Yesterday, musicbleep had the chance to speak with Mike Krechnyak (the base player) from
Grand Ole Party. Check out his interview below and get to know GOP a little better; from where it all began to how their music is created.
Pick yourself up a copy of their debut album,
HUMANIMALS and check them out in a
city near you! I will be hitting their L.A. show on July 31st at the Echo, along with the winning fans that entered our GOP contest.
MUSICBLEEP: I hear that you all went to school up in Santa Cruz, which is very cool, but where are you all originally from and how did you end up in San Diego?
Mike: Well I’m originally from San Diego, and John and Kris are from the Bay Area, Half Moon Bay and the East Bay. After we formed the band, they drove a van around the U.S. looking for a city for us to live in, then ran out of money so we decided on SD, because it was close to L.A., and the music industry, and my family was here, so it was an easy place to end up.
MB: How did you all join forces and start GOP?
Mike: John and Kris were in a band already in Santa Cruz, then their bass player left them, so we started jamming together and have been a band ever since. We all moved up to San Francisco for a year, played around at some gigs, and that’s when we discovered that we had something and wanted to take it further.
MB: Did you always know you wanted to be a performer?
Mike: No, not at all. In high school I was really into computers and programming and sports, so this was the last thing I thought I’d be doing.
MB: If you were not a musician, what would you be doing?
Mike: Something with computers, definitely, maybe something to do with video gaming. I was a philosophy major in Santa Cruz.
MB: Is your songwriting a collaborative effort?
Mike: Generally, yes. We will just jam and groove, and some songs come from there. And then we all will have written songs, or write songs on our own and share them with the rest of the band. So we all take part in the music making process.
MB: Who were your major musical influences growing up?
Mike: My dad turned me onto a lot of music. But Bob Dylan and Bob Marley would have to me my major influences. Oh, and I listened to the Kinks a lot, too.
MB: So tell me how were you “discovered”?
Mike: SD is so close to L.A. and the industry. We started playing a lot of shows in SD then up into L.A. as much as possible. Then one night a friend of Rilo Kiley’s saw us, met us, looked up on myspace. Then he came back to a SD show. Darren started coming to more and more shows. Then Blake, his friend, produced our album, they started a label and here we are.
MB: So you album has been around for about a year now, are you guys writing or recording anything new for us?
Mike: Yes. We are currently and consistently writing new material and recording.
MB: Any artist, live or dead, who would you want to work with?
Mike: Leonardo DaVincci
MB: Favorite food?
Mike: I just love food, so I cannot pick a favorite. I love, love all kinds of food.
MB: Favorite color?
Mike: Green. Purple maybe, but green for sure. A definite classic.
MB: Do you have any pets?
Mike: Well, I don’t really have a home, but while living in the van, I had some ants for a while.
MB: Favorite quote?
Mike: Socrates last words before his death, look it up.
MB: Favorite destination:
Mike: I would love to go to Spain, oh, and Greece.
MB: What is your favorite movie?
Mike: Dead Alive
MB: What is in your CD player or iPod right now, what are you listening too?
Mike: This one song by Paul Simon, and Joe Cocker’s ‘Womans a Woman’.
INTERVIEW BY CORY RADKE
Last night a couple of my friends and I headed over to Echo Park. First, we stopped off at my friends new place in Echo Park, which is walking distance from The Echo. After walking around the neighborhood, we headed over to catch Grand Ole Party.
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