gramercy arms: January 2009

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"

about gramercy arms

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.

Gramercy Arms captures the romance and feel of the city,the album’s lead Single, “Automatic”, captures the frantic energy of the city. “I was thinking of it in the sense of “automatic response”—embracing intuition and energy. That to me is what the essence of rock and roll has always been.”

The album features a wide range of guest performances including an unexpected background vocal performance by comedian Sarah Silverman who sings backups on the summery “Looking at the Sun.” “It’s about the simple and awesome joy of being able to experience things brand new the way a child sees them,” explains Derby. “The song was almost done but I felt the song needed something more. Rainy (Orteca of Joan As Police Woman and Dead Air ) and I had worked with Sarah before creating music for her television show, The Sarah Silverman Program and thought that she’d be perfect for the song. She has a beautiful voice that is surprisingly earnest and sweet. Her vocals are very straight-forward, there’s nothing comedic about the approach, but for some reason I think it’s her comedic sensibility that gives the song a kind of heightened sweetness to it.

Other guest performances include Nada Surf’s Matthew (“Nothing I Can Do”) and former bandmate Joan Wasser (Joan As Police Woman) who lends her gorgeous vocals to “Wander On.”

In addition the album features performances Lloyd Cole, Chris Brokaw as well as members of The Pernice Brothers, Mascott, Shudder to Think and others. the record was recorded in Winter of 2008, produced by Dave Derby with additional production by Nathan Larson and Thom Monahan.. Gramercy Arms will be released on Reveal Records in August 2008. The single, “Automatic” will be available in June.