's what they said: "Taking the concept of supergroup to a totally new level, Gramercy Arms’ only self-imposed limits seem to be geographical. The group’s comprised of a revolving collective of New York-based artists, including members of Guided by Voices, Luna, Joan as Police Woman, Dead Air and the Dambuilders and (RANDOM ALERT!) comic Sarah Silverman. Huh? If it sounds odd and confusing, it’s only appropriate: their subject matter, is after all, basically sex and the city. The result: a tightly wound, even more tightly edited 30-minute power pop (emphasis on power) album that’s as diverse, dirty, delirious and dazzling as a stroll on the sunny side of Bedford Ave. at 8 a.m. on a Saturday when the local swells are still stumbling home and the new yummy mummies are heading out for their daily double half-caf latte fix."

Sounds about right to us! Actually it sounds really nice. We also think this wouldn't be complete without a picture of Sean and Dave looking like deer staring into the headlights!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

119 with a bullet


Great news!! The debut Gramercy Arms took a HUGE jump up this week--it's 2nd week on the charts--to #119 on CMJ's Top 200. Top 100 here we come!

Radio 200 #1102 GRAMERCY ARMS, Gramercy Arms

TW LW 2W PK WKS Artist Recording Label
119 173 - 119 2 GRAMERCY ARMS Gramercy Arms Cheap Lullaby

Monday, April 20, 2009

"Looking at the Sun" on Chuck (NBC), Lenscrafters and June dates tbd!



We have three pieces of fantastic news to report here at Gramercy Arms.org.

1. "Looking at the Sun" from our debut record, "Gramercy Arms" is going to be featured in the upcoming April 27 episode of Chuck (NBC)!!!!!!!!
The show airs Mondays 8/7c
http://www.nbc.com/Chuck/
2. We've also received word that the song is going to be used in an upcoming campaign of really beautiful looking and cool Lenscrafters ads. We'll be providing you with details about that as soon as we get 'em.
3. We are currently booking shows for Boston, New York, Philly and a few other undisclosed locations for June-July with such fine artists as Versus, Plus Minus, Mary Timony's Pow Wow, Mascott and others. Details coming soon on that as well!

Friday, April 3, 2009

LET'S GET PHYSICAL!




"Gramercy Arms" is now available in physical form in North America courtesy of the fabulous Cheap Lullaby Records!

The record has been available digitally and you can still find it at iTunes, Amazon and usual online suspects, but now you can support your local record store and own a copy with brand new artwork for the North American physical release.

Gramercy Arms is an ever (r)evolving collective band project of New York-based artists.

On this record, Gramercy Arms comprises members of Guided By Voices, Luna, Joan as Police Woman, Dead Air and The Dambuilders, along with comic Sarah Silverman, Their self-titled debut album is a summery blast of gorgeous power pop, heartfelt tales of love and loss and the city they call their home.

Clocking in at a lean and mean 30 minutes, bassist/vocalist Rainy Orteca (Joan As Police Woman, Dead Air) describes it as “the hottest thirty minute love affair available.”

The album is a celebration of all that is New York in its dirty-beautiful splendor. Musically Gramercy Arms is a classic New York sound--Dave Derby’s disaffected poetic sensibilities mesh with the guitar virtuosity of Sean Eden and Hilken Mancini in the grand Gotham tradition of the Velvet Underground and Television shot through with a love of seventies pop rock.

The album has garnered rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic and has received airplay on BBC2, BBC4 and BBC6.

RECENT PRESS ON GRAMERCY ARMS

“Oh Gramercy – we’re in love! … gorgeous conventional songcraft and sun-kissed vocals … laidback power pop, if that's not a contradiction in terms.
-Guardian UK

Sun kissed, subtly well constructed things that suggest Teenage Fanclub occasionally touched by the all-American pop suss of Cheap Trick. It's all at once woozily beautiful and incidental--or, as one Luna lyric had it, "The moment is eternal/for as long as it lasts."
-The Word

This kind of music should be easy to pull off … but the best kind of power-pop (and Gramercy Arms definitely belongs in that group) nails the intanglibles. It instinctually know what chord to hit next, when to drop to a minor key, when to let it loose. When members of varies indie luminaries (Guided By Voices, Luna, Joan As Police Woman) came together to make the album they—lucky for us—got it right.
- eMusic

Easily one of the best pop albums released in 2008 … Pop doesn’t get much better than this.
-Baby Sue

“Classic sounding pop.”
-Quick Before it Melts

Monday, March 23, 2009

pinecone is here!!!!

new mp3s coming soon


just letting you know that in celebration of spring we'll have some brand spanking new mp3s in a few days!
also we'll have some updates about upcoming East Coast shows

in the meantime--do not lean on door!
(photo courtesy of gregg greenwood, designer extraordinaire)

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Tuesday, February 24, 2009


Dave is going to be giving a talk at Yale on Monday on the future of the music biz with his pal the esteemed singer-songwriter Mike Errico.

They will address the following questions:

"How is music-making and the business of music changing? How do artists survive in a changing landscape? What skills will they need? What, if anything, does it mean to be an independent artist today?"

Bring the noise, Professor Derby.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

views from the van


Here's Hilken's van being towed.








Here's sean watching New England on YouTube while we follow their former drummer who is towing Hilken's car.

Photos courtesy of Rainy Orteca.

live blogging GA feb 09 minitour



Hilken's car just broke down on the Mass Pike and we picked her up in our rocking mini-van. Good thing the trip from Boston to NoHo is a short one. Lloyd says he has cold PBRs waiting for us. Rainy just came into the van and told me that we have to follow a tow truck dude who is going to drop the car somewhere where AAA can pick it up. Developing ...

UPDATED 3:45 PM

Rainy informs me that she just "killed" Sean at 20th anniversary edition of Galaga at the Framingham Plaza.

Also Rainy informs me that the tow truck driver informed us that AAA is supposed to tow from the Mass Pike. They alleged that they couldn't do it because they are lazy or overextended or both.

UPDATED 3:48 PM

Hilken just informed me that the tow truck driver told us he himself is a famous rock star was the drummer in the band New England who penned the classic "Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya"

Bring it!!!

on the road again



we have one more show tonight on our three show stint at the elevens in northampton, ma.

http://www.elevensmusic.com/

Thursday, February 5, 2009

mascott guest vlog

if you can't be in the band, you might as well hijack their blog. tonite i felt like mel from flight of the conchords, except that mel would never miss the first two songs of a conchords set...like i did tonite at the g-arms show. it wouldn't have been a big deal but rainy is not yet prepared to forgive me, so i must suck it up and meet my maker. at least i have video proof of song #3...

Shining Bright with Renee LoBue


soon after i moved to a closer table to soak in the action:

Looking At The Sun


hilken, sean, rainy, dave & kevin were top notch on every song. then i almost had a coronary when they launched into my favorite dambuilders song ever...IDAHO!! the audience was filled fans of dave derby, so i feel i wasn't the only one that was having a serious '90s moment.

IDAHO


so all in all it was a totally great show...even thought i'll never get those first two songs back. The band is off to play Northampton and then Boston now, catch a show if you can.

love,
mascott

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Gramercy Arms February Shows


Just letting you know in case you don't already know that we will be playing a string of shows this next week with our friend the ultrafabulous Mary Kate O'Neil who is releasing her brand new CD. marykateoneil.com

Thursday Feb 5, New York, New York - The Living Room at 8 pm (Mary Kate and band at 7)

Friday Feb 6, Cambridge, MA - TT the Bears at 10 pm (Mary Kate and band at 8)

Saturday Feb 7, Northampton, MA - The Elevens (with Mary Kate) - still waiting for confirmation on set time!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Gramercy Arms on Uncensored Interview


Sean and Dave perpend, ruminate and wax poetic extemporaneously on various topics ranging from indie rock, geopolitics and best and worst day jobs, at the impressively cool Uncensored Interview website

http://www.uncensoredinterview.com/artists/497-Gramercy-Arms

Saturday, January 17, 2009

nyc magnet piece up


the fine and wonderful folks of nyc magnet did a nice piece on us that just went up. It was a pleasure to hang out with them, eat coconut flan, discuss esoteric New York history and madrigal mashups.
http://nycmagnet.com/2009/01/17/gramercy-arms/
gramercy arms hearts nyc magnet
that's renee lobue in the photo, rocking with us.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

gramercy arms at pianos


cmj did a nice write up of last night's show at piano's which was ... erm ... somewhat "selectively" attended. But it was cold and lots of people including some of us were fighting colds.

Nevertheless we did have a lot of fun.


http://www.cmj.com/relay/?p=6731

Doug Gillard was awesome as ever!

He joined us onstage for a cover of his old band Death of Samantha's "Blood and Shaving Cream" that was SUPER ROCK.

a little sloppy too but no one ever said super rock had to be clean!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

happy new year


Please pardon the silence here. We've been madly busy recording and getting ready for upcoming shows including our show with Doug Gillard at Piano's tomorrow. Dave Derby has been playing in Doug's band as well and will be turning in double-duty in the field of rock tomorrow night. If you're in the NY area, come on down. It should be a fun show and will be the first performance of the lineup of Dave Derby, Sean Eden, Rainy Orteca and Kevin March. Hilken, will be busy holding down the fort in Boston and won't make it. Renee LoBue will grace the microphone with her backing vocal stylings. Come on down!

More info soon on a Dave Derby-Kendall Meade-Erik Della Penna recording of Scottish songwriter, Sandy Wright's lovely "In the Summertime"