THE JIST - WITH MAURY CRANDALL

Maury is the drummer/vocalist for the Giranimals.  I first met Maury when I first moved to Albuquerque five years ago at the golden west.  The Giranimals lineup has changed a lot in the past years,  but it's always been Maury and Connies songwriting that have kept me coming back.  Currently working an new album and keeping the shows to a minimun,  there is definatly some anticipation on their next move.

What are you currently listening to?

At this very moment as I type I am listening to "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" by The Buckinghams...one of the coolest breakdowns in classic pop/rock. Lately in general, Elliott Smith, Wye Oak, Love As Laughter, The Band. And not a lot of people know this but I am a closet jazz freak. Been listening to Wes Montgomery, Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Sunny Rollins, and others. I go through spurts where I listen to a lot of jazz.

If you could add one instrument to your band what would it be?

I would add a cool horn of some sort. Baritone sax would be rad. Is Jerry Mulligan available?

All ages or bar shows?

All ages shows are usually more fun, but the cool all-ages places never seem to last long in Albuquerque.

Your headlining a major music festival. Name three things you would required in your rider.

A rider? What's that? I dunno, maybe showers in the dressing room, lots of cold beverages. Oh, I got it-a babysitter for our three kids.

How often do you rehearse?

We "rehearse" (if you can call it that) once per week at most. It's exceptionally hard for us to schedule some weeks, so we miss sometimes. But, if we have a show coming up we try to maintain the one per week practice schedule in the weeks leading up to it.

Tell me the story behind one of your songs.

Our song "Bonnie and Ned" is about my grandparents, Bonnie and Ned Russell. My grandma, Bonnie, passed away in 1999, and I wrote the song several years later sort of directing it to my grandpa. The hook goes, "Don't slip away...Please don't join that fray." Seems like when one dies in an old couple, the other soon follows. But Ned battled on for almost 10 years. He passed away in May and I gave the eulogy at his funeral.

Is song writing up to the band as a whole? or an individual?

Songwriting in the giranimals is nearly always a solo thing. Connie and I write our own stuff and work on our songs individually and get an idea of how we want them to go, and then introduce them to the band. But Jav is a great songwriter and has been contributing a lot, which is really cool as none of our past members did much writing or song crafting.

Favorite local venue?

We really liked playing at Stove (rip). Launchpad is great too.

is stage fright a problem?

Stage fright is definitely still a problem at times. Connie still gets nervous quite a bit right beore we go on. But, you suck it up and play through it, right?

Name a dead musician you would like to see live.

Hmm, Otis Redding with Booker T anf the MG's backing him. Or Wilco with Jay
Bennett because that band is definitely dead now (just kidding).

What's more important,  practice or promotion?

I guess practice is more important, because if you get a lot of people to your shows but suck, then what have you accomplished? Besides getting on TRL or something, nothing.