They may not be dropping out of helicopters on their way to their next gig, yet, but things have been going rather well for the Griswolds. After stellar EP Heart of a Lion helped them receive international attention and a record deal with United States label Wind-Up records, the Griswolds have leapt out of the gate with their first single from debut album Be Impressive. When Fly caught up with frontman Chris Whitehall, the song, called Beware The Dog, was sitting at No 18 on the American Billboard Alternative Songs charts.
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"Its so crazy, honestly," Whitehall says. "You never know what to expect when you put a song out there and for it to be slowly climbing these charts and now hitting number 18, that's an insane feeling for a bunch of Sydney blokes that never really thought we'd do anything outside of our bedrooms."
Wishing they were back on Australian soil after a three-month stint overseas, the band were enjoying a 25-hour drive to Los Angeles toward a final show in San Diego. Keen to get home and show audiences what they have learned while away, they are beside themselves with how things are going. "We're always stuck in the awe phase where our jaws are on the floor, [thinking] like, holy crap, this is the most amazing journey we could possibly ask for," Whitehall says. "It's unbelievable. Honestly. I always wanted to see the world, and to see it and do something you love doing at the same time, it's a dream come true for us."
The long player Be Impressive was produced by Tony Hoffer, a hero of the band, who produced some of their favourite albums - like Beck's Midnight Vultures, Phoenix's Alphabetical and the Kooks' first two albums (Inside In/Inside Out and Konk). Whitehall says when they all got in the studio together it was like working with a best friend who pushed and challenged the band to make the songs the best they could possibly be.
"He was an absolute genius, a freaky genius to work alongside. It was very cool".
Discussing what the album title Be Impressive represents, Whitehall says it was a concept that in the end became something the band used to free them up from the pressures of recording their debut album.
"The album really was such a stressful time for us because we had this amazing producer on board," he says. "We chose him thinking we weren't going to get him. And then he was telling us to bring 30 songs to the studio in Los Angeles when we recorded. And we just didn't have that many songs. We were freaking out, we were stressing that we didn't have enough good songs. And then it got to this point with the writing, where it was like everyone in our team was forcing on us that we had to be impressive, like we had to make this amazing album that was going to sell millions of copies. And we just went screw it, we'll just write an album that we want to write, have fun with it and try and relieve ourselves of some of that pressure of trying to write an amazing debut album."
The 'be impressive' thing became more or less a joke.
"There is such a standard that everyone wants you to be impressive with anything that you do, to get anywhere. And we were like, we're going to free ourselves of that pressure and write music the old way like we used to when we wrote the EP. In our bedroom having a goodtime and having a couple of drinks with some friends. And that's what we did."
Who: The Griswolds
Where: Zierholz @ UC
When: Saturday 27 September
Tickets: $18.40 uclive.oztix.com.au
