Grapes hope to plant seeds with songs tonight
October 11, 1996
The sounds the Grapes, a band out of Atlanta, produce can be intoxicating to the ear and the soul.
But don’t worry. Ted Norton, lead guitarist for the group, has some helpful tips on how to survive a fun night at the bar.
Unfortunately, as for the long-term addictive effects of the music — there is no known cure.
The Grapes are on a four-week- long “seed planting” tour that will land them at People’s Bar and Grill tonight.
Described as a more modern version of the Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead and the Rolling Stones, Norton said the Grapes’ music is a rare breed.
“Our music is pretty rare,” he explained. “We’re different than all that MTV grunge stuff. We play an older style of music. We play a kind of music that is straight out of our souls.”
Steven Fink, keyboard player and vocalist, agreed about the origin of the Grapes’ music.
“We play from the heart every night,” Fink said. “We don’t really put on a show, we’re not posers. We are just five guys who put off a lot of energy. We create a wall of sound — it’s a powerful thing when it’s right.”
It’s because of the energy of the band that the preferred method of hearing them is live. The drive for powerful live performances has shoved the goal of putting out new CDs aside.
Regardless, their forth album, Juice, is due out the end of October. Fink said the sound of the album will be more representative of the way the Grapes truly sound.
“The next album is all live. It sounds like a really good bootleg tape,” Fink said. “We’ve spent all these years playing live that going into the studio is kind of foreign to us.”
The band which started 10 years ago as “just a bunch of heads getting high and having fun” has polished their act since then.
They now tour all over the nation and have played with the likes of The Black Crowes, Phish and Widespread Panic.
Norton, a self-described “old hippie who still has long hair and sometimes dons a tie dye,” began his musical career back in junior high band as an attempt to get out of taking Spanish. He took up guitar when he realized the effect music can have on people.
“I didn’t learn guitar for beer and babes,” Norton said.
“I was just unbelievably intrigued with the power music has on people.”
Norton doesn’t deny the occasional benefits playing the guitar can have on members of the opposite sex.
But his interest in music and the guitar went so far that he majored in electrical engineering so he could learn how to make equipment for guitars. He even has the student loan bills to prove it.
Norton and Fink, along with Charlie Lonsdorf, vocalist and bassist, Rick Welsh on drums and Brooks Smith on guitars will bring their blend of music to People’s tonight.
The show starts at 9:30 p.m. with the Hanes Boys opening. Cover is $3 at the door, and the drill is the same.
You must be an ID-carrying 21-year-old to get in.