Grant Hart (ex-Husker Du, Nova Mob) will be the first artist to exhibit his work at The Nomad, a new club/gallery in Minneapolis. He will be hosting an art installation and performance tomorrow night (March 19). The space used to be known as Five Corners. Grant will also be doing a breif solo tour in Canada this May. The dates are posted on his website.If you are a fan of Husker Du (and you should be), but do not know much about what Grant's been doing since that band broke up in 1988, you should consider picking up either his first solo album Intolerance or the first Nova Mob album, The Last Days of Pompeii. Unfortunately, Pompeii is out of print. The label went belly up about a month after it was released in 92. There have been rumors about a re-issue coming out, but for now you'll have to look on Ebay or in the used section of your favorite CD store.
Grant hasn't gotten much of the attention due him since the Huskers broke up. He is still an amazing songwriter, and a talented visual artist (he's done the art on all of his releases). His recorded output is admittedly a little spotty. The songs are almost always great, but often the musical arrangements are a bit lacking. Grant played the drums and sang in Husker Du, and is considered among the best rock drummers. He plays guitar and sings on all of his post-Husker stuff; and though he is a competent player, he really should utilize a lead guitarist more often. Grant's stuff does not sound a whole lot like Husker Du. His strong melodic sense is there, but the raging guitar of that band is not present at all. He has released albums under his own name, and with the band Nova Mob which he formed in the early 90s. Towards the end of Nova Mob's existence, Grant got back behind the drums for a tour. I had seen Nova Mob probably a dozen or so times before that, but they were never as great as they were then. The band fucking shredded! That version of the band didn't last more than a few weeks. By the end of the tour the "band" was down to Grant with an acoustic guitar. A recording of the last night of the tour was released as Ecce Homo in 1995. The album was only released in Europe. If you can find it, it is worth checking out though. He does a number of his Husker Du songs mixed in with his solo and NM tracks.
Since 1995 Grant has only relased one album, Good News for Modern Man. He hasn't played live too much otuside of his hometown of Minneapolis either. If he does come through your town, make it a point to see him.
Grant Hart (right) jams with Greg Norton (left) in Husker Du. Bob Mould is not pictured.
No comments:
Post a Comment