The Georgian Company

Put together from the remnants of local favorites Just Guns, the Georgian Company plies much of the steel-heavy, alt country flavor of the former outfit, though this incarnation is more expansive and principally propelled by George Irwin. Irwin’s vocals, like the music, is often simultaneously smooth and mellow, but with rough edges that make the tunes memorable. Opener “Everything to Gain” weaves out of the initial feedback a beautifully easy ode, very much a Seventies country-rock vibe reminiscent of Jackson Browne. Irwin’s range is limited, most comfortable with the mid-monotone vocals, but he often pushes into higher levels, like on the chorus of the pulsing “Meter,” and it adds an underlying anxiety to the tunes that serves them well and is balanced by the ever-present female backups. Lead single “Apology” may be the most polished of the tracks, and hints at the promise of their sound, hearkening Will Johnson and a bit of locals Mice and Rifles with the band’s percussive intensity. Irwin has a distinct knack for integrating excellent and soft melodies into oft kilter fluctuations that grab the ear, especially on the stripped down “Trainwreck” and racing, nostalgic pull of “Seventeen,” which closes the debut EP and suggests the Georgian Company are on to a very promising sound.
- Doug Freeman - Austin Sound

Side A - The Georgian Company (Pants of Fate)

Local band The Georgian Company rose from the ashes of the promising alt-country act Just Guns. Just Guns released one EP in 2004 and a full-length in 2006 before calling it quits in 2007. Four of its members now form an integral part of The Georgian Company -- brothers Topher and Travis Hyink, Phil McJunkins, and the versatile George Irwin who is the primary vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and also manages Pants of Fate records.

Interestingly, the band also includes McJunkins’ wife Chris Nine on keys and Irwin’s soon-to-be wife Dixie Riddle (back-up vocals). Jenny Kroening and Adam Shallenberg round up the eight-piece. Follow the jump to learn more about the transition from Just Guns to The Georgian Company per our recent interview with Irwin.

The Georgian Company released its first EP, Side A last month. The album was recorded at Ramble Creek and produced by Britton Beisenhertz and that man Irwin. A follow-up (Side B) is in the works as well. Expect to see that later this year, followed by a full-length that will contain both Sides. Side A kicks off with the optimistic “Everything To Gain,” a gem of a song that evokes various emotions felt in that special relationship -- the initial tingle of excitement, comfort in the knowledge that love will find a way, and eternal hope for your future together. And yes, it was inspired by Irwin’s love for Riddle. The cream of the crop though is “Apology,” a moving ode we would have been proud to pen, complete with an infectious chorus that’ll stick with you for the rest of the day, if not the week.

Side A closer “Seventeen” is just another summation of The Georgian Company’s sound -- Irwin’s sincere vocals and equally earnest lyrics are impeccably complemented by the melancholy strains of the slide guitar; the assisting background vocals add a layer of soothing warmth to the aura. The Georgian Company harvest a sound true to Texas -- it’s the perfect soundtrack to the day when you play hooky from work and let the sunlight in through your open windows. And equally fitting for the long Saturday morning drive on the highway to your parents’ house after a month of turmoil. Or pick your own scenario and give this poignant EP a whirl.

[http://www.thegeorgiancompany.com]

When did Just Guns’ career end and why?

George Irwin: Just Guns' last show was a bad night at Trophy's during SXSW '07. We aren't hating on Trophy's; it was just a bad night. We were just dicked around and ended up playing at 1:30am, and then our bass head caught on fire a couple songs into our set. That wasn't really the only reason we stopped playing, but to me, it seemed like a sign from the gods to chill out for a while. I was pretty burnt out trying to manage, book, write and play for us while holding down a day job.

We never really called things off officially, but those songs have been retired for a long time now, and there are no plans to do anything new under that name.

Was The Georgian Co a logical and natural next step with the addition of more band members?

Kind of. There were a variety of conditions that led to the formation of The Georgian Company.

Just Guns had been discussing bringing Chris Nine into the band (she sings on "Off My Mind" from (Just Guns’ full-length) Secrets/Spotlights), but we hadn't actually done it before we played our last show. Meanwhile, I had started writing some softer, more laid-back songs, and I wasn't sure if they were right for Just Guns. I decided to debut some of these songs as a solo performance, with some friends (including Chris and Phil) backing me up one time when some members of Just Guns weren't available to play a show we were offered. We were billed as "George & Company."

Six months later, I was really feeling like I needed a musical outlet, and decided to make a fresh start. Both Hyinks and Phil were interested, Travis' friend, Adam was looking to play drums with someone, so we recruited him, and my vision was to have just tons of vocals, so we brought Chris Nine in to sing back-up and play keys. Then after the core group gelled, we brought in Jenny Kroening and Dixie Riddle as our doo-wop gals, to recreate some of the layered vocal parts we wrote while recording. - Adi Anand, The Austinist

The Georgian Company, Side B
Austin indie-country outfit The Georgian Company captures the vast, delicately coordinated sound of sprawling ensembles like Arcade Fire, jettisoning sing-along reveries and thematic manifestos in favor of twang and that old C&W saw: Just play a damn good song. Yet, on its Side B EP, it’s obvious the band has more in common with Mojave 3 and Son Volt than Montreal’s wunderkinds. The bright, rolling “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville” pianos on “What It’s All About” could be plucked straight from Excuses For Travellers, and George Irwin’s plaintive croon is similar—but nowhere near as unsettled—as Jay Farrar’s gut-shot warble. Nod approvingly to the Music From Big Pink homage that cracks open “Used To Sing”—by the time the drums kick in, you’ll be waving your hat in the wind and shouting along. [Joshua Huck] - The Onion's A.V. Club

From http://www.rockandreprise.net/georgiancompany.html

The Georgian Company
Side A EP

Those sonsabitches! The Georgian Company just fucked up my New Year's resolution, which was to knock the stack of CDs for review on my desk down to workable level. Instead of blazing my way through the mountain, I am buried by one damn song which is at this moment repeating itself beneath a tapping of keys, a part of me elated beyond reason and another part realizing that I will never change, resolution or no. I mean, how can I make it through a mountain when I can't even make it through a five-song EP, for Chrissakes!

That one damn song is Apology, available for free download as of this writing, an offer I suggest you take. Complete with slightly distorted pedal steel and tremeloed-out guitar chords, it is an anthemic ballad which I swear I've heard before because it is nothing new, yet it sucked me in like a top-of-the-line Hoover. First time through, the pedal steel and guitar caught my ear but it was the background vocals which pushed it over the top--- a simple, atmospheric Hoo-oo, Oo-oo-ooooo of harmonic heaven. It only happens twice and is all too short, but that is the magic of it. Two short blips in a three and a half minute song is just not enough, so I find myself playing it again and again to sate my thirst. I'm wearing out the needle on my computer.

Apology is not the only song of note, either. They kick it all off with an upbeat pop tune skirting the edges of Country Rock a la Jackson Browne titled Everything To Gain, a song written around the voice of frontman George Irwin. Neck deep in pedal steel (and mighty fine pedal steel at that), it rides the soft rocking beat front to back. Meter continues the trend, though a bit more Pop and with a slightly heavier beat. Apology anchors the EP next and gives way to airy, country-ish tearjerker Trainwreck, supported again by atmospheric and haunting harmonies.

Seventeen, structured a bit differently than the previous four, looks back toward the Just Guns days, the previous group which included Irwin and pedal steel player Phil McJunkins as well as at least one Hyink (Topher or Travis) and Georgian keyboardist Chris 9. They rocked a little harder and stepped outside the formula box just enough make me wonder why they didn't get more respect. Their Secrets/Spotlights album (2006) has some good moments. I probably would have bought if I had found it back then.

These guys aren't for cowboys and kids, either. Check out the store on their website. They offer a VIP Club package which includes a T-shirt, a YIP Laminate Pass good for one year from date of purchase (which includes access to exclusive and early downloads and, I assume, to the backstage happenings). And they throw in a shiny new Side A EP, too. Only $119. Hell, if you can afford a limo to take your girl to the prom, you can afford that. You gotta love the choice, anyway.

They base themselves out of Austin, does The Georgian Company. I've been counting and the way I figure it, there is one band for every five people in Austin. Makes me wonder who's going to the shows. Those Texas State Troopers put the fear of God into me, so I avoid the State, but if I did live there and The Georgian Company was playing, I would be there, front and center. One day, I might make an exception and just show up, Texas or no. They don't still hang people there, do they?

Frank O. Gutch Jr. - Rock and Reprise

Technically, The Georgian Company are relatively new in terms of the Austin music scene, but half of the group came from Austin band Just Guns, and some members continue to play with other bands, including Mice and Rifles, You Were Always and The Balcony. They got their start as a one-time solo performance, shortly before Just Guns broke up. It was too good to just turn in one show, so it became a new project.

The first Georgian Company EP, released just this month, is basically a “Side A” of a bigger collection of songs to come. “Side B” should be completed sometime in the fall.

The Georgian Company’s EP release show is tonight at The Mohawk, 801 Red River, and will include performances by Austin artist Leatherbag and headlining band Loxsly. This will all take place on the inside stage, starting at around 10 p.m. Great music all over. Go. You know you want to. - KUT Texas Music Matters

By now, I expect we all know that bands have lots of escape clauses for creative differences and other reasons often cited for making changes. Sometime in 2007, 3/4 of Austin’s Just Guns (George Irwin, Topher Hyink and Phil Alarmo) suddenly morphed into The Georgian Company, forming an entirely new, more solid, and more mature line-up with the replacement of original drummer (Brian Reed) with some guy called Adam and the permanent addition of Topher’s little bro Travis on guitar and the lovely Chris 9 (AKA Mrs. Alarmo) on keys and backing vocals. These changes have been a triumph of reorganization.

At the risk of dredging up Austin scene non-drama, Cindy and I both go way, way back with this band. She’s known the Alarmos forever, while I’ve known George for what seems like a hundred years. We both knew Topher through different social circles, and my ex-husband and former-drummer Brian were bro-down buddies. If I were still in Austin, George and Topher would still be my two favorite guys to run into at any show, and I miss them both a lot. As happy as I am here in New York, I have to say that there’s a ton of stuff about being generally awesome that many of our good friends here could learn from them.

The Georgian Company’s first record is out on March 3 and offers a gorgeous, rose-colored vision of what Red River feels like without the hum and bluster of SXSW. It’s the real fabric of Austin with a side of the Hill Country: rhythm heavy, epic indie country with keys, virtuoso pedal steel, and George’s sweet vocals. Right now, for absolutely free, you can listen to Side A here. These kids (who are hardly kids anymore) are ready for their Austin City Limits appearance now, Mr. Lickona.

The Georgian Company play Stubb’s on February 19. It would be awesome if they’d come up this direction.

<3 pvb

P.S. Congratulations to Kevin and Denny who recently tied the knot. They met at a Just Guns show. No matter how much you think you’re over someone, and no matter how proud of someone you are for making different choices and helping you toward better ones, the inevitable still hurts. Be good to each other and do it better this time around, you big old nerd. - Pinkie von Bloom, The Rich Girls Are Weeping

The Georgian Company shows promise on its namesake debut, a gentle, polished collection of contemporary Americana pop. - Austin Powell, The Austin Chronicle

The Georgian Company drapes its emotive alt-country in lush atmospherics, evoking the effect of looking at a vintage photograph turned yellow and hazy by the passing of time. - Decider Austin

The Georgian Company is fairly new to the scene, but they come from distinguished pedigree, most notably members of Just Guns. Currently working on their debut EP for release next year, the band has been honing their sound into a smooth and powerful country pulse, mellow and emotive with intricate layers and excellent steel guitar. The surprisingly tight sextet (now with two added backup vocalists!) is on the shortlist of bands we’re keeping on eye on in the coming year, and you can get a taste for yourself this Thursday, November 20 as they play the Continental Club in support of previously featured sound off band San Saba County, who are releasing their new album, and the incomparable rollicking folk rock of The Black.

Profile: The Georgian Company

Year Formed:

mid-2007

Members/Instruments played:

Adam Shallenberg: drums
Topher Hyink: bass + vocals
Travis Hyink: electric guitar
Chris Nine: vocals + keys
Phil (Alarmo) McJunkins: pedal steel + stuff
Jenny Kroening: back-up vocals
Dixie Riddle: back-up vocals
George Irwin: vocals, guitar + banjo

Former Bands/Side Projects:

Half of us were in Just Guns, which Topher and I started and for which we were the principal songwriters. That’s where we first started playing with Phil and then recruited Travis to play bass when he moved back to Austin. The Georgian Company started as a one-off solo show for me and some friends playing as "George & Company." It went so well that after Just Guns dissolved I decided to recruit some more members and make it my main project. The name seemed a little too narcissistic to me, though, so I tweaked it.

In addition to The Georgian Company, Topher plays drums in You Were Always and bass with The Balcony, Phil contributes to Mice and Rifles and Chris plays keys and guitar with Scott Reynolds and the Steaming Beast and bass in the Karaoke Apocalypse band. Scheduling things is fun.

Albums:

Our first EP is coming out in February or March of 2009 on our little label, Pants of Fate (whose previous releases include the Just Guns records and the most recent You Were Always EP, Ghost Lanes). We don’t have a title for the upcoming EP yet, but it will be a Side A kind of release to be followed with Side B—to complete the album—in the fall.

Influences:

Mostly Yacht Rock, and then some of the following bands:
Kenny Rogers & the First Edition, Beta Band, Wilco, Manowar, Beachwood Sparks, Califone, The Band, The Pixies, The Beach Boys, Metallica, Okkervil River, Destroyer, Waylon Jennings, The Shins, Monahans, Rolling Stones, Yo La Tengo, Nick Drake, U2, Johnny Cash, Spoon

Strangest comment or comparison ever made about your music:

"The verses make you sad; the choruses make you horny."

I’m not sure who said it… it was either Cam Houser or Britton Beisenherz. I’m sure they’ll either point fingers at each other or fight to take credit for the quote, though.

Favorite local bands:

All the aforementioned “side projects,” Trail of Dead, Monahans, White Denim, Grand Champeen, One Mississippi, Maneja Beto, Brothers and Sisters, Tia Carrera

Favorite local venue:

Stubb’s, Mohawk, Continental Club

Upcoming shows scheduled:

- This Thursday, November 20th at the Continental Club
- Saturday, December 13th at Stubb’s with Mice and Rifles and White Ghost Shivers.

Shows over the next month that you’re excited to see:

This is a hard question… there are too many shows, both local and roadshows, that are always happening here. It’s a great problem to have.

Some of your favorite albums from the past year:

Not in any kind of order; we’re bad at making hierarchical lists.

Liam Finn - I’ll Be Lightning
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
Elbow - Seldom Seen Kid
Fleet Foxes
Ashton Shepard - Sounds So Good
Tift Merrit - Another Country

Ideal band (past or present) to open for on a national tour:

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Austin Sound questions:
Y’all are currently recording your debut. What can you tell us about it?

We’ve really been happy with the way it’s sounding. If I had to pick a word to describe it, it would be "BIG." We allowed ourselves enough time to really track everything we wanted on the songs, including layers and layers of vocals. Working with Britton has been great; we kind of just hit it off from the start and he really gets our vision.

What exactly does the Georgian Company trade in, and how much of a government bailout are y’all looking for?

International Conflict Futures. However much we’ll need to pay someone off to get into NATO.

Song Introduction:

"Apology" was written as an actual kind of apologetic expression. I’d just started dating my fiancée, Dixie, and had a little too much to drink on the first night that I met a lot of her friends. At a party that night I ended up taking a bite out of a grapefruit-sized sculpture of a popcorn kernel (it just looked so good) and spitting it across the room, before having to tell Dixie’s friend that I’d ruined his sculpture. Later I broke a plate when falling onto a side table and had to go tell him that I broke his plate, too. I’m really not a drunk; it was just one of those nights. Dixie almost chucked me after that, and I was feeling pretty apologetic, I guess, and that’s where the song came from.

This is one of the songs that will be on the EP.

Sound Off:

I’m speaking for the whole band here, and there’s a lot of us. A pair of brothers, one married couple (soon to be two), and some good friends keeps things fun and interesting.

We’re all really excited about the new back-up gals, the EP and our show on Thursday. Give us a listen and come check us out!

Mp3:
[listen] Apology

Websites:
www.thegeorgiancompany.com - Austin Sound