Arts & Entertainment
 

Local artist fights banality

Sugar Land native uses mood to influence music instead of giving in to standard sounds that saturate Houston's scene

On the scenes

Dusti Rhodes
 
 

From the looks of Grant Olney and after getting a glimpse of his sticker-plastered rear window, one might expect to hear the average pop/indie rock that has plagued the local scene since New Found Glory hit it big a couple years ago.

His band history, consisting of punk and pop acts alike, would just as easily add to those assumptions, but all assumptions are put to rest with the 20-year-old's seductive vocals and sexy instrumentation. 

Olney traded in his early 1990s pop-punk influences for the more mature sounds of old that allowed him to create his own alluring pop.

He started out as many musicians do, as a part of a rock band in high school, more specifically Hightower High School in Sugar Land. His first band, Substandard, was a Screeching Weasel-influenced pop-punk band in which Olney played drums. After a couple years he quit and began playing guitar and formed The Record Time.

While attending The University of Texas he said he started a record label, Good Guy Records, with a friend and kept playing in The Record Time. Olney saw all these experiences as a blessing but could not deny the fact that there was something missing.

He said his professors were stressing the importance of finding a job, his band was focused on putting out as many records as possible, and Olney himself was trying to decide what, if anything, was worth keeping up with.

Then Olney was given a book, The Man Who Loved Only Numbers by Paul Hoffman, as a gift. Olney now credits it as the reason he decided to take more time for both education and music, but on his own terms.

"You can't force it," Olney said.

Olney said he stopped trying so hard and began listening to Jeff Buckley, The Cure, Morrissey, The Beatles and a number of jazz musicians who create the basis for refreshing tunes. 

He said these musicians not only refined his musical sound but also how he approached music altogether.

"The Record Time was all about being really technical. The more complicated the music is the better it is," said Olney, who feels older musicians were more focused on the song itself.

"Their songs were about the mood and the song, not about how technical you are," said Olney, adding that he adapted their "laid back" approach to music and "just let it flow."

When recording his latest album he stuck to the eight-track and didn't let his bandmates hear the songs until they were ready to record.

Olney said this way there is no time to second-guess the music.

"You can't scrutinize as much," he said.

Olney's sound is influenced by the above mentioned artists and would be enjoyed just as easily by an adult contemporary fan as it would by a younger generation of pop fans.

His romantic sound is carried by his deep crooning voice and lulls listeners along to his poetic words. 

His lyrics, like many of his songs are reminiscent of The Beatles while his sexy voice models The Cure frontman, Robert Smith.

In his slower songs, Olney sounds like he is whispering each word into his lover's ear instead of into the microphone. His mature sound would surprise audiences coming from his baby doll face surrounded by gold locks, but even Olney said he feels the music is beyond his years.

"They sound like records I would write when I was 40 or something," Olney said.

Olney will release his album Brokedown Gospel in July on Asian Man Records. He will perform with a live band Jan. 30 at Perry's Landmark Restaurant, located at 2501 South Main St. in Pearland.

Rhodes writes a weekly column about local arts and entertainment. Send comments to dcshobiz@mail.uh.edu.