The Guggenheim Grotto have amassed critical kudos abroad, for which many other bands would hand over their copyright, writes Tony Clayton-Lea.
IF THERE IS a prize for a band that has achieved a modicum of success without selling their souls, then Co Dublin's The Guggenheim Grotto might just get it.
Despite the fact that founding member Kevin May makes certain ends meet by playing in band combos he'd rather not talk about (the words "weddings", "funerals" and "bar mitzvahs" are whispered), there's a strong sense of integrity about the band that refuses to splinter. Another member, Shane Power, works outside the confines of the band as a general booker/promoter/ind-ustry factotum in a rural music venue, but manages to leave it all behind him when the band are on tour. Third member Mick Lynch may or may not be in a similar position. He is not present at the interview venue, Naul's Seamus Ennis Centre, but we can safely assume he is not resting on his financial laurels back at home in downtown Dublin.
It's the quiet ones you have to watch out for, and it seems that The Guggenheim Grotto have, virtually silently, amassed the kind of critical kudos (outside Ireland, at least) that many of their contemporaries would hand over their copyright for. Talk to a selection of people in Ireland about the band and the response will be one of the following: ignorance or bewilderment. The band name might not work in their favour in this country, but in America they are making the kind of friends that believe in long-term relationships.
Theirs is the kind of moderate success story that normally one might be sceptical about; we've all heard of the "Big in Japan-type" scenarios that some bands propagate in the hope of creating hype around their own sense of importance. In The Guggenheim Grotto's case, the story is concrete. To date, their music has been used in four US television shows ( Brothers and Sisters, Six Degrees, One TreeHill and Men in Trees) and one movie ( The Education of Charlie Banks, the directorial debut of Fred Durst, formerly of Limp Bizkit; admittedly, this does not inspire too much hope, but one never knows, and besides, coverage is coverage).
One GG track, Told You So, is featured on the Starbucks compilation, Across the Pond, which includes handpicked "best and brightest" acts such as Amy Winehouse, Damien Rice, The Feeling, Lily Allen, Paulo Nutini, KT Tunstall and Corinne Bailey Rae.
Say what you want about Starbucks, but that kind of line-up mixed with that kind of widespread commercial spread is something that someone with a bad head cold shouldn't even think of sneezing at.
The band have been around in some shape or form for over five years, having met and bonded via an EP, a Dublin recording studio and a mutual interest in wanting to create music of value. Their debut album, Waltzing Alone, was released two years ago; unlike the vast majority of Irish releases its design and packaging was elaborate and thoughtful. Ornate, even. In other words, they must have spent a pretty sum on it. Why?
"We weren't going to throw it together artlessly and see how it flew," says Kevin May. "It was more like I had total belief that it would compete and was as good as a lot of albums from established acts. I wanted to present something solid that said that the packaging had to reflect the care and attention to detail that went into the music. The other thing was that there was a small bit of a vanity project in the presentation. I like vinyl albums, the covers, and I thought it would be a good addition to the vast canon of music out there -a record encased in something that wasn't a throwaway, half-arsed package."
"We're probably of the last generation that remembers their big brother's vinyl record collection," adds Shane Power. "These days you more or less have to go to a website to get the information, the images, the lyrics. We just thought it would be great to bring some of that vinyl album/cover sleeve aesthetic back."
The attention to detail, the presentation of design, is not, according to May, a band manifesto. "But we certainly don't do anything haphazardly; when it comes to recording we don't throw stuff down quickly. We each have a background in classical music, so we put a lot of attention and detail into everything we do."
The band is putting the finishing touches to their second album, Happy the Man, and scheduling it for release in June. Irish dates will be played throughout May, June and July in support. Yet there's a nagging feeling that Ireland isn't necessarily on their radar- or could it be that The Guggenheim Grotto aren't on Ireland's radar? Certainly, Irish radio appears to have given the band a rain check, and we don't hear any of their music on any home-generated television shows or series. The way the band tell it, their presence on US television shows is a mixture of symbiosis, synchronicity, hard work and good luck.
"It really started when Damien Rice mentioned a track of ours as one of his favourites in Mojo magazine," explains May. "It did well on the internet from that, and then it got into the hands of presenters on radio stations in LA and Philadelphia. We were still touring in Ireland at that time (2006), yet we were getting e-mails from people in Santa Monica and Philadelphia, saying they were hearing our music on the radio."
A gig (one of their worst performances, according to May and Power, each wincing at the memory of it) at the music industry shindig South by Southwest brought the band to the attention of US indie label UFO; this in turn introduced them to a music publisher in Los Angeles and a booking agent in Michigan.
If all of this sounds very fancy, think again. "We're all very realistic about things," states Power. "I've been knocking around for years and when I met up with Kevin and Mick I connected with their approach of just wanting to make great work and wanting to make records. Yes, it sounds very glamorous when you say you've toured the States three times in the past year or so, but in reality it isn't. We drive ourselves around, and any money that's made we put back in. That said, we are doing all right, things are taking shape nicely."
Have the band's initial ambitions been achieved? Being musicians instead of sensible, sane people, May isn't so sure that they were ever clear in their heads about what their aims actually were. "It starts out when you pick up a guitar - you want to play it well and you want people to like you. After that, you just want to make great music. We don't think of what we do in music model terms.
"No one will lament the fact that artists now know a lot more about their business, are more educated about it - but what I find a real shame is that artists, talented niche artists, aren't being hooked up with good engineers, good contacts."
The Guggenheim Grotto start a nationwide tour on May 6th. Their new single,Waking up in America , is available to download exclusively from iTunes from May 2nd and their new album,Happy the Man , will be on Shellac in June. See http://www.myspace.com/guggenheimgrotto