Great times up in Vermont last weekend... always fun to be in Burlington, and it was great to play Red Square again. We were bummed the rain didn't hold off, so we couldn't play the outdoor stage, but that just means we'll have to come back up this Summer to rock it outside! Thanks to everyone who came out to the show and those who bought our CDs! Always awesome to connect with new fans and spread our music!
We had fun raging at the Pig this past weekend. Thanks to all who came out! We haven't been up to the North Shore in a while so it felt great to be back. Also fun playing with Brandon Mayes, who was filling in for Dave Fox on drums. More dates in Salem are underway this Summer so check out our calendar and we hope to see you again soon!
Hey loyal Gravelites! Check out some new videos and recent gig pics over on the Media page!
We're currently updating our YouTube Channel and are aggressively on the lookout for your videos. Shaky cell phone stuff is encouraged! Especially where massive jams are involved...
Give a shout here and we'll throw them on the site. You may even get a free t-shirt (when we have them... heh.) Connect with TGP over at YouTube and "Subscribe".
Peace.
“Gritty and sophisticated” would also be a fair description of The Gravel Project’s sound on their second CD, “Live at the Red Parka Pub,” which appeared this March.
The album mixes blues, funk and jazz in a musical range that includes Muddy Waters and the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers and Israel Tolbert, in addition to several original songs.
Kicking back today on this snowy day after a productive and fun couple weekend with the band.. Strange Brew on Friday night was a blast, and thanks to everyone for coming out and showing support!
And yesterday was an extremely productive day of mixing the first 3 tracks from the upcoming album. We cranked out final mixes of "In the Moonlight," "Blues for LA," and "Not the One," and it is sounding killin'!! Metronome Studio is the real deal too.. They've got some of the best mixing gear in New England at their gem of a studio, tucked away in Brookline, NH.
Pete Peloquin who frequently works with Government Mule, Robben Ford, and John Scofield mixed the tracks, and it was a pleasure working with Pete. We'll be mastering the tracks tomorrow and throwing them up on Soundcloud this week, so stay tuned!!
Woke up this morning still thinking about our show last night at Smoken Joe's in Brighton... awesome time! Nice to see a few familiar faces and great to meet some new fans!
We always try to play more straight up blues tunes at this venue since it's a blues bar, but we also got into some new experimental improvisations.
Thanks to guests Tucker Antell on saxophone and Sven Larsen on bass...
Always a pleasure to invite our friends up to jam with us!
Back from Sugarloaf after rocking The WidowMaker Lounge on Friday (1/11) and Saturday (1/12)... man we had a blast! We really felt everyone's appreciation for the music, which served as a great source of inspiration. Also definitely feeling peoples' love for the jam.. Brad, Dave and I really stretched a lot of songs out in some fresh new ways, and I think we even surprised ourselves with some of the improvisations.
It's always fun to travel to new places and play music for new crowds, and we felt a strong connection to the Maine ski crowd. We're already looking forward to coming back several times next year!
Thanks to everyone who came out to see us this weekend!
It's been a great fall... hope this finds all of you well! We're in the process of completing a radical new site redesign... check back soon for tracks from the new album and deets about our upcoming spring/summer tour! We'll be touring the Northeast, from Boston to Burlington, VT and many parts in-between, with dates in Florida, NYC and LA. Excited to hook up with you guys this summer... spread the love!
Peace.
“Gritty” and “sophisticated” are two terms you wouldn’t normally use to describe the same thing.
But that’s how Marblehead native Andrew Gravel, 30, guitarist and lead singer of The Gravel Project, characterizes his band’s bass player, Vaughn Brathwaite.
“He’s just absolutely fantastic,” Gravel said, “one of the best bass players I’ve heard. He’s got more of a sophisticated and more gritty, funky sound. But he also has an incredible knowledge of harmony.”
“Gritty and sophisticated” would also be a fair description of The Gravel Project’s sound on their second CD, “Live at the Red Parka Pub,” which appeared this March.
The album mixes blues, funk and jazz in a musical range that includes Muddy Waters and the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers and Israel Tolbert, in addition to several original songs.
Brathwaite has been playing with Gravel and drummer Dave Fox for about a year and a half now. These three, who will play tonight on Mahi Mahi Cruises in Salem Harbor, usually appear as a power trio but are sometimes joined by guitarist Brad Barrett.
When he started his band in 2010 and recorded his first CD, Gravel, who graduated from Marblehead High School in 2000, was using a different lineup. But as the musicians have changed, the band’s sound has evolved, and Gravel likes what he hears.
“I think we have a fresh, new sound,” he said. “I think the cornerstone of who we are as a band is improvisation. We might not be playing bebop, but the mentality is to create something different every night.”
This is evident on “Live at the Red Parka Pub,” which draws from two nights’ performances in Glen, N.H., and features a number of energetic guitar solos.
“It’s never the same solo every night,” Gravel said. “Even with cover songs, they are platforms for improvisations.”
The three Gravel originals on the CD, one of which was written with fellow Marbleheader Caleb Warren, also make room for some extended guitar work.
But the lyrics of “Dollar Bill,” in addition, express Gravel’s alarm over some current events: the economic meltdown of 2008 and the recession that followed.
“I joke sometimes during gigs that I thought it would be irrelevant some years later,” he said. “It was just written out of frustration for everything going on around us. Everybody was getting greedy. What are people’s priorities really about?”
If “Dollar Bill” has a clear message, “Blues for LA” sometimes misleads listeners into thinking that Gravel must really love Los Angeles.
“Everybody asks that, but it’s not about California. It’s about a girl whose initials are L.A.,” he said.
Gravel has traveled far from the North Shore for extended periods of time, but his longest trips were in the other direction from the West Coast.
“I spent two years in London,” from 2004 to 2006, he said. “There’s a really good blues scene over there, where I honed my blues repertoire and sound. I did a blues festival in the south of France and toured around Sicily with a band.”
Gravel has also studied guitar privately, with Bruce Bartlett, a professor at Berklee College of Music.
“He’s a North Shore guy,” Gravel said. “He’s an encyclopedia.”
The Gravel Project is working on another studio album now, which should be ready in early 2013. In the meantime, the band will appear in Salem, around the North Shore and in Glen, N.H., over the next few months.
“There’s definitely a crowd out there,” Gravel said, “that likes to listen to a bluesy, funky kind of thing.”
THE GRAVEL PROJECT A few upcoming local performances: Tonight: Mahi Mahi Cruises, 7:30 to 9:30, board at Pickering Wharf, 23 Congress St., Salem. $15. www.mahicruises.com, 978-825-0001. Saturday, Sept. 15: The Landing, 81 Front St., Marblehead. 8:30 p.m. 781-639-1266. Saturday, Oct. 13: In a Pig's Eye, 148 Derby St., Salem. 9 p.m. 978-741-4436 More information: www.thegravelproject.com
