Cancer
Grady's first record Y.U. So Shady? kind of showed up without much of a plan; we’d already been playing some gigs and wanted some more around Austin. We figured we’d get more gigs if we had a CD together, so, we went into the studio for a day or two and banged it out, sent it around to some clubs and sold it off the stage.
It started to get a lot of play on the radio in Austin. Then people started asking for it in the stores and a label was interested in putting it out. We scrambled to put a proper cover on the album and put it together as fast as we could. In different circumstances, we may have waited longer and written more songs, but the debut album really wasn’t intended to be a stand up record. We just needed a demo. (laughs) It’s a cool record and represents the start of our band.
We obviously put a lot more planning into our second record, A Cup of Cold Poison, which was released June 19. The songs had already been played live quite a bit. We actually spent less time on it because we only had to throw it down once…we went into the studio, recorded it, mixed it and it was done. By the second album, the sound of the band had developed – we got stronger, louder and faster.
Y.U. So Shady? was a transitional record, but it wasn’t because we were thinking backwards, in terms of what the Big Sugar fan base may have been looking for. I’d had Big Sugar, and that was done. In Austin, not many people knew about Big Sugar.
COMMENTS (5)
RATE THIS STORY
Nude photos of the MTV reality star surfaced on the...
...and I don’t even know what to say, in the best possible way. When the movie...
Comments
i've been a big sugar fan
By li ru fong, July 7, 2007 at 04:11i've been a big sugar fan for quite a while.
i really appreciated reading your article
and hearing from Gordie.
thanks again!
Terrific piece. I'm a fan
By Hazel8500, July 3, 2007 at 00:24Terrific piece. I'm a fan too, got to see Big Sugar in Toronto in the early 90's. I'm looking forward to hearing the new Grady album. Some of my all time favorite music comes out of Gordie.
Let me tell y'all - it was a
By Heather Wallace, June 28, 2007 at 20:43Let me tell y'all - it was a little hard for me to stay professional when I was interviewing Gordie Johnson. I've been a huge fan since the early 1990s.
One time, I saw Big Sugar live at The Joint in Edmonton, Alberta. Before the show, a friend of mine, who had seen them in an intimate venue already, asked me "Are you ready?" I shrugged, and said I thought I was. He said, "Good, because this will change your life."
Two days later, I hopped in my little blue Chevrolet Sprint, packed with my cat and a few earthly possessions, and drove through the mountains to Vancouver, and I've been here ever since.
Sometime after Big Sugar broke up, I saw Gordie walking down Commercial Drive, decked out in his big black cowboy hat and leather (unless I was just dreaming) pants. I smiled at him, but choked up before I could say hello.
Not long after, I saw his new band Grady play at Mavericks Bar in Burnaby. I was so close to the stage that I could feel the spray off Gordie's forehead. It felt just like home...Grady blew me away...I'd never heard anything like it, just like I'd never heard anything like Big Sugar before, and it was equally life changing.
*****
When Gordie called me for the interview at 9am last Friday, he was so unassuming, "Hey Heather, it's Gordie Johnson."
GULP! I kept it together, in part because he was so humble and easy to talk to...I'm not sure any interview in my future will ever top it. I know that's a pretty crazy statement. Let's just say it was a dream come true.
Now I'm starting to sound like a gushing groupie...But I'll always be Gordie's groupie, Texas or Alberta, Big Sugar or Grady, and even when I wear the journalism hat.
Thanks Gordie for your time and the music...
Great interview/story. I
By rossmckillop, July 1, 2007 at 14:20Great interview/story. I find it a real shame that Grady isn't as popular as they should be, and I applaud you for seeking out Gordie for this article. They deserve and need all the positive reviews/press they can get. Grady's set @ Austin City Limits 2005 was one of the highlights of the 3 day festival.
Hi Ross - glad to hear
By Heather Wallace, July 1, 2007 at 23:50Hi Ross - glad to hear you're keeping a candle burning as well. I think the same recipe with a new flavor will pay off large ...good music always finds its audience.
keep on rockin in the free world ;)
heather