Grady

The Tattoo Rock Parlour
Toronto, Ontario
April 23, 2009

Gordie, Ben and Nina roped their horses out front of the Tattoo Rock Parlour downtown Toronto Saturday night and sauntered into the bar shakin off the dust, lookin for something to wet the whistle. The bartender instinctively passed Gordie a double Wild Turkey on the rocks and looked to Big Ben who held up two fingers: “Two sasparillas and make it snappy”…

As they sidled up to the bar, Ben handed Nina her drink and the three surveyed their surroundings with a deafening silence. This bar they’re gonna turn upside down. Few know it. Few would believe it. But everybody’s gonna know after tonight what this Texas threesome can do with the right guns n ammo.

I guess before Clint Eastwood steps in and starts shootin, I should step back into reality and let ya’ll know what really happened. Gordie and Ben brought out an arsenal of weapons, plugged em into some of the loudest cabs Traynor has to offer and blew the doors off the Tattoo that night.

Still in support of last year’s “A Cup of Cold Poison”, the threesome known as Grady pleasured the crowd with one after the other kick ass southern metal blues tunes. Such a cool combination of a bunch of music genres caught up in one big tumbleweed of loudness. They pulled out all kinds of Grady and added a few spoons full of Big Sugar to the delight of a packed house.

For me, Big Sugar and Grady has always been all about the sweet vocal and guitar work of Gordie “Grady” Johnson, still one of my all time favourite performers out there. I don’t even care what he’s playing. He could sing “Happy Birthday” to a guy and it would be the most kick ass “Happy Birthday” you’ve ever heard. At one point they kicked into Tragically Hip’s “Boots or Hearts” bringing much respect from the gathering at hand.

One of the highlights for me at any show involving Gordie Johnson is the aforementioned arsenal of guitars he brings along with him. It appears as though he’s retired my favourite guitar, the white doubleneck SG backed with the maple leaf, but he’s pulling out guitars I’ve never seen before. Old classic woodgrain Gibsons and nothing but Gibsons.

Of course after warming up on the black Gordie Johnson model SG, he went straight into a beautiful Ace Frehley lookin sunburst Les Paul with custom pickups, a killer lookin rare beast of an old dark brown woodgrain RD Standard, an older woodgrain Flying V, his black doubleneck SG, and an old woodgrain SG. He’s always a photographer’s dream to shoot as the scenery and sound keeps changing song after song. Big Ben stuck with his old faithful “The Ripper” through the whole set.

I’ve written about Gordie Johnson on many occasions, photographed him even more and I’ll never get tired of watching one of Canada’s greatest musicians to blow the doors off a venue… and he does it every time.

Jackhammers Nightclub
Brantford, Ontario
May 4, 2008

I've reviewed Grady a couple times before and the beauty of me n my little Rebel Reviewer gig is that I'm the fuckin boss. And the boss says fuckit. My ears are STILL ringing so I'm not even gonna DO a review this time. I will say that ANY time you go and see Grady, you're in for some seriously top notch quality and professional entertainment. So there. Just look at the pics.

Jackhammers Nightclub
Brantford, Ontario
July 12, 2007

It's always a pleasure to see what Gordie Johnson's doing next. Grady, the follow up to Big Sugar, is his much heavier, yet much simpler, project that's bound to shoot him into super stardom... well maybe not... but it IS a project that is doing well and holding it's own as it slams from town to town on a mechanical bull fulla piss n vinegar. The relatively small crowd was made up of life long Gordie fans. Well... life meaning the life of Gordie's career. I attended this show with a concert buddy of mine who I met in the front row of a Big Sugar show and I met a few other people who had been at some of the shows I'd been at in the past. Gordie is one of those guys who's got some pretty kick ass loyal fans. Like me. Ever since I started listening to Big Sugar back in 97, I've been hooked. Addicted. Jonesin for more. So when Grady rolled into town serving up a "Cup of Cold Poison", I was one of the first in line to drink er up!

And drink er up I did. I got fuckin LIQUORED at this show. Somehow this keeps happening whenever Gordie's on stage. He MAKES me drink foolishly! ; ) I was supposed to be the DD but my buddy stopped drinking after only a few and told me she'd reached her limit... well that was my cue to fire it up cuz this was only half way through the 2nd opener's (State of Shock) set. I was one eyed. Staggerin drunk. And I got some of the best shots I ever took of Gordie and Big Ben that night. I met a girl who made some of Gordie's guitar straps and I promised her the shots I took of her that night but my beer ravaged melon lost her contact info not once but twice! Hopefully someone puts her in touch with me so I can fulfill my promise to send her these shots. I wish there was more I can tell you about this show, but honestly I was just too hammered to bring DETAILS outta there!!! Fuckit... I aint gettin paid for these reviews so this one's DONE!

I've been waiting a while for this show. Ever since I saw Gordie Johnson playing bass for Rich Robinson (Black Crowes) at Lee's Palace in October 2004, I met up with Gordie afterwards and asked him what he had on the back burner. He wasn't real specific but he did tell me at the time that he had an album on the way and he wasn't done by a long shot. Lo and behold a wee while later, I hear Gordie HAS a new band, a new album and a new persona... Grady. I popped by the venue to see if I could get hooked up with a photo pass... I do everything last minute and people seem to take pity on me! Well if luck didn't have it, Big Ben strolled up and gave me the nod for a photo pass. Not only for the show but as the band disappeared into the venue and I turned to walk away, Ben stuck his head out the door and said, "you wanna come shoot the sound check?"

THIS doesn't happen too often. Lotsa bands hate anyone being around for sound check, let alone some asshole photographer. So I was as discreet as I could be with a flash blasting away and I got a couple good shots to show you fine people. After the sound check I took off to a nearby bar for a bite and a few pints to gear up for the show and in walks a guy I happened to know but never actually met face to face. Him and his buddy were up for the show and I told them they were in for a treat as the Denim was one of the best sounding little bars you're gonna hear a band in. Unfortunately, if you were pressed up against the stage, you couldn't hear the great job the sound woman laid on us. Yes that's right all you libbers... sound was done by a WOMAN!!!!!! And a babe at that! If you were at the back of the bar, the sound was perfect... at the front, all we could really hear was Gordie's fuckin Marshalls!!!

Not that there's anything wrong with hearing Gordie's fuckin Marshalls but Gordie likes to turn it to eleven... or louder. I've spoken of the aural assault Gordie likes to hand out to people night after night.. well this night was only different than the rest in that I didn't bring any ear protection and my dumb ass was parked right in front of Gordie's fuckin Marshalls. The bar started out pretty empty but quickly filled up about half-way through the Waking Eyes set. Thank god. I was starting to worry about a shitty turnout and an empty venue usually means a piss poor performance for any band. The Waking Eyes, who I recently saw open for Collective Soul, set 'em up... and Grady knocked 'em down and out. With a shitload of old Big Sugar tunes and a bunch of new stuff, we really got treated to some of the heaviest blues/country/rock you're gonna find anywhere. All in all, Gordie's still got it going on. He still is one of the coolest fuckers you're gonna find on stage or off and he's still turning out great music for great people. I was supposed to go shoot them again the next night in London but was so hung over from the night before, there was just no fucking way I could make that show.

Sound Check Shots

The Show

Grady Official Web Site

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