The Good Graces

Catching up and winding down

thegoodgraces — Sat, 15 May 2010 22:13:52 +0000

Happy spring everyone! We hope all of you are enjoying the sunny weather, listening to great music, and going to lots of good shows. We’ve been really busy, both musically and with life in general. We had the pleasure of recording a video session with indieATL a few weeks ago; it was a lot of fun and we can’t wait to see the results, as they have an excellent setup and the sound on stage was pretty dang amazing!

As some of you might know, we’ve also been gearing up for our very last show, at least for a while. I (Kim) have been threatening a “retirement” from music for a few years now, and it’s finally time. (For more info on that, visit my blog, Pretty New Songs.) But of course we’re planning on some big things to help me go out in style …

Next Friday, May 21, we’ll play our last Atlanta show at Kavarna, the same venue where we had both our CD release shows, and were fortunate enough to play with such bands as Hope For Agoldensummer, Dare Dukes, Night Driving in Small Towns, and countless others. Needless to say, that venue has been very kind to us and it’s only fitting that we say farewell with another “eskimo kiss presents” show, featuring some of our very best friends and favorite bands, Jupiter Watts, Michael C. Smith, and a very special guest courtesy of Atlanta’s A-List, Swing Set.

For our old friends in NC, John & I will also play a short set at this year’s WE Fest in Wilmington, on Sunday, May 30. This is part of the eskimo kiss showcase, so it’s sure to be totally awesome. I’m delighted to get to share a bill with bands that are not only on my label, but who also happen to be responsible for some of my favorite songs, ever. Bands like Citified, North Elementary, Velvet, Goner … they’ve been a huge influence on me as a musician, and I’ll be forever grateful for the opportunity I’ve had to expose their music to a wider audience. Of course there will be eskimo kiss shooters. And cupcakes! And who knows what else.

Prior to the WE Fest showcase, a few of us are playing an in-store show at Gravity Records, also in Wilmington. Beginning at 3PM Sunday afternoon you can catch The Good Graces along with John Harrison from North Elementary and Actual Persons Living or Dead. While we don’t want to drag you away from WE Fest, if you’re not into the bar thing and want something a little more low-key, then you’d probably dig this. Hope to see you!

Finally, I’m delighted to share with you one final release from eskimo kiss, Let’s Do Art and Be Best Friends, a sampler that spans the label’s 10-year history. It’s not only a best-of, but it also includes some rare/unreleased bonus tracks, many of which were recorded especially for the compilation. The Good Graces are contributing three tracks, “Over It” and “Pretty New Song” from our previous records, and a newer tune, “Pepper,” for the bonus tracks portion. It’ll be out June 15, so keep an eye on eskimokissrecords.com for all the details on that.

Whew! See, told you we were busy. Hope to see you all very soon.

Autobiochronologically

thegoodgraces — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 03:44:15 +0000

So last night, while tGG celebrated our very fun indieATL video shoot over chocolate cream pie, John had a nerdy but interesting idea for a set list. We were discussing the upcoming—and likely final—Good Graces show (yes… final, at least for the ATL… May 21 at Kavarna, so be there!), talking about things to do to make it a little more “special” than the average show. Jim mentioned the possibility of playing both our records in sequential order. But John one-upped that by saying we should play the songs in chronological order according to the when the story in the song happened. Genius! Well, perhaps. I’d say a good 90% of my songs are autobiographical. So it stands to reason that I should be able to order them according to when they happened, right?. Here’s an attempt at just that. This includes all the tunes from both records, Sunset Over Saxapahaw and Bring on the Tambourines!, and also a few others that aren’t on either but we play pretty regularly. And as a bonus, I even attempted to date the tunes, not according to when they were written, but when the situations they are about actually took place. You’ll have to come to the show to see if we make this our set list!

1. Real to Me*
2. Promise I Can’t Keep (1997-ish)
3. You and Me and Our Ghost (late 2002/early 2003)
4. Bad Idea (early 2003)
5. What’s Wrong (Feb. 2003)
6. Already Broken (March 2003)
7. Not Yr Lover (2004/2005)
8. Unhappy Ending (Dec. 28, 2006)
9. Over It (2007)
10. Pepper (2007)
11. Who We Are (2007/08)
12. Disassembled (2008)
13. Bad Driver (April 2008)
14. Working Title (2009)
15. I Miss the 90s (2009)
16. Yo No Puedo (2009)
17. Pretty New Song (2009-present)

*Interestingly, Real to Me is probably the only song I’ve written that isn’t really autobiographical. But it was one of the first songs I ever wrote, probably around 1996 or so, so that’s why it’s first on the list.

New EP review, plus NC 3-day tour!

thegoodgraces — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:18:53 +0000

Hi friends! A very quick update to point you to a really cool review of the Tambourines EP—thanks FensePost! A little snippet:

The Good Graces might be the greatest fucking band in the world!

I’ll probably use that in our press kit forever

Also, we’re just two days from taking over NC with North Elementary! Here’s the low-down on our upcoming 3-day tour; hope to see some of you there!

January 28 – Greensboro NC – The Green Bean (8p EARLY SHOW!) w/ Citified

January 29 – Chapel Hill NC – John’s Living Room (Bug Harbor – 117 Kenan Street – park on Franklin and walk up) – 9p – FREE SHOW! Stripped down acoustic versions for NorthE and The Good Graces w/ Billy Sugarfix, Corey Pallon (Pistolero), Anna Bullard (POX artist) , Reid Johnson (Schooner) and Maria Albani (Organos).

January 30 – Charlotte NC – Snug Harbor w/ Radio Taiwan

Happy Holidays from The Good Graces

thegoodgraces — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:00:29 +0000

Kim's cat, Snowden, under the tree

Here’s hoping you have a wonderful holiday season, and the very happiest of New Years. Thanks for all your support in ’09!

The Good Graces – Silent Night (mp3)

Bad Driver stickers are here!

thegoodgraces — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:17:58 +0000

If you want one just send a SASE to me at:

eskimo kiss records
PO box 11310
Atlanta, GA 30310

Lyrical content

thegoodgraces — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:30:23 +0000

I’m a big fan of lyrics. IMO, when you’re writing music that even approaches the territory of “pop,” you’ve gotta pay special attention to the lyrics. It’s what people tend to grab onto first. Well, second, I think, just after the melody.

I’m not a fan, however, of including lyrics in the liner notes of CDs. I love it when OTHER bands do it, but I ain’t doing it. No way. Why? Well several years ago an old band I was in received some harsh criticism from a reviewer, in regards to our lyrics. Now, just to get this out of the way, I don’t really pay much attention to reviews. But at the same time I realized, unless you have some AMAZING lyrics, you’re setting yourself up for negative criticism by posting them in your liner notes. It just makes it too easy. And why put such a focus on something unless it really is your strong point? So I haven’t done it since.

Since then though, I like to think I’ve gotten a little better at writing lyrics. Lyrics can be tough, but I will say that ever since I started playing more guitar, they’ve come easier and easier for me. I try not to overthink them. But at the same time, if a lyric’s bugging me, I try to figure out why, and try to change it to something I can be happier with. But that’s about the extent of my editing process.

So anyway, for folks who have been kind enough to give a listen to “… Tambourines,” I thought you’d like a closer look at the lyrics, how I came up with them, etc. So over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting the lyrics to each song off the EP, along with a little about the inspiration behind them. Here’s the first … Working Title.

“Working Title” is not really “about” any one thing in particular. Which makes it a little atypical as compared to most my other songs. I usually write about a previous experience in one way or another. This song grew from the simple lyric “Someone better call someone for backup.” It just popped into my head one day. For no apparent reason. The vocal melody did too. Which made for an interesting challenge—coming up with a guitar part to match it. I rarely write songs that way (with a vocal melody first), because I’m not a good enough guitar player to be able to sit down and figure out something that will work with it. I really should try it on piano sometime. But I guess I got lucky on this day, as the guitar part came pretty quickly to me. It’s sort of a combination of two older songs “What’s Wrong,” and “Over It,” but sped up a bit with some different accents, and more rockin’.

When I sat down with my guitar for this one, I really had no more than that first vocal line to work with. Once I found the guitar part that would work with it, the rest of the lyrics came pretty quickly. But like I mentioned, while I was writing it I didn’t really think it was “about” anything. Looking back, I think some aspects of it might pertain to some of my work life, but for most of it, I think of it as an attempt at getting mildly political. At the time, George W. was still President, and he had just finally dropped the “oh shit, we’re screwed,” bombshell about the economy. (Remember how for months he claimed everything was just fine, then suddenly just threw his hands up?) So now that the song has been done and recorded for a while, I think of “Working Title” as a response to someone just sort of pulling the rug out from under you. It could be anyone. The leader of our country, a significant other, a friend, a boss … it happens. And it really does seem much harder for most people to convey bad news … which results in them either lying, or not even addressing the matter at all. But sometimes, it really does feel better just to say it.

Working Title
Someone better call someone for backup
Someone better sound the alarm
Yesterday it seemed like things were working
Today it seems you’re causing me harm

I can tell my the look that’s on your face
that you’re trying to hide some big disgrace

No one ever wants to be the bearer
of anything that sounds like bad news
But sometimes it feels better just to say it
especially when there’s not much to lose

I can tell by the way you shift your eyes
that you can’t tell the truth from all your lies

Did you really think that nobody would notice
that everything we built just turned to shit
And I’m trying to believe we didn’t blow this
but the numbers don’t add up, your piece won’t fit

Someone better call someone for backup

“Working Title” by The Good Graces

TONIGHT, y’all!

thegoodgraces — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:30:44 +0000

I almost forgot … we have t-shirts!

thegoodgraces — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:44:11 +0000

This is our dear friend Nina modeling the new Good Graces t-shirt! They are splendidly soft 100% pre-shrunk cotton, designed by yours truly (Kim). We’ll have them at our shows or if you live out of town and want one, send $12 via paypal to info@eskimokissrecords.com. Please note your size and color; we have girlie and men’s sizes, in white (red print) and red (white print)!

“Bring on the Tambourines!” now available for download across the interwebs!

thegoodgraces — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:57:30 +0000

Today’s a big day for The Good Graces around the interwebs, as it’s digital release day for “Bring on the Tambourines!” So if you missed out on the free downloads from www.bringonthetambourines.com, you can purchase the full release from your favorite digital download site! Here are a few links to purchase for your convenience:

And if you’re following along for the free downloads, it’s not too late to get the final track that we’re making available for free, “Bad Driver!” It’s a favorite at our shows and we hope you enjoy the recorded version.

Finally, I wanted to also send a shout-out to all who attended our CD release show Saturday night at Kavarna! We had a wonderful night that began with obligatory pre-show (flu) shots and ended with a fantastic set by our dear friends Chickens & Pigs, who are also celebrating the release of their great new CD, “See Through Soul.” It was nice to have a full room of enthusiastic listeners; we really do appreciate it! xoxoxyz

pre-show flu shots

“Bring on the Tambourines!” now available for pre-order!

thegoodgraces — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:42:04 +0000

I’m very excited to announce that we have our shiny new EPs in hand, and they can soon be in your hands as well! Head on over to www.eskimokissrecords.com to pre-order the disc; the first batch of orders will come with a very limited-edition homemade CDR of exclusive demos, many of which have never been heard outside of the band! We’ll be shipping the discs the first week of October, ahead of the release date of Oct. 27.

Also a reminder, our CD release show is next Saturday, Sept. 26 at Kavarna. It’s a split CD release show with our dear friends Chickens and Pigs, who are also celebrating their brand new CD “See Through Soul” (we’ve heard it, it’s wonderful!). We have lots of surprises in store for this show, and hope to see you there!