For the past couple of years, Australia has been experiencing a booming musical exodus. From Tame Impala to Chet Faker, the continent nation has gotten rather good at exporting hit-making indie electro-pop acts, and according to The Griswolds’ aussie frontman, Chris Whitehall, “It’s all thanks to the internet.”
The Griswolds formed just five years ago, and they’ve already played alongside Passion Pit, worked with legendary Grammy Award-winning producer Tony Hoffer and broken through Billboard’s U.S. charts. Mind you, they were able to pull all of that off with just one album, “Be Impressive,” and they seem to have taken their own advice.
Nonetheless, Whitehall told me over the phone yesterday evening, “We didn’t know anything back then. We were just so fresh.”
This past November, the band released their sophomore record, “High Times for Low Lives,” and now they’re taking it on the road. While they’re known for the anthemic, youthful sound that they cultivated with their debut album, according to Whitehall, the new album is much darker, deeper and it explores a lot more honest content. In short, they’ve learned a ton through personal experience, success and failure, which has allowed them to shed some of their naivete.
But it’s been a while since The Griswolds have done a big headlining tour, so when they play the Casbah on Sunday, Feb. 12, they’re going to try some things they’ve never tried before.
“We’re gonna put on a real performance, some real showmanship,” Whitehall said.
While Whitehall recently traded the idyllic beaches of his Australian homeland for the smog and congestion of Los Angeles, he’s looking forward to visiting San Diego again. And if past trends are any indication of future success, then you should definitely welcome The Griswolds’ visit to a venue as intimate as the Casbah. After all, it might be the last chance you get to see them for $15 before they blow up and start playing $75+ arena shows.
Rutger Rosenborg was almost a Stanford neuroscientist before he formed Ed Ghost Tucker. He now plays in the Lulls and makes music on his own when he's not writing. Follow his updates on Facebook or contact him directly.
