biography

Brian Grillo first caught national and worldwide attention while fronting the seminal band, Extra Fancy. He growled, howled, and whispered. He banged an oil drum onstage. Corporations ruined the fun (as they often do), but that's an old story isn't it? Since then, Brian has moved on and his latest work is nothing short of astounding. Gone are the wildman antics and leather bar bravado. What's arrived in their place - a passionate singer-songwriter playing the punk rock blues - is so much more captivating and startling, that it's easy to let the past incarnation go. Grillo's voice has never sounded so good nor his songwriting so lucid.

Brian Grillo’s solo effort, entitled Stomping Back On Fire, was recorded in an extremely organic way. To put it simply, he played each song repeatedly until he got a take that he liked. No digital punch-in’s. No “fixes”. Minimal over-dubs. Though it was grueling, he found he got the best performances out of himself using this method. The resulting album of mostly-acoustic tracks represents the most intimate studio work of Grillo’s career.

The songs on Stomping Back On Fire resemble a stack of snapshots, each one representing moments in the past few years of Grillo’s life. Some, such as the title track and “Shutdown” are intensely introspective and personal, while others (“Democacy”, “Dead or Alive”) look out upon the American political landscape of 2004 and report back with outrage. The album was produced by long-time friend and collaborator, Abby Travis (Meat Puppets, Beck, Elastica) and includes a guest appearance by Kid Congo Powers.