A MOMENT PLEASE

Hello tumblr.

You might not know this but I’m in a rock-and-roll band called Grand & Noble. Yup. I’m the dude above on the right. I know, I used to be cooler. Anyways, some really GREAT things have been happening for the band lately. I wrote the post below to talk about such fortuitous happenings. If you have a moment, please check it out. You’ll be surprised. We were on television. That’s the thing people watched before the internet. Crazy right?

As obnoxious as this is, I’d like to ask a favor of you, my small but fierce cadre of followers. You guys are the best. You listen to / feed my crazy. You expose me to new, beautiful, and good things in the world. As an added plus, the vast preponderance of you are gorgeous. I appreciate all that. I really do. All I’m asking is that you like us on facebook, listen / download the album, or like / reblog / follow this post. It would mean a lot to me. Jon and I killed ourselves to make this silly album and it looks like it has legs. Come on guys. Law school is hard, make me a rock star.

As an incentive, if this post hits 10,000 notes, I’ll drink a fifth of Red Breast 15 year on a live webcam stream. Aaaaaaand why not, I’ll do it in my underwear.

Thanks for everything, especially your time.

Scott Kane Stukel

grandandnoble:

Hey there beautiful.

The last couple weeks have been pretty stellar for Grand & Noble. A charmed epoch to be sure. No intention of being boastful lovelies, just wanted to keep any and all interested parties abreast of our big happenings. 

Album Release: Today (1/10/2012) was the formal release date of our self-titled debut. Previously we had sent the album out to music blogs, publicists, labels, friends, family, and … anyone else interested but today was the big formal release day. There was a handful of balloons, they were released, and now we’re open to the world. Also, physical CDs are now purchasable at our bandcamp page should you desire as such. Remember when media was physical? Good times. 

Featured on Television: ”This Light” was feature on the CBC drama “Being Erica” last month. Click this link to hear Mr. Elling’s sultry voice warming the great white north. Little known fact: Canada has government imposed Canadian content rules that limit non-Canadian influences in their television, radio, etc. Grand & Noble is all American baby. They couldn’t resist. We’re that damn good.

iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and Rhapsody: Similarly, as of today you and yours can find our music on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon AND Rhapsody. Feel free to listen in whatever format you prefer. We want you to feel comfortable. Do you want a drink?

Promotion, publicity, and distribution: We’ve been blessed to have excellent support from aol.com, Green Light Go publicity and Tinderbox Music distribution. Through them Grand & Noble is the featured album of the week on Spinner and poised to be exposed to 300+ college radio stations. 

Reviews: The reviews continue to pour in:

“We stumble across a lot of great music but we were absolutely floored when we heard this album. In fact, there’s not a single song that we would skip. “ 
- TheKnifeFight.com 
 
“This is an album which is immediately revealing of a major artistic force, while the music reveals intricate original touches that will challenge any self-respecting music fan to listen repeatedly long into the new year. I’ll go out on a limb and say you won’t find many more adventurous debuts in 2012 or any other year. Put succinctly, Grand & Noble is a keeper.” 
- HearHearMusic.com 

“It is hard to find ways to describe a song like ‘This Light’ that do it justice. Saying something like ‘It’s a great rock song,’ isn’t going to cut it, even if it’s true. It’ll have to be good enough for me to say it has a very timeless feel” 
- ThoseWhoDig.Net 

Release Notes: Rollingstone MEXICO! / largehearted boy / ELECTRIC MUSTACHE / The Wheel’s Still In Spin /The Music Slut / Clearly the John / Musicbloglist / elbo.ws / Podcast Party / more

Anywho darlings, that’s it for now. Here’s to the past’s blessings and the future’s good fortunes. If you have just a moment, be a doll and reblog this post. Your support would mean the world to a few hard working Midwestern boys.

Cheers you wonderful people you,

Grand & Noble

Grand & Noble is playing a show with the INSANELY talented K. Serra and Greatest Lakes at Cole’s on the 21st. Click here for a little taste of magic.

The astute reader will remember that Rachel Sarah Thomas (formerly of Chicago’s own Automata) collaborated with Jon and I for the closing track of our album: “Send Me On My Way”. She’s releasing solo-material under the alias K-Serra and it unbelievably good. LIKE SUPER FOR SERIOUS GOOD. Y’ALL NEED TO BE CLICKIN’.

Ugh.

Law school is stupid.

I miss being a rock-and-roller.

gpoy-Lucia-says-i-look-like-James-Dean-so-she’s-my-favorite-person-right-now edition.

so much going on. so very much. what’s that? you want to hear about it in bullet point form?

good.

• potentially enormous news about my band, Grand & Noble. i’m going to exercise an uncharacteristic level of prudence and be sparse on the details for now but if you still haven’t heard our album yet… you should check it out. maybe follow our tumblr?
• despite much adversity, i absolutely destroyed a huge work project earlier. i know not this was a really huge deal for me. six months of work coming to an incredibly edifying moment of consummation and culmination. 
• last day at my job tomorrow. been killin’ it there for three years. while i admit that i’m sad to go and it feels like the end of an era, this is long overdue. even if i weren’t leaving Chicago, i should be leaving this job now. just feels good.
• i’m leaving Chicago and moving to Boston next week. i’m still in denial about this. can’t talk about it. need more time to process. will report back later.
• i’m going to see BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE in a week. if you don’t like bro grabs… GET THE FUCK OUT THE WAY.
• think i found a buyer for my motorcycle. decidedly bittersweet but it has to happen.
• going away party tonight at my place this Saturday. it’s gonna be a shitshow. i promise you this. if you’re interested and i haven’t already invited me, shoot me an “ask” and i’ll give you the deets.
• honestly, this whole weekend is just going to be a bender / revelation / parade. if you see me, wave high and politely tell the police officer i didn’t mean what i said about his horse.

whew.

normally i’d apologize for this poorly written wall of text… but fuck it. give me a moment and just try to tolerate a man on fire.

edit: forgot to mention i’m going to law school in the fall. WHOOPSIE.

grandandnoble:

VERY kind review from the very talented and astute Stuyvesant Parker at Staires.org. apparently Grand & Noble is only the second of countless bands that have submitted work to him that he actually reviewed.

if you have a moment, please do give this a read. 

ALSO, feel free to make all the little hearts on this hypemachine page happy by clicking them and making them blush.

Introducing: Grand & Noble

It’s not often I get a submission in my email box that actually excites me. The last one was Ha Ha Tonka and that was over two years ago. Grand & Noble truly excites me, and in just about the same way that Ha Ha Tonka did, so you could say that they’re in great company. My first reaction after hearing this album was: man, these guys are just one album away from being huge.

They get so many things right: vocalist Jonathan Elling has a dynamic voice, capable of both being smooth and gruff when necessary, sometimes it even sounds like he’s two different people. 99% of the time his voice soars over the music and it’s an absolute pleasure to listen to. The production and the playing is clean, a bit too clean for my tastes most of the time, but that’s just my taste and not really a fault of the album. On a song like This Light(the play button below). The slick production leads to the great feeling of the space they’re playing in, and the moments of silence where you can truly hear it only adds to the feeling of the song.

Grand & Noble’s style of music isn’t quite my thing. I like my poppy folk rock a little gruffer, a little rougher around the edges. When they emailed me, they said that they do well with fans of “Spoon, Wilco, the National, Neko Case”, and that’s why my opinion is this: this is a great album, one that you should pay for, and one that you’ll get a lot of enjoyment out of, but I’m sure their next album is going to be even better. Spoon, Wilco, and even The National all have that ineffable organic feeling to their music, and that’s the one feeling that is lacking a little on this album. There’s no dirt rubbed into it, no stains on the collar, and it’d go a long way for me if it did. (And while almost every song is great, for me there aren’t any really strong hooks, nothing I’m singing in my head after the album is over, and I’m not sure what that means!)

My minor criticisms aside, this is a band I would be willing to bet money on their success. For a debut album, they get everything right. They cover enough genres and styles, from straight up Rock ‘n Roll in the vein of Elvis Costello, semi-country rock that reminds me of Ha Ha Tonka, to heartfelt folky ballads and small prog-rock guitar solo freakouts, that they prove can do it all and who knows which direction they’ll settle into in the future. Elling’s voice is only going to get better with age, it’s already excellent as it is, and his multi-instrumentalist partner Stukel’s playing sounds like the perfect compliment to it.

You can get their album from their website, and you don’t even have to pay for it if you want a personal copy, but I think you and I agree that they probably deserve at least a couple of your dollars. Invest in the future! Someone better suited should be getting all the attention Mumford & Sons and Edward Douche & The Magnetic Zeroes are getting. It should probably be these guys.

wowzers. nothing but really really really good feelings about Stuyvesant Parker at Staires.org choice to review our debut album. 

i’d love it if you clicked through to read the full review but here are some really choice excerpts:

My first reaction after hearing this album was: man, these guys are just one album away from being huge.

my opinion is this: this is a great album, one that you should pay for, and one that you’ll get a lot of enjoyment out of, but I’m sure their next album is going to be even better

Elling’s voice is only going to get better with age, it’s already excellent as it is, and his multi-instrumentalist partner Stukel’s playing sounds like the perfect compliment to it.

You can get their album from their website, and you don’t even have to pay for it if you want a personal copy, but I think you and I agree that they probably deserve at least a couple of your dollars. Invest in the future! Someone better suited should be getting all the attention Mumford & Sons and Edward Douche & The Magnetic Zeroes are getting. It should probably be these guys.

YEAH! EAT IT OTHER BANDS!