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Grizzled Mighty, Actionesse do Band In Seattle

By on September 11, 2018
The Grizzled Mighty at Band In Seattle (Photo by Christine Mitchell)

The Grizzled Mighty at Band In Seattle (Photo by Christine Mitchell)

Band In Seattle is gearing up for Season Five, which will air this fall on television. This means that Victory Studios is in the midst of taping a heap of live shows. This also means that they put on free concerts for a live studio audience, and they give said audience free beer. What more could you ask for? Free beer, great music, and fifteen minutes of fame really ought to cover a few bases here, especially when the show’s lineups are so damn good. For instance, Band In Seattle recently had The Grizzled Mighty and Actionesse in for a taping. And it was a stunner.

Actionesse has had a very busy summer, but we here at SMI don’t believe that there is such a thing as too much Actionesse. And, judging by the size and temperament of the audience at this taping, we’re all in agreement. Actionesse puts on one of the best live shows in Seattle right now, and they don’t do it by way of wacky outfits or fancy light shows: they do it by sheer force of intensity in both their music and their deportment. Well, and by frontman Ian Reed’s swirling, mesmerising mass of springy hair. They jumped. They rolled around on the floor. Brass man Joel Kenworthy ran into the crowd and started a conga line/circle pit. Has Band In Seattle ever had a conga line? Not that we can remember. Reed broke two strings on two different guitars. It was THAT kind of show.

It was ridiculously hot in the studio by the time Actionesse finished, the swampy vibe of which was a good starting point for The Grizzled Mighty. Coming in hot on the heels of the prior band’s frenetic performance, Ryan Granger and co. had some big shoes to fill, but while the stylistic change from hornpunk to filthy blues gave some whiplash, The Grizzled Mighty laid down their own vibe admirably. 

Ryan Granger embodies The Grizzled Mighty, and has employed a rotating cast of characters (mostly drummers) as co-conspirators in the band. Presently, Joseph Braley, formerly of Maszer, is drumming, and for the first time the band has a bassist, Jewel Loree. Expanding the band from a duo to a trio definitely upped the ante as far as fleshing out the sound goes, and it also helps out on stage. Granger and Loree had great rapport, with both jumping off the drum riser and Granger playing his guitar high as Loree dropped down on her knees to play low. Granger also went out into the crowd to play (no circle pit, though). Their set ground through the band’s brand of thick, hazy, slide guitar ride of rock n roll.

Band In Seattle has a few more shows scheduled to tape for this season. SMI highly encourages you to check them out:

Christine Mitchell has been poring over album liner notes pretty much since she acquired the skill of reading, and figured out the basic structure of rock songs at an early age. Whether it’s the needle popping into the first groove of the record, the beeps that signal the beginning (or end) of a cassette tape, or digital numbers ticking off the seconds from zero, music brings Christine happiness, ponderous thought, opportunities for almost scientific study, and sometimes a few tears. When she started attending live shows two decades ago, a whole new piece of the puzzle clicked in and she has been hooked ever since.
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