Back in the day
In the mid 90s across from Kino Kijów on Al. Krasińskiego there was the old Klub Kornet (venue still stands under new ownership), where the Old Metropolitan Band played a concert every Wednesday (or was it Thursdays?). The band also hosted jam sessions on Fridays. The motto was “American technology in Polish hands.” They did it like no one else and they are still going after 50 years I think, with some member changes of course. The place was loaded with people, filled with smoke and dancing on the tables was not an uncommon occurrence. I did not realise at the time that I would one day perform there and it seemed highly unlikely as a strictly jazz club especially considering I didn’t even have a fully functioning band.
Eclectic, Energetic, Outlandish, Sexy People
…with our energetic, eclectic show with me changing my outlandish clothes several times during the performance…[ ] our show was very unlike those of other Kraków bands with me coming out into the audience, singing in English and generally acting crazy.
My first gig in Krakow was at Klub Atmosfera and I believe we opened for Beans in 1999 on Plac Sczepański with my band Sexy People. I didn’t choose the name of the band. We had a song with that title and the drummer decided it was a great band name and made a lot of posters without discussing it with the band. In the end I guess I was grateful because I wouldn’t have had the intestinal fortitude (balls) to come up with a name like that and it is in a fact a great name. We had an audience of about 20 people, but I’m sure they saw something that they had never seen before.
Sexy People the rock band went on to play at Burzliwy Poniedziałek translated “Stormy Monday” on ul. Grodzka (which later became Tower) and a few times at Klub Klinka 35 (which later became Imbir). I believe we played our last gig with a support group called Lack of Johnson and two of their band members later joined a very important project of mine. Klinika had been an important club in Kraków’s history and I’m told that some famous acts had played there. The club itself had such a large group of regulars that it was not necessary to do too much promotion. The gigs were paid, which was always a plus. I remember that famous Polish guitarist Jacek Królik came to the club after one of our gigs and played our guitarist’s guitar and broke a string.
My band broke up after one year for reasons unknown to me. I guess they saw no future in it, but we had impressed Krzysiek Łochowicz, the guitarist from Lack of Johnson, and the bass player Łukasz Łaba with our energetic, eclectic show with me changing my outlandish clothes several times during the performance. Yes, our show was very unlike those of other Kraków bands with me coming out into the audience, singing in English and generally acting crazy.
Sexy People live at Klub Klinika 35 (2001)
Outlandish, Performing Avant-Rock: CroDad & 100 Years
After Sexy People broke up, I met Łochowicz in the Planty and we remembered each other. I had been impressed by his guitar playing and he with our show. We agreed to try to put together a new project. He, Łaba and I worked for two years on arrangements for the tunes. We wanted to emphasise creativity and some technical prowess in our music. After patiently working on the material they told me we had to find a drummer. Their friend, the drummer from Marek Batorski‘s jazz band, eventually joined after a couple of months of auditioning various other drummers from our ad in Gazeta Wyborcza and Dziennik Polski. At the time, the Internet was not the way.
“Whoo-Hah!” featured in the CD compilation “Polarized” for the magazine English Matters distributed in Poland. The CD included songs of bands with foreigners making music in Poland, mostly from Kraków and Poznań. There were 16,000 copies printed.
First CroDad Poster for Kawiarnia Naukowa (2004)
Poster for CroDad’s Second Gig at Awangarda (2004)
CroDad Promo Sheet for Early Gigs (invalid contact info)
This was the foundation for our band CroDad & 100 Years, which played its first gig at the first Kawiarnia Naukowa on ul. Jakuba in 2004 around Valentine’s Day. The band still exists to this day with the same original bass player Łukasz Łaba and drummer Dominik Klimczak as in the first gig. Along with myself, Jarek Meus on guitar, Kamila Owsianików on flute and Piotr Skupniewicz on clarinet, the band is still prepared to ROCK!
Krzysiek Łochowicz went onto Warsaw to play with famous musicians such as Mela Koteluk, Daria Zawiałow, Paweł Domagała, and Kayah among others, but has come back occasionally to do a gig with us.
First CroDad & 100 Years‘ Gig at Naukowa (2004)
On December 10th [2008], the band played two energetic sets, Mr. CroDad was in good shape and kicked around the stage changing clothes every few minutes. He resembled David Byrne crossed with Madonna. It was quite fun. His way of communicating is “song-declamation”, while the texts show an influx of poetry, philosophy and playful stupidities. The guys warmed up the night, the trumpet and guitars set the audience on fire with murderous solos. Although CroDad’s music is probably not for everyone, it is worth facing it at least once.
Aktivist NR 115 STYCZEŃ 2009
Kolejną wartą zobaczenia atrakcją był koncert CroDad and 100 Years. Dziwna to kapela.Od 5 lat gra w Krakowie i kolicach avantfunkowy rock ze zdrową dawką performance’u. Zespół znany jest z tego, że dopasowuje program do danego wieczoru , nigdy nie gra tak samo. Obywatel USA, Christopher Gray aka CroDad, to rdzeń zespołu. Na trąbce – Ian Jenkins, na klawiszach – Guzik, na gitarze – Piotr Grąślewicz, a na basie – Łukasz Łaba. Bębny obsługuje Dominik Klimczak, a wokalnie panów wspiera Anne Marie Kauffman. 10 grudnia formacja zagrała dwa energetyczne sety, Pan CroDad w formie był dobrej i fikał po scenie, zmienniając ciuchy co parę minut. Przypominał David Byrne’a skrzyżowanego z Madonną. I było to całkiem wesołe. Jego sposób komunikacji to „śpiewodeklamcja”, w tekstach natomiast widać wypływy poezji, filozofii i filuternych głupot. Chłopaki rozgrzały noc, trąbka i gitary rozpaliły publiczność morderczymi solówkami. I choć muzyka CroDad zapewne nie jest dla wszystkich, to jednak warto przynajmniej raz się z nią zmierzyć.
An Archeological Audio Artefact, Lie to me does not lie
What you have here is pure musical archeology. A freshly dug up artefact, the unfinished audio of Lie to me truly belongs in the collection of the (Recent) Archeology of the Kraków Music Scene.
It was the first tune written with dynamic innovator Jarek Meus, the third guitarist of the band five years into its creation in 2004. He had replaced Norbert Pajek (from Energy Drink) who had in turn replaced Krysiek Łochowicz.
The song was supposed to feature in CroDad & 100 Years’ fourth EP along with Whoo-Hah!, Social Eyes and perhaps another track from around 2009. Unfortunately, the whole recording somehow got lost in the shuffle of Jarek changing computers and studio spaces and developments in the personal lives of the band members.
If you listen carefully you can still hear the click of the track at the beginning of the recording and the voice of our drummer Dominik Klimczak at the end. It was hot out from the studio but not completely baked.
The lyrics are in fact quite old and inspired by an incident of betrayal.
Tell me I’m great when I’m really not
Lie to me, tell me I’m fun
Spend time with me, when I’m not the one
They go deep into the band’s darkest realm of its repertoire. We still play the song in our shows.
I feel alone.
I feel confused.
I feel hurt.
I feel abused.
Jarek has been with us since then, playing guitar and occasionally the Bouzouki (a Greek lute-like string instrument). If you listen carefully you can still hear the click of the track at the beginning of the recording and the voice of our drummer Dominik Klimczak at the end. It was hot out from the studio but not completely baked. As I said, a musical archeological artefact which makes us wonder today how it would’ve sounded if recorded under different circumstances. I hope one day to work on the tune again, but I’m not sure if we’ll be able to spark up the same magic that happened here, or rather there, I should say.
Comments
Chris very good singer
I'm filling in the pages in this book - look!
[…] – Christopher B. Gray (CroDad) Read more about the genesis of CroDad & 100 Years in the series “The (Recent) Archeology o… […]