Old Grandad

Listening to this band made me pause and reflect on why I like stoner metal. I am not a stoner by any means, though I tend to get along with them really well. I’m probably the only person in Vancouver who doesn’t know a dealer. I’m not much of a drinker most of the time and I don’t smoke cigarettes either. In fact, if you were to compare me to all the 25 year olds in the world, I might possibly be the most boring. I work in a gray and white office 9 hours a day, and sometimes I go to shows by myself, as I don’t know anyone in this city who likes metal. Where I stand awkwardly in an inconspicuous location of the venue, worrying it’s blaringly obvious I’m alone.

I also tend to worry a lot. About everything. See above. And I think that’s why I love stoner metal. When I’m listening to a slow, heavy repetitive riff with maybe a few melodies mixed in to keep me awake, I’m not worried about anything. Which is really nice. Old Grandad is a stoner metal band from the bay area. The Archives say “death metal” but I don’t hear that at all. Also, I found a really weird interview with the bassist, Max Burnett that might be of interest if you’re really high as you’re reading this.

The first song on their Myspace, “6th Street Paradise”, I didn’t enjoy, It had a weird spoken section and sounded kind of sloppy to my untrained ears. The next two songs, “Animurcus” and “Bovine” are pretty good stoner metal. I liked them the most out of all the songs on the myspace. The drums seem really solid; I can say pretty confidently that the drummer has the best musicianship of the band. Interestingly, he’s listed as being the drummer for Machine Head at some point, as well as a ton of other bands.

“Bovine” even sort of reminded me of Clutch from the Transnational Speedway League era at times. I can definitely hear a punk influence too. Then came “You’ll Never Know”, which is pretty terrible. I wish I knew more about songs like this so I could compare it to something. It’s not stoner metal.. Weird grunge maybe? To me, it sucks. “Don’t Call me a Deadhead” is live, sounds a lot like punk, and hints that maybe they bring something to their live performances that makes them special. It’s pretty full of energy and sounds awesome.

The last two songs, “Fear” and “Deadbeat” are more stoner sludge; Deadbeat has a different vocal style that’s cleaner than most of the other songs, as well as a pretty nice guitar solo. Actually, most of the songs on the Myspace sound like they are experimenting with different sounds and styles. I can’t fault them for that; Clutch is notorious for that and does it well. Old Grandad definitely has some misses, though.

I would love this band if every song they stuck to the same style found on “Animurcus” and “Bovine”. Plus, I think seeing them live would help a lot. Sadly, both of those songs were released between 1997-1999, and the one I really hated is from their most recent release, “Hocus Corpus” from 2005. All in all, I couldn’t call them solid, but I would say they’re diverse. The more I listen to a few of the songs (Deadbeat, for example), the more they’re growing on me. I think they’re worth a listen, especially if you’re inclined to stoner metal already.

Old Grandad on Myspace
Old Grandad on the Metal Archives