Grand National 'Kicking The National Habit' album

Recall Records is pleased to announce the highly anticipated North American release of Grand National's Kicking The National Habit. Released on February 21, 2006, the North American package will feature seven bonus tracks not available on the original UK release, including remixes by Sasha and The Glimmers. Also added is a bonus video for "Drink To Moving On," directed by Ramon & Pedro.

For those in the know, Grand National (AKA Rupert Lyddon and Lawrence "La" Rudd) is a band to watch. Even without a proper U.S. record release, the act's debut Kicking The National Habit has found a cult following stateside. Some of America's finest publications are also singing the early praise. URB featured the act as one of the NEXT 100 acts to watch in 2005, while BPM recently featured Grand National alongside The Killers, The Bravery and New Order as part of its special dance / rock issue. Esteemed publications including Spin, Billboard and CMJ have also written glowingly about the act, while influential radio stations including the world famous KCRW have provided early spins.

America is only beginning to learn what much of the world has already known for quite some time - this band has "it." Grand National's sound is unique, evoking equal measures of The Police, The Happy Mondays, and New Order, while maintaining an originality all the while. There's mass appeal here too, from the rockers, to the reggae fans, to the dance heads, and, dare we say, a pop hook or two. Live, a full six-piece band ensures that standout tracks like "Drink To Moving On," "Peanut Dreams," "Playing In The Distance" and "Cherry Tree" vividly come to life.

2005 has seen great success for Grand National. The band is approaching star status in the U.K. and Australia, with France going especially crazy over the band (Sofia Coppola and Kirsten Dunst were spotted in the front row at a summer Paris gig.) Additionally, the band's original music has appeared in popular television shows including CSI: MIAMI, SIX FEET UNDER, and ENTOURAGE, while a remix of "Talk Amongst Yourselves" was the first (and standout) track on Sasha's critically acclaimed Involver CD.

Biography

Every so often a group comes along that combines all the best music you grew up with together with a giddy hunger to push the envelope forwards into the future. That combine the angular guitars, pounding basslines and heady euphoria of New Order and the Happy Mondays with the metropolitan nouse and witty introspection of bands like Blur. Grand National are that band.

So, who are the mysterious boys behind this intoxicating noise? Step forward Rupert Lyddon and Lawrence “La” Rudd, two young men who have come to rescue us from karaoke pabulum and prefab retro garage rock; to add a little fresh luster to our lives with their thrillingly strange yet simply compelling melodies.

La - an ebullient 28-year-old with a nose ring from Weston-Super-Mare, and his 29-year-old, more reserved other musical half, who comes from Amersham, Bucks - aren't new to this game. Actually, they've been playing either solo or in various outfits for years. Rupert's musical career began when he was 12, while La was, from the age of 13, in a Police cover band, in which the precocious brat managed both the Sting (vocals) and Stewart Copeland (drums) parts - oddly, his dad, a ventriloquist-cum-comedian who swapped jokes with comedians Ken Dodd and the late, great Bob Monkhouse, was also a drummer who encouraged his son to take drumming lessons as soon as he could walk and took him to see percussion legend Buddy Rich in concert when he was six. La was hooked, and not just because he liked the beat.

“At school, the hard boys got the girls, and I was only medium hard,” he explains, “so I played the drums and started getting girls. Problem was, the hard boys got jealous and punched me on the nose.” To toughen up, La found work on a building site. With his hands immersed in concrete, he would compose melodies and lyrics in his head, then transfer them later onto a Dictaphone. Rupert, meanwhile, was at the University Of Swansea. One summer, a mate suggested they head off to the West Coast of America. So, by day, he studied at the Musicians' Institute, and by night he pulled women and watched L.A. burn during the Rodney King riots of '93.

It wasn't until Rupert and La both moved to London that they hooked up and began honing their instrumental skills on the covers circuit. One day, fate intervened to propel them to the next level. Rupert, who was at this point delivering meat for a living, turned up with some prime cuts at a recording studio in Hampstead that happened to be temporary home to Primal Scream during sessions for Xtrmntr. The Scream and Rupert struck up a friendship and soon the young musician found himself being offered free
studio time.

This provided the self-confessed technophile with the opportunity to use the state-of-the-art studio gadgetry and apply his growing expertise to some of the material he and La had been acquiring since they began writing together in earnest three years ago. The first song they wrote in tandem, before they had even arrived at the name Grand National, on January 3, 2001, was a track called “Playing In The Distance”, which appeared last November on their debut EP, fittingly titled EP1 - incidentally, one of the Single Of The Week in NME.

After “Playing In The Distance”, and with the name Grand National in place, songs came thick and fast. La and Rupert were responsible for most of the instrumental chores, as well as the production and arrangements. Other musicians have been utilized since only very sparingly by the versatile pair: a little assistance on drums perhaps, a horn solo here or a bass part there. Mostly, though, the richly textured Grand National sound is down to La and Rupert.

“People are surprised there are only two of us. Most of our tracks sound like a band,” says Rupert, although he admits they will tour as a six-piece. “Most bands have just two strong characters anyway, and most classic songs were written by two people,” they say, citing great partnerships from Lennon & McCartney and Jagger-Richards to Morrissey-Marr. “Any more than two and it gets diluted.”

As for Grand National's music, they argue that it has an ambiguous quality: “There's a duality to it. It's half-light. Melancholic. British people do that well.” But it can get confusing, as La explains. “Bands like The Smiths weren't depressing, that's bollocks - they were uplifting. New Order, too - that's celebratory music.”

Their debut album, Kicking The National Habit, is as luscious and lacerating as it can get: “Drink To Moving On” features ringing guitar and some pleasantly laid-back singing from La that sounds like Sting in a trance. La came up with the bittersweet melody - “It's a cross between New Order's “Regret” and The Flaming Lips' “Race For The Prize,” he explains. “Talk Amongst Yourselves” has deep harmonies, an electronic synth line, and choppy rhythm guitar that is pure Bernard Sumner via Nile Rodgers of Chic. “Playing In The Distance” was described by Uncut magazine as like “'Roxanne” meets “Born Slippy”
with Alan Rankine of Associates on keyboards.” “Boner”, a brilliant blast of neo-ska that betrays a love of The Police, The Specials and The Beat, is “about that ghastly 3pm feeling.” Last track on what would have been side one is “Peanut Dreams”, one of the first songs La and Rupert wrote after “Playing In The Distance”. The bassline and guitar are like some dream meeting between Dr. Dre and Joy Division.

“Side two” kicks off with “Cherry Tree”, an ode to one-night-stands with a huge pop chorus, a guitar sound that recalls early-'80s The Edge and a lyric that goes, “Baptize my fries and capsize into everything/I stole your berries...” Huh? “It's a surreal way of saying, 'Let's get nuts deep',” explains Rupert, adding: “Sorry, mum.” “Coming Round” is another hit single from a parallel universe where decent - i.e. weird, accessible - pop music gets in the charts. “Daylight Goes”, about “getting someone you know out of the doldrums”, features what sound like kettle drums, a Peter Hook-esque low-slung bassline and a bizarre reference to the actor Richard Harris. “North Sound Off” suggests the direction The Police should have taken after their best album, Regatta De Blanc. Finally, “Litter Bin” - about “watching a mate go nuts” - is exquisite: imagine AR Kane and Talk Talk jamming in pop heaven, all shimmering guitars and aching chord changes.

It's a gorgeous coda to what will undoubtedly be regarded as one of the key recordings of 2006. Just grand.

Do you also would like to share your opinion? If so, please register or login here.

Details

Popular Songs

New Songs

Tracklisting

Grand National - Kicking The National Habit