(taken from the Pasadena Weekly sometime in 1994 or 1995 - © Steve Alcorn)
Sometimes, jobs have a tendency to suck. This would be one of those times. Yesterday,when I wrote this thing for the first time, the only reason I invoked the suckiness of things in relation to this column was cause I wasn't going to be able to see a guy by the name of Brendan Lynch and his band the Pale Grifters play at Toes Tavern Friday night. At that point, my computer had not yet eaten my whole damn column sending it off to "cannot find file or file already open" land. And, I just wasn't going to get out of the day job in time to catch the show. At this point, given all that was supposed to happen, sure to happen, yet didn't happen, I surrendered. This week's thing has been the leper of all columns. It won't die, it just sits about falling apart and smelling worse with each passing minute.
And I still will, in all likelihood, miss one hell of a show.
The first time I caught Brendan's act was at his usual Thursday night solo-living-room-feel-have-Big-Dave-pour-me-another-one-and-l'll-play-longer set at Lucky Baldwin's. It is his chance to let down his hair a bit and rock out with his friends after a rousing game of soccer while doing his all to keep the beer importers of America in business. Great show, good tunes and expectatians highly rising for the full-blown Brendan. If the guy has that much fun and that much of a turnout on a Thursday while basically goofing around, I imagine that when fully focused and leading the Pale Grifters through their set it's gonna be an outstanding night.
The band is comprised of Brendan on his new guitar,vocals and Iyrics, Machado whacking the drums, Doug Nahory runnin' the keys, M. (New York, London, Paris, Munich) on guitar, Kevin Kline on bass and Cammie Elen backing them all up vith her vocals. They've been together as a unit for only two months, but have a coherence that belies that small amount of time due to Brendan's rather unique way of handling the band. When writing new songs, he'll tape himself laying down the initial spine of the song ‹ vocals and licks - and give the tape to the rest of the band. So the entire band has an independent input. Two things he said over beer and a sandwich seem to sum up his musical philosophy rather well, "Here, add to this, feel it or don't and leave" in regard to the tapes and "l don't care how you get from point A to point B, see ya at point B." And point B is the result of everyone weaving their own threads in their own heads with the eventual result being a sound that is very large 'cause everyone plays lead.
It is a unique liquid iron glove that Brendan wields but the results are proof that the system is working. He is very confident in the fact that he's going places and will be taking people with him, but won't tolerate baby-sitting anyone. Being a guy with a job that pays most of the bills and trying to expand on his craft is tough enough without the excess baggage. You wanna be a part of the Lynch mob, prove it. On the other end of that swagger, though, is the cold slap in the face of having to deal with "A&R slime that take all the love out of the thing I love the most." The business end of his creativity, that he hates so much, is something he simply deals with, with an enviable rationality For instance, when his "drinking partner" of seven years, his guitar, was stolen from the back of his car while on a beer run, he thought "Shit, well at least I've got beer." As he explained, it was all he could do. "When someone has their way with you, what are y gonna do? Cry?"
Nope. He turned to his best friend - his dad - and wagered indentured servitude against his dad's contacts and a plane ticket to Nashville,Tennessee on two hands of poker and a game of hoops.
Upon landing in Nashville, Brendan, through a guy who lived in dad's basement and now plays with Bob Dylan, hooked up with a new guitar. He found it at Greuhn Guitars, "the best used vintage guitar shop in the world". It's something called a Guild J-Fat 30. I don't know what the hell it is, but I can't wait to hear the thing.
As Brendan sings in "I'll Stand," on his demo, "Strap in, the fun's just beginning..."
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Last modified on 9/15/97