Grace Potter Biography

Nothing but the Water, a Grace Potter & the Nocturnals self-made 2005 debut album, revealed a young band inspired by the music of the late 60s - early 70s, led by a nuanced singing, organ playing 21 year old with talented songwriting skills. 2007s This Is Somewhere which was a follow up album, confirmed the band disregard for trends and interests in the pursuit of timeless music which forged their identity. On the self-titled 2010 album, GPN, showcased their rock n roll prowess which confirmed the band’s plan to create music for a long time. GPN takes an big leap with the widescreen opus, The Lion The Beast The Beat (Hollywood, June 12, 2012), seven years after appearing on the radar. With this timeless piece of work, the Vermont-based band strategically took its place alongside the best of their peers while building on the rich legacy of its inspirations. During this period, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals boldly pushed against the waves by creating a bona fide 11 track album that demanded to be heard in its entirety. “This album is really a different animal than our previous records, no pun intended,” says Potter. “I think what people love about us is the energy we generate playing together and feeding off each other,” says guitarist Scott Tournet. “Theres a lot of drive in our band, and we managed to capture that on this record. We love the music that we cut our teeth on and it’ll always be part of us, but we’ve reached the point where were consciously trying to push things forward.” The Lion The Beast The Beat was produced by Potter and veteran producer Jim Scott (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Wilco, the Tedeschi Trucks Band). Bringing the heat to this project, Dan Auerbach produced and co-wrote the track Loneliest Soul and also produced and co-wrote the bands first single Never Go Back, and Runaway, both were co-produced by Scott. David Campbell (Beck, My Morning Jacket, Jackson Browne) arranged and conducted the strings on the album. The LP was mixed by fellow Vermonter and Grammy award winner Rich Costey (Foo Fighters, TV on the Radio, Bruce Springsteens Wrecking Ball). Alongside the bands original guitarist/songwriter Scott Tournet, drummer/band co-founder Matt Burr, guitarist Benny Yurco (who joined in 2009), Potter commenced recording the album in October, 2011. They later invited multi-instrumentalist Michael Libramento (from Floating Action) to join them on their sessions. The band tracked majority of the record live, off the floor at PLYRZ, Scotts studio in Santa Clarita, 30 miles northeast of L.A. “When I first met Jim, I knew I wanted to make this record with him,” says Grace. “He totally gets us. He brought the perfect balance of sonic integrity and laid-back finesse. The feeling is mutual.” “Grace is a rock n roll superhero,” says Scott. “She can really bring it. Shes full of ideas, she never misses a note and the band is badass.” Grace and Auerbach got together in his studio while Potter was in Nashville for the CMA Awards. “It was a concentrated environment,” Grace says referring to the breakneck Nashville sessions. “Dan and I were writing lyrics together, singing melodies and trading off ideas, while Benny, Scott and Matt were working up the tracks with us. I love the way Dans mind works, because it’s so out there, but he balanced it really well by stepping back and behaving like a producer/writer.” At the end of the three days, they had the spines of Never Go Back (the throbbing first single) and Runaway, while nailing the madcap Loneliest Soul. “In late November, as the song list continued expanding, I felt the priorities starting to shift,” Grace recalls. “I began to look at the whole project through new eyes. I realized then that making this record wasn’t about just putting a bunch of great songs together; it needed to be a cohesive piece of work with connections between the songs.” Not long after the band returned to Scotts studio, Potter surprised everyone by abruptly calling the project to a halt, despite the fact that the band was playing better than ever. Scott captured the performances in all their eruptive immediacy and the record company was excited by the quality of the tracks that were being delivered. Potter, for whom everything musical had always come to so easily, had hit the wall for the first time in her life as an artist. Potters’ soul journey unlocked the thematic riddle, yielding, among other things, a pair of new linchpin songs in Timekeeper and The Divide, while also completing the title track, The Lion The Beast The Beat. With these key pieces in place, the tracks they’d cut prior to the break, including the stomping rocker Keepsake, the yearning Parachute Heart and the three Auerbach collaborations, now fit right into place, conceptually and dynamically. “The Lion The Beast The Beat plays on the duality of human nature, the fact that we all have our demons and we all have the ability to be good,” Grace explains. “More than ever, I think outside perception affects how we view ourselves I started thinking about these archetypes: everyone perceives a lion as a powerful, glorious animal and a beast as a flawed, scary, unpleasant creature but that’s just on the outside. You only have to read a few children’s fables to see those themes: the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz, the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. I’m fascinated by the idea that we all hold such a broad spectrum of impulses and how we choose to act on them makes us who we are. The Lion The Beast The Beat represents a rite of passage for a band that is knocking on the door of greatness.”

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