Artisan Grace

Artisan Grace
2/20/07 by Brice Hancock

I really want to see Artisan Grace succeed. Artisan Grace started on a Thursday at The Toad Tavern. They've worked very hard sice then and I'm very proud that this Friday they are headlining their CD Release Party at The Toad Tavern. I have enjoyed booking this band very much. They're easy to work with, they're great guys, and they work very hard. They have been very receptive to all the advice I have offered and it has been a total blast working with this band. I almost feel like "they're mine". Of course they're not "mine" but I hope that I'm going to pretend that they are.

tDMB: What kind of music do you guys play and who's in Artisan Grace?

Artisan Grace: We play the kind of music that makes you happy that you don’t listen to gangster rap. I guess you could call us power-pop rock, but we just try and write good songs that make people feel emotion. We try to focus on guitar melodies and strong vocal harmonies while also trying to make our arrangements interesting and unexpected. We’ve been told that we sound a bit like Weezer, but we feel that we have a unique sound that is the result of all of our influences ranging from hardcore to jazz blues. We are Brian, Cody, Colin and Gordo, nice to meet you.

tDMB: What are your dayjobs?

Artisan Grace: Cody holds it down teaching guitar lessons and going to school for recording and engineering. Brian is the director of INFORM, a state-wide Colorado non-profit and also works at the Downtown Denver Aquarium waiting tables. Colin works at the Evergreen Liquor store and is going to school for business finance. Gohring works sweeping chimneys. (Yeah, he wears the striped gear and everything)

tDMB: Your new album sounds killer. I know you did it at Global Sound Studio with Brian Johanssen. How long did it take for you to make it? Tell me about the process.

Artisan Grace: Well, basically…we thought we would have ALL this time doing the album in 4, ten hour days and we were completely wrong. We rolled through the whole thing and we were busy all 4 days, barely finishing on time (and budget…). Brian Johanssen (DORK) is a magician behind the board and it was a pleasure recording with him. We can’t freaking wait until next time. Experience is everything and this was our first time recording a full-length album. As far as the process goes, I am sure you are all familiar. We tracked the drums to a metronome with scratch tracks and then filled in everything else track by track.

tDMB: You guys are from Evergreen. Do you think it's hard living there and trying to get noticed in the Denver scene?

Artisan Grace: Growing up in a small town we weren’t really in tune with the Denver scene until a few years ago. Doing shows down in town is a brand new experience and we’ve had some good and bad shows. Sometimes it can be tough to get all of our Evergreen fans / friends down to Denver, although they have shown us some serious support so far. We are looking forward to getting our name out not only in Denver, but just this March we are traveling to Ft. Collins, Gunnison and Crested Butte.

tDMB: What has your best show been so far?

Artisan Grace: It depends what you mean by best show? I think the best we have ever played was at the Bluebird Theatre for the Haggardies CD release. But I think we’ve had the most fun playing the Toad Tavern. Our last show at the Toad with Rubber Planet, Fiance and Let’s Face It is up there, the show was damn near sold out and we had a great time.

tDMB: Now that the album's out what are you guys trying to accomplish? Do you have any plans to tour?

Artisan Grace: We are trying to get the disc heard. I want to know what people think about it, you know. As an artist, you put your heart and soul into your music and then offer it up for sale, kind of weird. We want to get the CD to as many people as possible. Tour? Hell yeah, anyone out there want to go with us? We’ve never been but we were thinking this summer (July) would be a good time to start. We’ll think about taking some shorter weekend trips before that.

tDMB: I wouldn't consider you a regular to The DMB but you pop in from time to time. When did you start checking it out?

Artisan Grace: I would consider myself more of an observer than a participant I guess. But I guarantee you that the DMB is set as a tab on my browser and I check it out daily. I contribute a thought when I like a blog. I started checking out DMB a number of months ago.

tDMB: Tell us about your CD Release Party.

Artisan Grace: Assuming we don’t get too tipsy before show, hanging out with all the kick-ass people there, it should be a good time. We are playing with three great bands and we have been looking forward to this show.

Artisan Grace CD RELEASE PARTY
w/ Synthetic Elements, Yerkish, and Shift into First
Friday, February 23rd @ the Toad Tavern
21+ 8:00 pm - The Denver Message Board