June 01, 2010
GRACE POTTER & THE NOCTURNALS' gorgeous and groovy new take on classic rock has legs
By Erik Philbrook
Vermont has given the world many great things: some of the country's most flavorful cheese; the longest running independent member of Congress in U.S. history, Bernie Sanders; the Bread and Puppet Theater; and a quiet, verdant town in which the late famous author J.D. Salinger could hide...just to name a few. But a swaggering,
road-tested rock and roll band fronted by a tour de force singer/songwriter and Hammond B3 player in a flapper dress?
You bet.
"If I had moved to New York City and gone the way of many other musicians who just sort of fall into that world, I would have been treading water," says Potter about developing as an artist in her native state. "Vermont provides a platform for individuals to really stand out because it's such a supportive community. Playing in that New England culture of the farmers market and the arts festival in a gazebo in the middle of the green really allowed us to create our own spotlight."
It didn't take long for Potter and the Nocturnals to emerge on the national stage. Starting in 2004, the band put out two self-released albums on its own before signing with Hollywood Records. Embracing the jam band circuit, the group become popular live performers around the country. Led by its captivating frontwoman, whose earthy, soulful vocals bring to mind everyone from Tina Turner to Janis Joplin to Bonnie Raitt, and whose musical skills include conjuring up sizzling sounds on the Hammond B3, the band has recently evolved into something intriguingly primal and polished –both onstage and on the group's new self-titled Hollywood Records release.
"This band and the music we're making right now is so easy, "says Potter. "It's so joyful and simplified. I also think that the best way of living is not having to force anything. That's what happened with the music on this new record and with my new fabulous Nocturnal fellows."
Her new fab fellows include bassist Catherine Popper (Ryan Adams & the Cardinals) and rhythm guitar ace Benny Yurco, who recently joined the group, complementing Potter and original members Scott Tournet on lead guitars and drummer Matt Burr in an exciting way.
Produced by Mark Batson (Dr. Dre, Eminem, Jay-Z, Dave Matthews Band), the new album features a potent brew of music, from killer guitar hooks to simmering grooves to dynamic shifts in mood. From the first single "Tiny Light" with its slow boil build to scorching outro, to "Medicine" with its in-your-face sing-along romp, to the passionate ballad "Colors," written after Barack Obama's election, the music is a natural expression of a band completely in synch and in love with playing together. Potter says that the band's new chemistry has inspired her songwriting as well.
"I think the best way of living is not having to force anything. That's what happened with the music on this new record and with my fine Nocturnal fellows."
— Grace Potter
"I always think about the band now," says Potter. "When I wrote a song like 'Apologies,' I was writing for myself and a piano. I wasn't thinking about how people I spend my life with were going to play it. It was a much more personal thing. And now I write with the intention of knowing what great musicians are capable of achieving. It was really fun for me to know that I could stretch much farther than just that girl-crying-into-her-piano act. I could write lines and riffs that I can't play on piano but two guitars playing together can, and create rhythms and biorhythms and polyrhythms. All these things that I can't do on my own. It takes a village and now I have a village."
With the release of her band's last studio album (2007's This is Somewhere) almost three years behind her, Potter is anxious to roll out the new material with her new creative cohorts.
"The wait was so worth it," she says. "It has been a year now since Benny and Kat joined the band, so we've had that full time to marinate in these juices and understand exactly what kind of band we are. Now that the juices are flowing and the machine is running smoothly, it's clear that it took all that time to get here. I am chomping at the bit to get it out and to have the world hear the new thing."
