First coming together while at boarding school in the late '80s, the founding members of
Grand Champeen decided early on that their brand of
rock & roll would be energetic, straight-ahead, and loud. Taking their cues from
the Rolling Stones,
Neil Young,
the Replacements, early
Soul Asylum,
Uncle Tupelo, and others,
Grand Champeen crafts honest
rock songs best listened to at maximum volume. Guitarists and vocalists Channing Lewis and Michael Crow met drummer Ned Stewart while attending boarding school in rural Virginia.
In high school, the three formed a band, the Frosted Megawheats, with fellow student Will Minor on bass, and specialized in the type of
post-punk emanating from Minneapolis throughout the '80s. After recording a self-produced album, the four graduated in the spring of 1993 and moved on to Boulder, CO, where they continued to play together in the local music scene. The summer of 1994 saw the group, now renamed Mucho Maas, in Chapel Hill, where they recorded a second album featuring
fIREHOSE guitarist Ed Crawford. Shortly thereafter, Minor left the band. Lewis and Crow returned to Boulder, but decided to move again to Austin, TX, in the summer of 1997. Soon joined by Stewart and new bassist Rob Hargrove, a University of Texas law student and Crow's friend from childhood, the group took the name
Grand Champeen and began playing local venues. Their first album, Out Front by the Van, was released in January 2000 to positive reviews, and soon the group had a reputation as one of the best live acts in town. After the album's release, Hargrove left the band to focus on his studies and was replaced by Alex Livingstone, who played with the band at the South by Southwest Music Conference in March 2000. Throughout 2000,
Grand Champeen recorded the follow-up to Out Front by the Van, which was released in the spring of 2001. Two years later, The One That Brought You built on their
indie rock foundation, and the band moved to In Music We Trust for 2007's Dial T for This. ~ Brandon Gentry, All Music Guide
