Jared Mees & The Grown Children

Artist Information

Biography

The brainchild of songwriter/composer/arranger/screenprinter Jared Mees, “The Grown Children” are the catchall name for the current amalgamation of players collaborating with Mees on recordings or on stage. Mees’ first solo effort “If You Wanna Swim w/ the Sharks” was named one of the best albums of 2007 by Willamette Week and called “fucking fantastic” by current Willamette Week Music Director Casey Jarman.

The first incarnation of the Grown Children was borne of a Panamanian Island, where Mees, his wife (and Tender Loving Empire co founder) Brianne and 2 friends wrote the bulk of the songs that would eventually become “Sharks...” After recording Sharks in L.A. and moving to Portland Mees embarked upon 2007’s ill fated and aptly named No A/C tour, with the members of Finn Riggins playing many of Mees’ songs.

Since then many friends have joined the Grown Children Family, and while the constant lineup changes and improvised, infrequent rehearsals would cause many bands to suffer, they have become the vitality of the Grown Children, giving live shows a devil-may-care energy and keeping the recordings on the new album Caffeine, Alcohol, Sunshine, Money dynamic, vibrant and honest.

Instrumentation

Joe Bowden - Drums, Percussion
Megan Spear - Vocals, keys, Percussion, Organs, Glockenspeil
Javier Madrigal - Vocals, Trumpet, Electric Guitar
Quilty Kim - Vocals, keyboards, Bass Guitar
Jared Mees - Vocals, guitars

Discography

2011 (May) Brand new album on Tender Loving Empire
2008-(September) "Caffeine, Alcohol, Sunshine, Money" (Tender Loving Empire
2008-(July) Split EP w/ Super XX Man of Remixes (Tender Loving Empire)
2008- Friends and Friends of Friends Comp (Tender Loving Empire)
2007- If You Wanna Swim with the Sharks..(Tender Loving Empire)
Pop Tomorrow Compilation(Tender Loving Empire) Failing Records Compilation #4(Failing Records) Mastan Music Hour Episode 28 (hosted by Jeremy Wilson of The Dharma Bums)

Links

• Facebook
• Last.fm
• MySpace
• Twitter
• Tender Loving Empire Band Page

Audio

• Tallest Building in Hell
  Listen   Download
• Bees
  Listen   Download
• Loboito
  Listen   Download
• Cockleburs & Hay
  Listen   Download
• Trampling Daisies
  Listen   Download

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Who the Hell do you think you are? [+ Show ]
  

  Jared Mees, Reclinerland, Leigh Marble, Ross & the Hellpets White Eagle | 836 N Russell St., 282-68...Jared Mees, Reclinerland, Leigh Marble, Ross & the Hellpets
  White Eagle | 836 N Russell St., 282-6810 [map]
  [ACOUSTIC POP] Dear Jared Mees: Who the hell do you think you are? You come out of nowhere, hot-gluing lyrical turns of phrase together like Elvis Costello if he had grown up an American stoner, and now this! Your album, If You Wanna Swim With the Sharks..., is fucking fantastic. Okkervil River and Kind of Like Spitting come to mind, but Swim With the Sharks is a hell of a lot more fun, what with all its bouncy rhythm and doubled vocals, its quick quips and tender touches. You even threw in some country and surf-y tracks! Listen, Jared, I'm not mad at ya, it's just that if you keep recording music this good, I'll have to come see you at the Crystal Ballroom instead of the White Eagle. You don't want to do that to me, do you? Sincerely, CASEY JARMAN.- White Eagle. 9:30 pm. $6. 21+.

• Portland Tribune Show Review [+ Show ]
  

  SONGWRITER Jared Mees Portlander Jared Mees also co-founded Tender Loving Empire, a local collecti...SONGWRITER
  Jared Mees
  Portlander Jared Mees also co-founded Tender Loving Empire, a local collective that puts out limited-edition, handmade runs of a variety of art.
  
  That sensibility – a distinctly Portland blend of lo-fi and high quality – pervades his new album, “If You Wanna Swim With the Sharks … ,” which is being released in hand-silkscreened packaging (with glow-in-the-dark ink) by Tender Loving Empire.
  
  Mees’ songwriting is a combination of relatively simple pop melodies and insightful, detailed and deft turns of phrase. These are songs for the morning after and the night before – rambling, gambling songs written about slackers and screw-ups.
  
  “Panama Anthem” is the perfect ode to slacker living, culminating with the phrase “Someday, someday … just not today.”
  
  

• West Coast Performer Album Review [+ Show ]
  

  If You Want to Swim with Sharks is Jared Mees’ thoughtful debut album on the label that he co-founde...If You Want to Swim with Sharks is Jared Mees’ thoughtful debut album on the label that he co-founded, Tender Loving Empire. Relating stories of mindless jobs, train-wreck love affairs, and the constant struggle to not give into pessimism, the Portland-based songwriter gives a very honest account of the middle-ground morass that only time seems to fix. Surely many twenty-somethings can relate.
  
  
  With a voice similar to Stephen Malkmus’ lackadaisical lull, Mees brings the same wry wit and slacker folk charm to his songwriting. Throughout most of the album, the songs simply feature Mees and an acoustic guitar, with the occasional backing vocals of his wife, Brianne Mees. However, the lyrics and guitar melodies are enveloping and the album never feels lacking.
  
  
  On the first song, “Suicide Squeeze,” Mees sings: “You’re in the suicide, suicide, suicide squeeze / You’re drunk and you’re speaking that drunk Christianese / You’re breaking down now with the greatest of ease / And you’re falling and licking your own bloody knees.” On “Working and Drinking,” Mees tells of only being capable of dreaming while asleep. His lyrics illustrate the mundane existence of ping-ponging between a boring job and the escape of drinking: “I’m the man of my dreams when I’m dreaming / At least that’s how it seems to be seeming / During those six short hours between working and drinking.”
  
  
  If You Want to Swim with the Sharks is all about being stuck in the middle, being a minnow swimming with the sharks; but Mees’ first effort is anything but middle of the road. (Tender Loving Empire)
  
  
  www.tenderlovingempire.com
  
  -Kristen Schaer
  
  

• Irresistible Melodies [+ Show ]
  

  "Packed full of irresistible melodies and clever turns of phrase…between the varied instrumentat...
  
  "Packed full of irresistible melodies and clever turns of phrase…between the varied instrumentation and deliberate dashes of harmony Mees displays an impressive talent with composition and signs of greatness to come”
  -harmoniummusic.com
  
  

• Wide Eyed Exuberance [+ Show ]
  

  If You Wanna Swim With the Sharks... is full of songs mixing highly palatable pop-punk and sincere a...If You Wanna Swim With the Sharks... is full of songs mixing highly palatable pop-punk and sincere and rambling indie-folk, with a wide-eyed exuberance...
  -Indiefolkforever.blogspot.com
  
  

Setlist

A typical Set is about 30-40 minutes but we have an hour and a half's worth of material...plus a cover or two.

Things are generally pretty crowded and/or rawkus so the more space the better...

Songs I know:
suicide squeeze
him her you me
loboito
cockleburrs & hay
moonlight & timing
panama anthem
live fiction
sodom & glendora
working & drinking
the strange demise of jerome nobles
its in the way (come clean)
julai throwback
in the fall
excellent time
strong black coffee
wettin down the dirt
sunday lord
southwest colorado
el scorcho
aeroplane over the sea
luckiest guy on the lower east side
like a chicken with its head cut off
metal heart
nothing I can do about it now
It isn't what you're buying.

Basic Requirements

Calendar