William Gruff wins Best Rock Album [Updated]

[UPDATE 3/7/15:] WE WON!!! Thank you to all of the listeners and musicians that participated in the SAMMYs.

The Syracuse Area Music Awards have been celebrating the Central New York music scene since 1993, and this year they've invited us to the party. Our band has a lot of connections to the region, from our favorite recording studios (More Sound and SubCat) to our favorite spacetime nexuses (Binghamton), and it *feels nice* to have some love going all 'round.

The awards ceremony will take place on March 6th, and is highlighted by Lifetime Achievement Award recipient (and Phish drummer) Jon Fishman.

We're incredibly grateful to have been nominated, and are honored to be included among such talent musical company. Have a listen to Binghamton, as well as our more recent releases, at the Music page.

2014 in Review: Favorite Concerts →

Johnny Showcase and Buried Beds are highlights from the year in Philadelphia music.

While this year certainly had its ups and downs, I couldn't be happier with the music and performances I got to be a part of. There were some banner moments for me as a drummer, and The Swollen Fox picked two of them in two separate top ten lists.

The Philadelphia music scene is many things, and while not the biggest or most influential, it carries our city's diverse, stalwart artistry. Shout outs go to fellow list mates and musical compadres: TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb, Perseverance Jazz Band, and Divers - and of course to the other great bands that I didn't see but are great.

Buried Beds

In June of this year, I had the distinct pleasure of doing 10 shows on the east coast with Philadelphia's chamber pop wizard band Buried Beds. Touring in support of the magnificently talented Kishi Bashi, we brought our show to the TLA on June 6th, 2014. It my first time playing that stage, and a good time was had by all. The night has been ranked as an Editor's Pick in the Swollen Fox's 2014 in Review top 10, and I'm honored to have been a part of it.

Johnny Showcase

While playing the TLA certainly crossed an item off the ol' bucket list, this August 20th gig is gonna need a bigger bucket. Of funk. A big bucket of funk. I GOT TO OPEN FOR GEORGE CLINTON!!! It was an inconceivable gift to set up my drums and play that night, and the Fox's Elizabeth Thorpe (and the sold out crowd) seemed to agree it was worth remembering. In summary: George. Clinton. Parliament. Funkadelic.

Thanks to the editors, writers, and photographers at The Swollen Fox, and all the killer musicians and bands in Philly. Here's to the New Year!

Read the full article: http://theswollenfox.com/2014-in-review-favorite-concerts/

Jewels & Tinware nominated for Outstanding Album of 2014 →

The new album from the Alex Radus Trio has been nominated for the 16th Annual Lehigh Valley Music Awards' Outstanding Album of 2014. Whoa. If you're a resident of the Lehigh Valley, or a "music industry insider" that works within the scene up there, you are eligible to vote! Click here to cast your ballot.

Get the new album Jewels & Tinware on Amazon.com, and direct at www.alexradus.com.

The Swollen Fox recaps our show with Parliament Funkadelic

Click the link below to read the article, and/or check out this little fan-made vid of us chugging through our tune "Night of the Electric Love Phoenix". There are no words to describe how much fun this show was. The Swollen Fox was there to tell the tale, noting our Mystic ability to warm the crowd and keep the funk:

At least the opener, Philadelphia “absurdist soul” band Johnny Showcase, is always in the mood for theatrics... a formidable band with catchy hooks, hilarious lyrics, and great basslines, as Sweeny and Baker have surrounded themselves with The Mystic Ticket—featuring some of Philly’s best musicians—and also enlisted the support of solid backup singers The Truth....  by the chorus of the raunchy "Hit It From The Back," the band had won [the crowd] over.

William Gruff delivers an "edgier" sound with new single →

Don't Remember Your Name

Our friends over at DOA have featured our new single, "Don't Remember Your Name", and it seems that they got it just right. Head over to their blog and read more, and give a listen to the tune on YouTube, SoundCloud, or right here!

'Gruff single is one of the "Best Songs of 2013" →

The good people over at adequacy.net - who published an exclusive interview with us a few months ago - rated our first single from Binghamton as one of the Best Songs of last year. Here's what they had to say:

Review by Jen Dean

"Helmsman Matt Cusack steers this David Bowiesque, epic number with a sure hand, starting off slowly with strummed guitar and low-key vocals that build up in emotive intensity.  Certain yearning turns of phrase and song structure shifts recall artists like David Bowie, Jeff Buckley, and Freddie Mercury."

Check out the article, and the rest of the list, over at DOA.

William Gruff "encompasses the heavens as much as the hills" →

Leading up to our featured concert at the Auburn Public Theater, we had a chance to chat with a local newspaper about our new music.

“William Gruff doesn’t sound like an astronaut’s name — maybe a woodsman’s, or a sheriff’s.

But when it comes to the band William Gruff, the name encompasses the heavens as much as the hills.

The New York City quintet will bring its “cowboy space tunes” to Auburn Public Theater Dec. 20. Its latest EP, “Binghamton,” was inspired in equal doses by David Bowie and Big Star — lots of synths and acoustic guitars, singer/guitarist Matt Cusack said.”

Click the title above to read the article by David Wilcox

Q&A with William Gruff →

The fine folk at DOA just published a Featured Interview with Matt on their site. It goes pretty in depth about the songs, the sounds, and the brainspace that created our new album. I think they liked the record, too:

"Binghamton is completely pleasing to the ear and the brainspace, from the thoughtful to brisk rhythms, complex and compelling interplay of guitars, contemplative, expressive, and yearning vocal leads, sweet harmonies, and cogent lyrics."

Read the full interview at Delusions of Adequacy, and... have you listened to the record yet?

Binghamton

Released October 2013
Click to listen to the full album online

Binghamton "is a loose, freewheeling, powerful record" →

Binghamton

Released October 2013
Click to listen to the full album online

They keep a-rollin' in! Here's a new review of our new album, this time from the music blog Popa's Tunes. Popa wrote about William Gruff a few times in the past - most notably in his retelling of my epic sojourn to and fro the recording studio - and he's got nothing but good things to say about what we released.  

"Binghamton is a loose, freewheeling, powerful record from a band that naturally gels together with an abundance of creativity. Each track is hypnotically catchy, and sinks into the subconscious to wander there perpetually."

Well right on. If you haven't already, you best take a listen to the record they're all raving about: Binghamton  is now available on iTunes, Amazon, and for your listening pleasure right here on charlieheim.com!

Binghamton is "a cosmic, psych-pop commencement speech" →

Taking our latent interest in space, the future, and empowering music literally, music blog Bucket Full of Nails seemed to deeply understand the messages we were trying to convey. Of course, you should listen for yourself to see if the "astral" allusions to Philip K. Dick's reality are as clear as they claim. Regardless, when speaking about our tune "Newtons", they offered this fine opine:

"...[Should you] follow William Gruff, a time capsule from today discovered some light years from now won’t tell the story of such modernity. Rather, the physics of love will form the tale read to future generations."

Johnny Showcase in JUMP Magazine! →

We had a nice write-up in the Fall 2013 Edition of JUMP Philly - see page 23. 

This issue of JUMP also features a cover story on a longtime Showcase collaborator - Martha Graham Cracker.

William Gruff - Binghamton

The second album from William Gruff.

Hot on the heels of the new single and music video, comes William Gruff's Binghamton  EP.

We recorded the entire thing in four days, and features six brand-new songs penned by Matt Cusack and his acoustic guitar. With Vince Federici on guitar, Will Tobin on keyboards, Julia Adamy on bass, myself on drums and everyone singing, we tracked Binghamton live at More Sound Studios in Syracuse, NY. We chose travel back to the space where William Gruff  was manifested; More Sound's quality and accommodation was and is well worth the trip. The trip, however, is a big part of the story.

I contributed drums, percussion, vocals, arranging, and my car's engine to our little record here.

I'll be posting a more detailed account of said trek to and fro the 'Cuse, but you will have to check back for that one - it's gonna take a minute to put it all down. It has already become internet legend, however, and you can read a (lightly dramatized) telling over at Popa's Tunes. Here's an excerpt:

"Four AM sitting in the cab of the tow truck, hard rain falling, the prospects of getting to the studio on time looked grim. Can the car be fixed? Who too call at this ungodly hour for a ride? The flashing neon of the service station blurred crimson red on the wet windshield, two letters were missing from the sign, it blinked RAGE, RAGE, RAGE. Still soaked to the bone Charlie and Vince climbed from the cab, despairingly wondering what to do next."

Intrigued yet? Read the whole article or download the album now!
Visit www.williamgruffmusic.com for more info and new music.

Some of our set-up at More Sound Studio

William Gruff CD Release. Rockwood NYC.

ceramsey3's photo on Instagram

William Gruff

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