Best Band Ever*

*according to me, at this moment, subject to change
I'm going to do this a little differently then I normally do. Instead of profiling some band who I've known and loved for years this is a band that I only heard about the beginning of this year and then forgot about until last week, but the songs that I have heard from them and their whole vibe is so kick ass that I thought they warranted this spot (plus I'm sort of scared of trying to profile my A1 favorites; way too big a job.) And so for no particular reason Grinderman is the Best Band Ever.*
So Grinderman is, I'm not sure what they are, if they're a spinoff, a separate entity or just the Bad Seeds rechristened but as I never got into Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (it's a pop culture blindspot, sorry) I don't have that good a grasp to compare them. What I do know is that when I first heard the name Grinderman, it was in the buildup and anticipation of the hype of Grindhouse and so I probably dismissed it out of hand as being lumped together into some sort of underground hip vernacular that I didn't understand and really didn't want to look to deeply in. But what I'm pretty sure a grinder man is is that guy with the squeezbox accordion (or belly organ properly) who has a capuchin monkey that wears a funny hat on a leash begging for tips, or at least that's the image I'm going to stick with because its awesome. And it kind of works with the monkey in their Grinderman video.

I really like bands who sing about heavy grizzled kind of weary stuff that look like they have actually lived it, y'know? Like Nick Cave I'm sure has lived through some shit (just like Tom Waits has surely lived through many a 3 a.m. in a bar with Marlboro Red smoke wafted in the air with a 3/4 empty bottle of whiskey) like actually living through so many nights where he couldn't get laid where a song like No Pussy Blues rings true (even though he is a rock star he's not the most handsome of gents, which lead to this awesome heckle)
Here's their performance from Later...With Jools Holland which I like more than the official promotional video, just because of their power and intensity (a/k/a flashing lights)

I love their look as well like kind of mountain evangelists from the 70's, grizzled loners wandering into a cheesy western town, or something that the Killers in their new phase would look like in 30 years, if they weren't so damn pretty. Here they are, Grinderman that is, on Letterman from March (maybe I should start watching him again) with their pretty sweetly named song Honey Bee (Let's Fly To Mars)

They've been getting a lot of good notices, buzz and attention from I'm sure a tonne of Bad Seed fans but others as well and from all I've seen its warranted (you can see more videos on Youtube of course) So if you dig like I dig you can buy their album on Amazon, or anywhere else.
So for all of the reasons I may have mentioned, including their badassity (I'm not sure if I brought that up) Grinderman is the Best Band Ever*

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