THE DAILY TEXAN
By Mary Lingwall
Daily Texan Staff
Published: Thursday, February 11, 2010
Updated: Thursday, February 11, 2010
Usually, it takes a few years for a local band to get notoriety in Austin. However, only about seven months after its first jam session and a few weeks away from recording its debut EP, Guns of Navarone is quickly gaining an enthusiastic, eclectic fan base.
When Guns of Navarone played at The Parlor on North Loop Boulevard a few Fridays ago, I was struck by the diversity of fans at the show. Amid the plaid-clad regulars of the Austin music scene, I also ran into two college students in cowboy boots and quite a few fresh-faced college-aged women.
When Guns of Navarone started playing, I realized why the band’s fan base not only packed The Parlor to capacity, but also drew from diverse music subcultures. By mixing alternative-country aesthetics with detailed and upbeat guitar riffs, and bass lines of a Southern rock flavor with the songwriting and vocal stylings of Americana and folk traditions, Guns of Navarone’s sound fills a unique — and largely vacant — musical niche in Austin.
Guns of Navarone’s sound is the natural product of a collaborative process between Seth Grueneberg on lead guitar, Cory R3inisch on vocals and guitar, Richard Knox on drums and Dustin Meyer on bass guitar. Longtime friends and former roommates, R3inisch and Knox have played music together since college.
“We did mostly covers,” R3inisch said before starting to laugh. “Well, that was a lie, it was all covers. [And] we have been talking ever since we graduated that this was something we wanted to continue and do our own original stuff.”
Oddly enough, R3inisch’s aesthetic — born out of a lifelong attraction to bands like Wilco, Whiskeytown and Uncle Tupelo — caught the attention of Grueneberg, local musician and former guitarist for local punk outfit Consider the Source. After meeting at a happy hour, R3inisch and Grueneberg began talks about putting a band together.
“Seth kind of lit [the] fire under my ass,” said R3inisch. “I thought he was just bullshitting me, honestly. Until he showed up at my house.”
Even though Grueneberg’s musical background is more in tune with more roguish styles of rock, he has actually become the spearhead of the band’s folksier edge. Guns of Navarone’s occasional mandolin-playing comes straight from Grueneberg’s affinity for the instrument.
“Seth is just such a naturally good musician that he picked [my mandolin] up and started writing these amazing parts with it,” R3inisch said. “When we bring a song in and we feel like it needs something added, we just do whatever feels natural.”
On their way into the studio to cut their first EP later this month, the bandmates are humbly aware of their freshness in such a music-saturated scene.
“Seth has been there with Consider the Source [for all those years],” R3inisch said. “And he has seen bands go up and have their falling. [We know that we] are still so young and new and in the infancy stages.”
But veteran knowledge and green ambitions haven’t given Guns of Navarone a sense of entitlement.
“I just want to play something [like] this,” Grueneberg said matter-of-factly.
“And we’ve got a great guy in our corner with James [Taylor, of Giant Steps Productions],” R3inisch said. “He’s been helping us with shows. And without him, I think that this would have been a much more strenuous process.”
With a full set of songs under its belt, the band is already preparing for a full-length recording this summer. But big plans and growing attention hasn’t changed what these guys really are — a group of friends down for just about anything, from talking about music to offering dating advice.
“You’ll wake up someday, and it will all make sense,” R3inisch said.
But, for some reason, I think his advice is more apt for his story than mine. After toying with his guitar almost his entire life, I think R3inisch is finally onto something.
Rebecca Miller/The Daily Texan
(link to article)
2 comments:
oh, but HELL yes!
like i said, FAMOUS! ha ha!
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