The Grilled Lincolns

“The Grilled Lincolns are the best party band around.”
Rob Gozkowski – The Beachcomber

“A great band.”
Chad Dukes – WHFS 105.7 fm

- Featured as The Baltimore Sun’s band of the week 9-29-05.

-Winners of the Underground Live battle of the bands for The Ed Norris Show 105.7fm WHFS.
- Press Snippets

Refusing to conform to a single music genre and priding themselves on their original musical creations, a mixture of reggae, rock, funk and hip-hop, The Grilled Lincolns members Riddie Becker, Mike Bakke, Robbie Dubois, and Freddie Hill recently released their first full length album titled "Raised By Wolves." The band has been touring extensively on the East Coast, including Baltimore, D.C., New Jersey, New York and Delaware.

In a world where many artists are conforming to trends just to make money, don't miss a chance to see an original band playing just because they like it. - Emily Campbell - The Examiner Baltimore (May 23, 2006)

What is a Grilled Lincoln?

No, it’s not a sandwich named after the 16th president of the United States.

The Grilled Lincolns are a Baltimore-based funk rock band, of which two members are 1999 Middletown High School graduates.

Drummer Rob Dubois was a member of the 1998 Middletown High School Division II Delaware State Champion cross country team and bass guitarist Mike Bakke was a running back on the MHS football teams that took the 1997 and 1998 Division II State Championships.

Riddie Becker, guitar and vocals, and Fred Hill, keyboards, round out the group that will make its Middletown debut on Friday, April 6 at Tom Foolery’s Restaurant and Bar.

Where they started
The Grilled Lincolns started as a collaboration between Becker, Dubois and former drummer Erik Berlin during their 1999-2000 year at Salisbury University in Maryland. Shortly after establishing themselves on the Eastern Shore, Bakke moved to Salisbury to add his rhythmic style to the band.

Berlin left the band, Dubois taught himself to play the drums, and dozens of shows and lost recordings later, Hill was brought in on the keys to enhance the overall sound.

After creating a strong fan base in Salisbury, the band decided to take its music to the next level and moved to Baltimore in 2004.

The band recorded countless unofficial CDs since its start in 2000, but their popularity took off with the 2005 release of their first official album, “Raised by Wolves.”

Since the move, they’ve captured new audiences around the east coast with their style of music, which they say can’t be restricted by any one genre.

The band has played venues in Manhattan, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., Cleveland, Ohio, Nashville, New Jersey, Florida, Virginia, and all over Delaware and Maryland.

They find new fans wherever they play, which could be attributed to the elasticity of their music or Becker’s behind-his-head Jimi Hendrix guitar solos or Dubois’ ability to compose “freestyle” rap lyrics without missing a drum beat.

“Whenever we go out to places, we always get a lot of feedback from people who saw us,” Bakke said. “Meeting people is the most important part.”

A polished act
Even with their strong talent that Middletown graduates, teachers and parents have grown accustomed to, no one can be certain of what type of song they’ll hear next.

Bakke said their new CD’s track list stretches from a rock song to an instrumental to a hip-hop song and back to rock.

“The Roaring 20’s” was mastered, which means fine-tuning the tracks, by Grammy-award-winner and multiple Grammy nominee Charlie Pilzer.

Along with their first official album, the second was produced by Frank Marchand, who has worked with such musicians as The Pretenders and Good Charlotte, and has had albums featured in Rolling Stone magazine.

Bakke and Dubois said the band has grown immensely from its days as a basement band at their house in Salisbury. They’ve become experienced musicians, played hundreds of shows and formed several partnerships with people who are established in the music industry.

“We keep getting better as musicians, that’s the bottom line,” Dubois said. “We’re learning how to operate better, smoother and faster. The shows keep getting better. They’re more animated and more professional.

“We play the music we want to play,” he said. “We’re not thinking about if it’s going to get on the radio or get us signed. We’re not going to sell out or change just to get a record deal.”

With their second official CD scheduled to release on April 28 in Baltimore, it’s due time these guys made their way to a local venue.

“People can see a hometown band that has done good things all across the east coast,” Bakke said. “We have a brand new CD that’s our best work to date and we’re real proud of it. I hope they can see our act is polished, we have a couple of CDs and a lot of experience.”

Bakke and Dubois’ Townsend roots help pack Delaware venues with M.O.T. fans. They’ve played Delaware several times over the years, but fans had to travel to Newark or Wilmington to get a fix.

Bakke said anyone in the M.O.T. area who hasn’t heard the band play should come out and see what they’re all about Friday night.

“When people come to a Grilled Lincolns’ show, they’re going to hear music from a lot of different eras, new music, old music, classics, a little bit of everything,” he said. “They’ll hear everything they’ve ever dreamed of, except country.”

Bakke attributes their Middletown absence to the town’s limited number of venues, but said that is changing.

“There hasn’t been a music venue where we would fit. When we were in high school, there was nowhere to see bands at all,” he said. “Now that Middletown is getting more developed, it’s more of a stop than it was when we first started the band.”

Dubois said he is looking forward to playing in Middletown because he enjoys bringing old friends together through music while expandin - Shauna McVey - The Middletown Transcript (Apr 5, 2007)

Arts & Entertainment
Baltimore band swims hard in small pond
The Insider's Scoop: The Grilled Lincolns
By Sarah Sabshon
Issue date: 3/27/08
PrintEmail Article Tools Page 1 of 2 next > "Funky, semi-poppy rock with a lot of hip-hop influences as well": This is how lead guitarist Riddie Becker described the indescribable sound of the Grilled Lincolns.

Hailing from our very own Charm City, the Grilled Lincolns, began about five years ago at Salisbury University where Becker and drummer Rob Dubois met and decided to form a band.

"We wanted to start a band, and here was this crazy kid Rob who liked rap music, some of what I like, who was open minded enough to give it a shot and we both had equal admiration for each other and each others' talents. We thought we could do something cool by putting that together. And so here we are now," Becker said.

Indeed they are. The Grilled Lincolns have been touring around the D.C. area, playing four to five nights a week, proof that making it in the Baltimore music scene is nowhere close to easy.

Becker said, "Baltimore makes you work harder as a band, because while the people here do like music, there aren't a ton of bars and venues on every corner like there are in other cities. You have to get in good with the venues that do offer live music and you really have to make sure that the people know who you are. Even though Baltimore is small, playing here for so long, we should be fish in a small pond but it's a really small pond, and we are just medium fish."

This isn't stopping the Grilled Lincolns, though, as they continue to put themselves out there week after week. "I am living my dream right now but what's hard is that we're still broke. We scrape by, and all the money that we make usually goes to fixing the van or buying new equipment. But it is a dream in the sense that it's my job to play music ... And the possibilities are endless. Right now I'm making money, having a lot of fun, I'm not at all burnt out from playing and touring, and I'm happy now. If you look down the road, it can only get better, really."

Becker's optimism is contagious and it is clear that the Grilled Lincolns are in it for the long haul, which is why they decided to send Becker as a representative down to the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music and Media Conference in Austin, Texas this year.

Realizing that they are indeed a budding band, they have acknowledged the need for a bit more guidance. SXSW is a privately owned company in Austin geared to creating networking events within in the music industry. Their event boasted over 12,000 registrants this year.

For a band like the Grilled Lincolns, this is the perfect opportunity to make long-lasting connections within the industry.

"You can't ever stop working in this business, but I think we made a lot of good contacts. Mostly there were panels during the day, meet and greets and demo listenings with record labels so it was a really good experience," Becker said. "A lot of shaking hands and schmoozing and trying to meet big wigs and hand out business cards."

One major lesson that Becker learned from the experience is that major labels are not looking to sign bands that don't have a signature sound - which could be a problem for the Grilled Lincolns, who pride themselves on their genre-hopping albums. Each song on their albums Raised by Wolves and The Roaring '20s can vary style - resulting in somewhat unfocused but not necessarily unlikeable composition, kind of like the mix-tapes of the '80s and '90s.

It's an existential issue that the band will have to explore because while "it might be our downfall," Becker said, "it's what a lot of people say they like about us ... Basically we're invested in the theory that no one really likes one kind of music anymore but likes a little bit of everything."

While gearing up for their third album, Becker acknowledges that this effort needs to epitomize that search for a musical niche, perhaps by combining different elements within one song rather than jumping from hip-hop to ballad to rock with each track.

"We realized that you do have to jump through certain hoops. You can say, 'I'm an artist, I do what I want, I'm independent' but at the same time, we want to be successful and marketable and have a demographic. Just kind of growing up basically," Becker said.

With their sights set on maturity and a clear path on which to follow, the members of the Grilled Lincolns are ultimately all about taking their music to the people; and while they want to display their technical abilities, it's really just about enjoying the atmosphere. "We don't get political, God bless bands that do, but it's not for us. While we do have our serious songs, for the most part we don't take ourselves too seriously. We just want people to have fun at our shows, kick-back and have a good time."

The Grilled Lincolns will be playing at the 8x10 on Friday, April 18.
- The Johns Hopkins News-Letter

100 Artists Performed in 12 hours @ Unicity:
The festival was the first of its kind in the area to feature some of the finest musical ensembles, bands, dance troupes and performance artists from all over the country. The festivalwas a collage of all types of performing artists from classical musicians to punk rock bands, featuring ballet dancers to street hip hop artists. Poets, actors, comedians, everything and anything goes. The event was 12 hour fusion of nonstop performing artists, unbelievable food and drinks all leading up to two shows featuring top national acts, Director John Waters and The Fixx.


A Review of Unicity Musical Festival
Unicity Peforming Arts Festival Invades Middletown, DE
by Kristyn Clarke and Julie Kissane:


This past weekend the Unicity Performing Arts Festival took place in Middletown, DE bring over one hundred artists of all varieties to play for the enjoyment of the small town. PCM had the opportunity to check out the festivities and we were quite impressed. We agree with the mission statement and say that diversity is the perfect word to describe the overall atmosphere. For example, on one particular stage, there were rock acts such as The Crash Motive and The Grilled Lincolns, Funk/Blues band The Kelly Bell Band, and musical theater acts from the Premier Center for the Performing Arts, and Doug Graham all together, so it could best be described as a musical buffet.

There was something for every musical taste. There were five stages set up across the town, at times it was difficult to figure out which artist to check out, however it seemed that all the performers gave their all and each stage brought the same diversity and variety to the complete the festivals goal. We enjoyed many of the acts on the Variety Stage such as Ska band Childlike Faith and rock bands John Trainor Trio and Cubane.


The festival was met with a small amount of controversy over one of the head lining performers, film director John Waters, who performed his "This Filthy World" lecture at the festival. He had about 100 people at his venue - which was very far from the actual fesitval - so that wasn't too cool, but people said he was hilarious.

For such an amazing concept and goal behind a festival, the crowds were disappointing and sparse. The purpose of the festival was aimed at uniting different races, sexes and cultures through the diversity of the performing arts. Sounds so fabulous, right? Sadly, stages were awkwardly spread out and we felt bad for some of the bands that would be playing for 10 people in a tent at times. The bands that performed there were too good to keep hidden, it was a shame.

100 artists came out and played during the 12 hour day for this first ever performing arts festival. Local radio stations and food vendors came out to support the festival and PCM tasted some of the best crab cakes we've ever had there, that's for sure! The festival did a great job with how fast they would get bands on and off the stage; I'll give them that, it was very organized. We've highlighted some bands that completely blew us away.

We saw our good pal Ian Walsh perform with his drummer Cam Tyler on the emerging stage early in the afternoon. Note: When I saw emerging stage, it was really under an overhang outside a store on Main Street. C'mon, give these guys a little respect and put them somewhere elevated, right? The bassist of another local Delaware band, The Crash Motive, was even nice enough to play with Ian and Cam. They did a great set! You can check out our interview with Ian here, too!

We came across two bands that are a complete goldmine and deserve some attention. The Kelly Bell Band and The Grilled Lincolns were by far some of the best acts we saw that day! They were almost too talented to be playing at that festival - some bands just have it. These two have that talent to the utmost degree!

The Kelly Bell Band mixes funk, blues and r&b into a killer sound. The band is fronted by a charismatic and entertaining lead singer (complete with a head of long dreadlocks) who seriously has MAJOR stage presence. This man talks and everyone listens. The Baltimore, MD based band has a MySpace that we're begging you to check out, these guys have some serious talent and are amazing live. Bands like The Kelly Bell Band are the reason why we love live music so much. We felt their love of music come through their music and they completely rocked us to the bone, man!

As we sat in the tent, Julie saw a woman wearing this cool t-shirt. It was the head of Abraham Lincoln with a stripe covering his eyes that said, "The Grilled Lincolns." How creative! Little did she know, she'd want that same t-shirt by the end of this band's set! The Grilled Lincoln's have performing live down pat - they have every aspect of a killer band covered. An amazing guitarist/lead singer, a white boy that can actually pull off hip-hop and a super talented drummer. Their secret weapon? The - Pop Culture Madness

The members of The Grilled Lincolns are not content to be pigeonholed into a single musical genre – they prefer to play the music they like, regardless of what category it falls under. They also aren’t big on emulating other artists. Those are two of the reasons why Raised by Wolves, the new album from the Baltimore-based quartet, is both original and entertaining.



The album is colored with many different sounds including funky bass lines, tight electric guitar riffs and touches of everything from reggae to soul and hip hop. There’s no doubt that Riddie Becker, Mike Bakke, Robbie Dubois and Freddie Hill can play a wide array of styles and they prove that The Grilled Lincolns is a force to be reckoned with on the local music scene with this debut effort.



One of the highlights of Raised by Wolves is the use of hip hop lead vocals on “Musical Retirement,” “I’m Gone” and the title track. But while these tracks are good, my single favorite song on the album is “Hit It from the Side,” an old school, smooth soul jam about the band’s favorite sexual exploits. The lyrics are hilarious to start with, but they are made even funnier when you combine them with the seriousness of the straight soul groove and the superb harmony vocals that punctuate the chorus refrains – truly great stuff!

-Greg Yost
- Music Monthly

A few years ago, a couple of mediocre college students started playing music together in a basement with no real goal in mind, other than to play music. Each person brought their own different tastes, styles, interests and influences to the table and made a pact to only play what they liked. A few years, hundreds of shows, thousands of miles, multiple recordings and no diplomas later, the band still exists, and has never stopped growing. The first song was performed in 2001, and the line up that currently hits the stage first did so in 2003.
Through extensive touring they have created a live show that doesn’t adhere to any set of rules of guidelines. It’s standard to hear a Rock song followed by a Hip-hop song, followed by a reggae song, then a blues jam, then drum and bass, or funk, or jazz, or any imaginable combination.
Touring is always on the group's mind.
"I think in 2008 we are really hoping for a tour van that is under 20 years old and doesn't break down," said vocalist Riddie Becker in a recent interview. "We really like the touring and we want to a lot of it in 2008. But, it would be great to have a new van."
One only has to listen to some of their music to appreciate the level of energy this band has. According to Becker, the hard times have only made the group stronger.
"All of the bands and artists go through those tough time," he said. "The times when you are playing just for the fun of it and because you believe in the music. Those times can just make you stronger."
Becker noted the real joy of making music is in watching the fans when the group plays.
"It's the best part of everything," he said.
They have wailed 70’s rock solos in Hip-Hop clubs, and rapped about Drinking 40’s in Biker bars and lived to tell the
tale.
"Yea, the first time we played in a biker bar we were, like, what's going to happen next," Becker said. "Once we got playing, they loved it. Everything was great."
Since the release of their first “official” full-length album “Raised by Wolves” in 2005, The Grilled Lincolns have become a legitimate contender in the East Coast music scene.
Looking to tour this summer, The Grilled Lincolns are ready to take their music to new heights and new towns.
"We have played New York before and we love it," Becker said. "We want to play everywhere and so we are looking at making a tour that gets our music out to more people."
Fans of the group are die-hard followers and the reviews the group has received are all favorable.
In listening to the music, you can feel the energy, belief in the art, and the desire to follow a dream, all the way through.
Focused and committed, the group is ready to take their music to the next level.


- www.indienetnews.com