Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (GPN) is a female fronted rock band signed with Hollywood Records in 2005. In 2005, they released a self-produced album called Nothing but Water, which was praised as a modern take on roots and blues. For their next three albums, the band collaborated with many big name producers and influential songwriters such as Jim Scott, who has done phenomenal work with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Other collaborations have been done with Rich Costey and Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. The fact that they are self produced and have collaborated with some big names tells me that they have some serious talent and that they stick to their rock roots. I like that about a band, especially one with such a powerful female voice.
The media perception has been more than positive. GPN has been referred to as “ a timeless, organic brand of American Rock and Roll”. Grace Potter herself has been referred as a heart pumping rocker whose nuanced singing, organ playing and phenomenal songwriting belied her age when she debuted at 21 years old. She is praised for having a raw sense of sexuality, being amazingly glamourous and talented. The band’s ability to transcend genres from blues and R&B with hard rock and cool psychadelics reminiscent of 1960s and 1970s rock with Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac and the Kinks. The band is musically sophisticated and innovative in that their lyrics have the nostalgia of neoclassic rock while still being modern and fresh.
The front woman, Grace Potter is from Waitsfield, Vermont and formed the band in 2002 while attending St. Lawrence University in upstate New York with drummer, Matt Burr. In 2004, they added two more guitarists, Scott Tournet and Benny Yurco. They were part of the jam band community in Vermont and were once an up and coming modern jazz and blues band being compared to Norah Jones and Lucinda Williams. Their amazing stage presence and ability to completely take over a show gained them some respect from this community. Their next album after their debut, This is Somewhere, took more of their neoclassic rock approach with which they’ve come to identify with and stemmed the buzz of this “sexy new female badass rock group”. Her influences include The Band, The Rolling Stones, Little Feat and Neil Young to name a few. The newest album, The Lion The Beast The Beat is a little more commercial, but lyrically is acclaimed as their best yet.
For marketing, GPN uses their talent for live shows to their advantage. They have played many music festivals (Bonnaroo 2009-2011, Lollapalooza, Coachella to name a few) and have made many live television appearances. Potter’s songs have also been featured in a few TV shows such as Grey’s Anatomy and One Tree Hill. They are active online, with Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Myspace and active YouTube channels with many videos available. On their website, you can access previews to their albums and songs and even purchase their albums all in one place, which I thought was cool. Their music is downloadable, however she seems to release a couple of songs here and there on youtube to catch listeners’ ears and then offers the full albums on her website, which I think is smart. Friends of the band include Jim Scott and Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys), Kenny Chesney and Time McGraw to name a few. She met Chesney and McGraw while doing the Brothers of the Sun tour in 2012, which was a mainly country tour. This shows that ability of transcending genres, showing that she is capable of pretty much anything. GPN’s target demographic includes what they call “college radio and music-heads that typically scour record stores for that rare Kinks record”. However, the fact that they just finished the country tour shows that they do have a broad audience. The image of the band is important as it is kind of their identity, being repeatedly referred to as “hard hitting badass rock with a raw sexuality and edge”. Their reputation for their amazing live performance quality is what I believe is their best marketing strategy. Many videos of their performances and interviews are available, outweighing those that are actual studio recordings. This shows real talent I believe and takes us back to a time when the live show was the music.
If I ever make it in this cruel world, I want to take a similar path as Grace, but more into the country route. Bridget Bardot meets Suzi Quatro with a little Miranda Lambert. Love it.
xx S. :)
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