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BGS 5+5: Granville Automatic

Nov 8, 2018

BGS 5+5: Granville Automatic

Artist: Granville Automatic
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Latest album: Radio Hymns
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): We really thought we were going to call the band The Sound of Yesterday.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use ā€œyouā€ when it’s actually ā€œmeā€?

Vanessa Olivarez: The fun thing about Granville is that most times, we arenā€™t writing about ourselves. Itā€™s fun to dive into someone elseā€™s human experience and imagine that itā€™s your own. I think as writers, we get tired of scribing the same love song over and over again in a different way … so sometimes itā€™s a good brain workout to shift the focus onto another topic. Iā€™ve written from the perspective of mothers, soldiers, pieces of furniture, ghosts, lovers, and the like, and I feel like it gives me a greater appreciation for those stories Iā€™m trying to honor. However, if you knew my life and its ins and outs, you would definitely hear all of the hidden personal feelings and thoughts within those characters. I guess you have to read between the lines!

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

VO: My rituals are sort of non-rituals. More just habitual peculiarities, like my weird motorboat warm ups, and long looping sirens, and going to the car to run (and visualize) my first song, and never eating before I sing. I also drink a ton of room temperature water and gargle it to the tune of whatever to kick-start my vox. Iā€™m actually a very nervous performer, so I tend to get relatively quiet before I jump on stage for fear of working myself up too much. Once I get through the first song, itā€™s usually all bets off. I often channel the nerves into saying whatever comes into my head at any given moment … which can be either a blast or really horrifying depending on who you ask. Oh. And always lipstick on stage!!

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

VO: I would say the moment I knew I wanted to be a musician was the moment I figured out I could sing. I used to give performances for my Grandma in her living room from the time I was about 2 years old. Iā€™d sing to Rainbow Brite, or blast my favorite record Sheā€™s So Unusual, and my Grandma always let me indulge in whatever ridiculous routine Iā€™d put together for her. Iā€™ve always had an affinity for music, the stage, and an audience. I donā€™t think that kind of thing is something you acquire, but something youā€™re born with. As a performer, the love you have for making people laugh, or cry, or just feel something never really disappears. That feeling is addictive.

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc — inform your music?

Elizabeth Elkins: People who create in other mediums fascinate me. I like hanging around writers, painters, architects, etc. Weā€™re all just trying to tell stories in different ways. Since we often write about history, there are plenty of history books that were the spark for these songs. I often think Iā€™m just a very frustrated novelist.

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

EE: We really hope these songs are a gateway drug for people to remember stories from the past. Iā€™ve always said this band is going to be a slow burn, but, in the end, I know we will have a collection of albums that truly have something to say.


Photo credit: Holly J Haroz

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BGS 5+5: Granville Automatic
BGS 5+5: Granville Automatic