Category — interview

With all the touring the band has been doing over the past several years, Potter has completed a large number of songs that haven’t made it onto an album yet. “I am always writing. I like writing without thinking about where it’s going to go. We probably have 30 or more songs that are in various states and aren’t on one of our albums. Some are done, some are in pieces, and some are just plain bad,” she chuckled. “They are my little orphan songs.”

Those “orphan songs” may be on their own for now but they were born by a good mother who counts among her primary influences The Godfather of Grunge. “Neil Young has been a huge influence on me. Even back when I was doing solo gigs on my tinkery little piano in a coffee house I was playing ‘Old Man’ and songs from Harvest. As the band grew, I got way more into the Crazy Horse stuff and got very excited about the idea that there is a way to be dynamic and tasteful and still really hard edged. I love the line that Neil walks between nervous breakdown and total consciousness. That’s been my mantra in writing songs. I try to keep that balance at all times.”

from an article by Timothy Dwenger.

Read the whole article here.

From the Bangor Daily News.

“I don’t know as there even is really a jam scene. I think it’s just a brotherhood of bands that are road warriors. That are willing to stay out on the road all year long,” said Potter, 24. “You make appearances at festivals, and the tie-dyes are gonna show up. But unlike other scenes, the jam scene has embraced all kinds of people. Older fans that are in their 60s now, with record collections that kick the ass of any intern at Rolling Stone, are totally digging on it.”

Our Maine friends can speak out but, having lived there for eight years myself I’ll chime in. Mainers really appreciate their entertainment. Here’s to a great show in Skowhegan.

We’ve finally got a bit of video from Q&A session that the band participated in back in Lebanon, NH.

The band was asked about touring and life on the road - how are they handling the strain. Grace quoted Robbie Robertson by saying “It’s a goddamn impossible way of life” (from “The Last Waltz”) then followed it up with this . . .

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - Lebanon, NH Q&A - Touring from K Cortez on Vimeo.

If you remember, the “This is Episode 3″ brought up the looming specter of a vocal problem for Grace. Here’s the hilarious response to that one.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - Lebanon, NH Q&A - Voice Worries from K Cortez on Vimeo.

Robbie Robertson quote from the Last Waltz after the jump
[Read more →]

Part I

Part II

Spot the Ray LaMontagne joke.

A wild and wacky interview with Grace and Scott at Langerado. This is Rock ‘N Roll. Click on a screen capture to watch, listen and learn be entertained.

T. Rex (Marc Bolan) fashion advice

From Beautiful Noise via Cursed Monkey Paw.

Here’ Triumph at “Spin Alley” during the last presidential election.

Grace Potter discusses early influences.

Found at Cursed Monkey Paw. Hopefully, the monkey paw man will name the source of this for us.

From Harp Magazine
Read Grace’s thoughts behind her choices at the link.

• Neil Young “Ohio”
• Billie Holiday “Strange Fruit”
• Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On”
• The Rolling Stones “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
• Rage Against the Machine “Killing in the Name”

Plus, um, uh, ok, I got nothing. Grace wraps herself in the flag, literally.

“What are you protesting”
“What have you got”

Photo Credit: Russ Harrington via Harp Magazine. Looks like a slideshow of the photo shoot was supposed to exist on the site but I’m getting errors.