Grant Langston
Los Angeles, California, United States | SELF
Music
Press
“I’m not sure if Grant Langston is smugly showing off a custom-built Gretsch on the cover of Stand Up Man or just showing the world what a happy guy he is. Either way, it’s not the most inspiring cover. However, there’s an old phrase about books that applies here and when the album kicks in with the ripping title track, a thick slice of Bakersfield country, I knew I’d misjudged a little.
The amusingly titled Burt Reynolds Movie Brawl shows some neat tempo changes before brushing up alongside a modern Nashville country sound on Shiner Bock and Vicodin, warning of the dangers of mixing booze and pills. Langston’s approach to lyrics is summed up by Not Another Song About California, a song inspired by every other band at a show playing a song about California and there’s no shortage of lyrical wit.
Langston’s clever lyrics are backed up by a combination of honky-tonk, alt.country, and rock-n-roll that weaves between a number of country cliches but with a knowing grin. Stand Up Man is a strong album that throws in a few surprises, but knows how to kick the listener’s backside with some classic country-rock.” SM - Maverick Magazine (UK)
“I regularly listen to acts that really want to be Dale Watson, or really wish that they were as rebelliously reckless as they try to be. I also get plenty of albums that showcase lyrics that are supposed to be funny as the winking lead singer plants his tongue ever so firmly into his decidedly unfunny cheek. I say all of that to now say that when I come across a record that displays the rowdy qualities of a roadhouse combined with a cutting sense of humor, I am genuinely impressed…” - Twangville
The Bakersfield is alive and well in the hands of Langston and like the the sounds forefathers – Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam – Langston’s roots are in the South. Alabama is where he took up the trombone in his grammar school band, played piano as a teen and cultivated a distaste for Nashville brand of pop-country he heard on the radio. After making the trek out to the Golden State, where in now resides, Langston discovered Haggard, Yoakam as well as Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and deeper well of country music to draw from. Stand Up Man proves he’s an astute disciple of the school of honky-tonk. - Twang Nation
Discography
All This and Pecan Pie - 2000
Chinese Fire Drill - 2002
Road Side Service - 2004
Koreatown - 2006
Live in Bakersfield - 2007
Stand Up Man - 2009
Photos
Bio
When you’re born and raised in a small town in Alabama, chances are you’re fed on a strict diet of deep fried turkey and country music. So what do you do? Embrace it and strap your bulging belly into a tight pair of Wranglers, or do you get the hell out of dodge to discover your inner vegan and rock n’ roll?
Well Grant Langston may not have discovered the joys of tofu and soy, but he knew he loved a good power chord when he heard one, and headed out West to Los Angeles to make his name. Only once there, the darnedest thing happened: he rediscovered his musical roots, this time on his terms.
“Growing up where I did I was force-fed a steady diet of very slick Nashville stuff,” says the singer/songwriter. “As a result I hated country music, or at least thought hated it until I heard the real deal.”
The ‘real deal’ was Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson and Dwight Yokum and Merle Haggard, Country artists who were busy upsetting the Nashville elite while Langston was still in diapers. The music resonated with Grant, and he set about fusing it with his love of contemporary rock music.
“I didn’t want to make music that was formulaic,” he says. “I wanted to step outside that and have lyrics that are sassy and written from a modern perspective. I wanted to be free to throw in a Led Zep riff if I wanted to, to poke some fun at the genre, but at the same time pay homage to that style.”
One live and four studio albums later, he’s found the perfect balance, capturing the rawness of the country records he grew to love and the drive of the rock records he’d become enamored of.
“I wanted to make good interesting songs in a genre that I feel is real and I can represent in an honest way,” he says. “With this new album, Stand Up Man, I’ve got the closest to that yet.”
He’d tried to make raw studio albums before, him and his long-standing band, The Supermodels, implementing various tricks to capture their energy of their live performances. The band – MI grad guitarist Larry Marciano, former Buckcherry bass player Josh Fleeger and drummer Tony Horkins, who’d played on hit records in his native UK – were not traditional country players, deliberately so.
“I didn’t want a bunch of guys who are just running through the country lick they’ve been playing for 25 years,” he says. “They try and do something fresh and I let them run free, reigning them in where it needs to be reigned it.”
Inevitably, this four-piece unit got closest to the raw sound they were after on the live album they released last summer, Live In Bakersfield, where the local following they’d built there over the years came out in their droves to be part of the recording: one night, one show, all live.
The success of the live album was a lesson learned: with Stand Up Man, he enforced a two-take rule on The Supermodels and the various LA friends and musicians that contributed to the record. Some songs he wrote one day, rehearsed with his band the next and recorded the day after. The result is the first time he’s been able to fully realize his alt-country/Americana dreams.
“I told my co-producer, Rich McCulley, that we had to check ourselves at every step of way,” he says. “There will be times when we want to fix something, but we have to leave it be.”
Soon they’ll be taking the album out on the road, where Langston believes it belongs. It’s the stuff of roadhouses, music to dance to and drink to. They’re already a leading light in the burgeoning LA alt-country scene, a loose collective of like-minded musicians and venues, and when not on home turf they’ve been packing them in in England and France and across the United States.
“It’s hard to believe we’re getting ready to promote our fifth album,” he reflects. “I get closer and closer to what I’m trying to do with each one – to make an album steeped in its country roots but with a sound and lyrical content that’s equal parts irreverence and homage. This time, I think we nailed it.”
The Supermodels in a Tiny British Elevator
The Supermodels in a Tiny British Phonebooth
The Supermodels:
Drums - Tony Horkins: born and raised in London, member of Goldbug who had a UK #1 hit with a cheeky take on Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”.
Bass - Josh Fleeger: born and raised in Butler, PA, toured with Buckcherry, and bleeds Steeler black and gold.
Guitar - Larry Marciano: born and raised in Bristol, CT, producer, sideman, and solo artist, Larry has a solo album as well as an instructional guitar series.
Things We’ve Done
• Three UK/European Tours. Headlining and Opening shows all over the country.
• Number One track on Shut Eye Records Americana compilation, The United States of Americana. Released in early October, 2007.
• Co-Produced “Americana LA Salutes Willie Nelson” - featuring Mike Stinson, David Serby, Grant Langston, Sarah Stanley, Bab’s McDonald.
• February 2007 National Radio campaign yields spins on about 120 stations.
• Featured House Band on Fox TV’
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