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.

'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.

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."

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

Buy on Amazon

William Gruff new single is a "gorgeously sweeping romantic anthem"

Feast your ears! William Gruff has just released the first single from our new album, Binghamton. People are already talking about it, as Popa's Tunes said it all in the above quote, and Good Music Inc. went so far as to offer an exclusive preview of our album on their site. They caught on to some of our influences whilst digging it:

“...focusing in on the juxtaposition of organic sounds, against heavy allusions to space, [they] create a feeling reminiscent of Ziggy Stardust or Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.”

— Good Music Inc.

Listen to At The Bottom Of The Ocean by William Gruff | Explore the largest community of artists, bands, podcasters and creators of music & audio.

What do you think? William Gruff's new album Binghamton  featuring "At The Bottom of the Ocean" is available on iTunes, Amazon, and streaming free right here.