February 3, 2010

Remember Little Grizzly?

Eric Edward Fishboy, Texas native and Fishboy frontman, took a few minutes away from his busy schedule of writing quirky, knee-slapping numbers to remember one of his favorite underrated bands from the Lone Star State.

Little Grizzly The defunct band I’ve chosen to write about is a legendary Denton indie rock outfit that never seems to get enough credit: Little Grizzly. Realized as a full band in the late ’90s and breaking up in mid 2004 at the release show for their final of three excellent albums, Little Grizzly was one of the bands that made me choose to move to Denton and become part of the music scene.

When I first heard them, they seemed to be pegged as the younger more folk-tinged brothers of Denton mainstays Centro-Matic (a band whose members frequently appeared on LG records), and while they may have started out that way, they quickly developed into something greater. At their peak, they resembled a Clouds Taste Metallic era Flaming Lips led by a southern troubadour, or The Band with Keith Moon filling in on drums.

The live show featured a shouting/snarling/crying frontman slamming his fist into an acoustic guitar while the rest of the group literally shook the stage jumping up and down.

Since their breakup, the members have gone on to other projects: singer/songwriter George Neal now fronts The Slow Burners, keryboardist Howard Draper had stints in Okkervil River and Shearwater, and he now plays in Tre Orsi with LG guitarist/producer Matt Barnhart, who was also the mastermind behind the latest album by The New Year. His brother Jake is now in The Naptime Shake, and drummer Colin Carter played with the more-explosive-than-the-blues-explosion epic rock outfit known as Hogpig before moving to Seattle.

The band took the stage for a five-song reunion last week in Denton. I was, unfortunately, working.

Here are two songs from my favorite of their three albums, I’d Be Lying If I Said I Wasn’t Scared.

Little Grizzly – Today Is the Day
Little Grizzly – Mockingbird Classes

3 Responses to “Remember Little Grizzly?”

  1. On 02/3/10 12:40 PM, Art Ebie said:

    Most awesome.

  3. On 02/3/10 1:27 PM, john swenson said:

    ” the band with keith moon on drums” ??? saw them boys a few times, never saw anything like that…. grizzly was the heaviest rock band in denton but like most george neal projects way more angry than neccessary…..

  5. On 02/3/10 3:36 PM, Charles said:

    Yay Denton! Go team!

    Eniac was better though.

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