PALOALTO-ONLINE.COMPaloalto just might be the best British pop band that isn’t British. Their press kit contains page after page of comparisons to Brit-pop of recent years, name-dropping Radiohead, Travis, Coldplay and Oasis between every other word. Paloalto has indeed cornered the distinct pop sound of the Isles, but what American journalists seem to be missing as they heap their laurels upon the band is that Paloalto isn’t trying to be British.
It doesn’t help matters that lead singer and songwriter James Grundler’s emotional falsetto would come in first place if there was a “Who sounds like Thom Yorke?” competition, or that the band seems to have made with their second album, “Heroes and Villains” the post-“The Bends” album that Radiohead would have made if they hadn’t decided to leave the beaten path in the dust.
“When your own press people drop all these other band names when you’re trying to be a band and trying to be your own identity, it’s totally annoying,” comments Grundler on the phone before the band’s sound check. It is the opening night of Paloalto’s tour with Rooney. “But what are you supposed to do when nobody knows you?”
Luckily for Grundler, those anonymous days are numbered. The band is as ubiquitous in music magazines as Ben and Jennifer are in the gossip columns.
“We’ve been poised and ready for this for awhile,” says Grundler of his band’s crossover from underground to mainstream, or more precisely from MTV2 to MTV. “I don’t necessarily think that MTV2 has a place anymore,” he adds, contemplating the change. “It’s the same kind of redundant routine that MTV is. It was pretty cool when it first came out, but it’s just died away. It’s the same as MTV-you see it and you laugh the whole time.”
While music television may be a joke, late night television certainly isn’t out of the question. The band has been running the gauntlet of late night talk shows, a telltale mark that mainstream success is nipping at its heels. It can be an awkward time for a band, that pubescent change from barely selling out venues to suddenly packing them. It’s hard to gauge whether or not success is due to the music, or if success has been carefully constructed, marketed and sold by a record label.
Some of the songs on “Heroes and Villains,” for example the track “fade out/in,” sound almost too perfectly crafted, as if they were written specifically to be hit singles. But Grundler insists that he’s “just doing whatever comes.”
“Music was just always music. Everyone just put it into categories to make money off of it, and that’s the problem. I’ll always stand by that. It’s funny how things get slotted into categories. But that song [“fade out/in”] wasn’t intentionally written like, ‘Oh we have to write a pop song.’ I’m just a big fan of verses and choruses, and if that falls in the skeleton of pop songs, then that’s what it is.”
The specific kind of pop that Paloalto performs is easily branded Brit-pop because of its ethereal undertones and an almost overproduced sound of layered harmonies combined with rich, acoustically-driven melodies. “Everyone thinks that’s the sound of British music,” says Grundler. “I think it’s the sound of good music. I love a lot of British music just because it’s good music. British pop music definitely isn’t like American pop music now, all this scream-core stuff, or emo stuff, or whatever you want to call it.”
The band recently toured with ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, and more recently toured the UK with John Squire of The Stone Roses. A highlight of the tour for Grundler was playing Squire’s home turf in Manchester.
“I usually don’t say where we’re from and who we are until we’re well into the set. We don’t want to scare anyone away or get a bottle thrown at [our heads.] We thought we were going to be completely hassled, but they were so quiet and so just poised for music, whether you’re from America or not. We went to these really great clubs, and people were just really into the music, and they’re into all types of music. It’s a great melting pot of music over there.”
Sure, there are probably better times than now to be an American band abroad, but Paloalto has won dedicated fans across the pond, something they hope to do more of here. Like most musicians, Grundler seems content to do his thing and leave the classification and marketing to his label, Rick Rubin’s Def Jam subsidiary American Recordings.
“I don’t really know what an ‘alternative band’ is anymore, what a ‘modern rock’ band is anymore,” adds Grundler. Paloalto is just Paloalto, forget the comparisons. It doesn’t hurt that Rubin himself produced “Heroes and Villains,” but Grundler insists that there is more of the band’s influence on this album than Rubin’s, famous for his work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Johnny Cash.
“We pretty much formed a partnership on this second record,” says Grundler of his working relationship with Rubin. “He was really open to everything, which was great. We originally weren’t going to use him on this record, but he came to me and said ‘I really want to do it and I think we should do it together.’ Although his name is the producer name on it, he was open to all of our ideas.”
All of their ideas seem to be working in their favor. Paloalto is enjoying the first tastes of mainstream success, and smart-rock, post-pop jargon aside, are having a blast doing it.
Catch Paloalto tonight at Mississippi Nights with Rooney and The Sounds.