Grand Central
First appeared - Issue #12

Sometimes it’s hard not to imagine band managers waiting eagerly for something unusual to happen to their young charges. Going to Iraq did it for The Avenues and it seems Matt Anthony, Grand Central’s media and booking man, had his wishes come true with the following chain of events. GC’s guitar player Jake Snell decided to leave the security blanket of band and friends to join the girl he couldn’t live without in London.

Add to this mix drummer Matt Giovannangelo, with too much time on his hands after some minor surgery and you have a recipe for . . . well . . . you have a fine new four track CD entitled ‘Greenwich Meantime’. Matt had recorded most of the backing tracks for GMT at his Tandem home studio in the second half of 2004 just before Jake did the transcontinental romance hop. Originally intended only as demos the songs soon developed due to Matt’s excessive down time. When Jake returned from the UK the band threw itself into some local gigs and decided to release the Tandem sessions. The title track is superb and easily blitzes ‘Nine Times Out Of Ten’ which was a favourite with some Groove writers a couple of years ago. It’s hard to believe the words weren’t written as a reaction to Jake’s London urges. The venom and passion belies the fact that this band are still only in their early twenties. Kim Berry, guitarist and vocalist, is very proud. “Yes I think we all feel this is such a progression from our first release. It’s given us a new confidence. We’ve finally got a live set we’re happy with and we’re keen to get stuck into the next CD. We’ve been demoing at Matt’s studio but this time we want to go to an established studio. That will give Matt a chance to concentrate on his drums and not have to worry about sounds all the time.” The man we haven’t mentioned is Jack Kennedy whose great lead vocals, bass playing and song writing is charging this band headlong into a creative maelstrom. “Jack’s been very busy bringing song ideas into Tandem for us to work on”. With another CD and an eastern states tour on the way Matt the manager can be happy for a while, at least until the next exciting chapter in the adventures of Grand Central.

www.grandcentral.iinet.net.au