It's a rare thing in popular music to find a band that not only has a sense of musical history where it comes from but also where it's going. Grammatrain is certainly one such group.
Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Grammatrain -- comprised of Pete Stewart (guitar, vocals) and brothers Paul Roraback (drums) and Dalton Roraback (bass) -- knows what kind of a band it is and what kind it is not. "We just write the kind of music we like," says Stewart. "We enjoy bending genres together and not fitting into just one category. We all certainly were and are influenced by bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden, but no more than by The Beatles or Rush." Dalton adds, "All of what we listen to shows up in our music. You might hear influences of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, R.E.M. or Pink Floyd."
On Flying, Stewart and the brothers Roraback deliver a potent musical attack. The trio plays with reckless abandon and ruthless intensity, equal to the pointed, hard-hitting lyrics. The title track, for example, mixes Pete's love of the allegorical writings of C.S. Lewis with the music of The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour/Sgt. Pepper era. Pete calls the song "Jonah," which kicks off the album, " a song that is a cry of desperation, and at the same time, a claim of hope." "Less of Me," which is based on internal conflicts and self-evaluation, is a track that Stewart mentions as a favorite.
On the other end of the spectrum, there's the driving "Rocketship," a challenge to take a look at your personal problems and those of the world from a spiritual point of view. "We wrote a lot of this album on the road," explains Pete, "and when you're on tour, your mood changes constantly, with all the unrest and instability that comes with the territory. So one week, we'd be in the mood to write a heavy song like 'Rocketship,' and the next, we'd be in the mood to write a more artsy song like 'Flying.' I enjoy pushing the envelope of what a 'modern rock' band is supposed to be."
Stewart feels that perhaps the defining moment of Flying and of what Grammatrain stands for can be heard on the song "Pain." "This song sounded philosophical to me from the beginning, so I let my wandering, philosophical brain do the writing. To me the issue of pain vs. faith is so important, because if we couldn't deal with that subject and ponder it, we'd be ignoring an essential question that begs an answer from inside all of us. Everyone feels pain, and everyone has doubts. The powerful thing about Christianity is that it stands up to every question and every test that it can be put to. That's what makes it truth."
The history of Grammatrain dates back to the first meeting of Pete and Paul, at the home of fellow Seattle musician Michael Bloodgood. Strangely enough, Paul recalls, he and Dalton had never before been in the same band. "Our parents had been nagging us to play together in a band for years, but for some reason, it just never worked out. Of course now they're thrilled!"
In the fall of 1994, the band issued a self-titled indie CD, which captured the attention of several labels. Record executive Eddie DeGarmo heard a track from that CD on a Nashville station, and knew that Grammatrain needed to be with ForeFront Records.
Unprecedented media support (Billboard, Time, Rolling Stone, Spin, etc...) and relentless touring helped make the band's ForeFront debut, Lonely House, one of the most popular hard music albums to hit the racks in many years. In fact, the album received numerous nomination for Best Modern Rock/Alternative Album in 1996. Songs such as "Believe," "She Don't Know" and "Execution" won Grammatrain thousands of fans at both radio and retail. In addition, the video for "Believe" received a nomination from the Billboard Music Video Awards in 1996.
And critical mass is already building for Flying. Pete Stewart says the band again spent a great deal of time laboring over the lyrics. "I'm very unsatisfied with lyrics which aren't clever, so as a result, I have to re-write my lyrics until I feel like I'm not gonna be ashamed of them later. We put so much effort into our music that to put less effort into the lyrics would be a horrid crime. We always try to deliver the most inspiring and thought-provoking lyrics we can produce."
Discography
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