Artist description To put it bluntly, this is good-and-loud rock music with top-notch songwriting. Originally out of California, Grub Dog Mitchell’s music carries on its back all the hard-workin’ soul of dust bowl immigrants right up to the bewildered sons of Reagan’s cold war. Here, you find shades of Replacements rock, Hank Williams country and the loose and soulful Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Throw in a sizeable dollop of Stones’ Exhile on Main Street, a hint of Tom Petty vocals and the sonic arrangements of Yo La Tango in their noisier moments and it still doesn’t amount to Grub’s sound completely, but it’s pretty close. Last year, Grub Dog blew into Austin with a trail of wreckage behind him. Namely, a burned-out apartment in California and a blown transmission in Arizona. Things have been looking up since. Grub, being one of those musicians that can play any instrument in his band well, has taken a gig playing drums for the Damnations, whom he befriended when his own band -the Amazing Sweethearts- opened for them in Sacramento. As well, he continues to front the Sweethearts for tours throughout the West and Southwest and is fronting a new band in his new hometown of Austin. Jackson Griffith, Arts & Culture editor of the Sacramento News & Review, wrote, “Austin's gain will be our loss… Chances are, singer-songwriter-guitarist-drummer Grub Dog will be talked about, in a very nice way, around these parts for a long time. … it’s the woefully under-distributed God Damn Rock and Roll, released last fall after sitting in the can for two years, that makes a case for putting a Denver Boot on Grub’s tires before he leaves town, or at least trying to sweet talk him into staying. The record kicks ass. The Amazing Sweethearts sound like a real rock ’n’ roll band that reeks of cigarette smoke, whiskey and gasoline, and there are some interesting textures on some of the quieter cuts. And in the title track, Grub sings wetly, with a lot of passion, like Westerberg did on Pleased to Meet Me--a record that God Damn Rock and Roll resembles, sonically and emotionally. Damn, we’re gonna miss this guy.” Grub started his musical career behind a drum kit at the age of seven. It wasn’t long before he could sit in with his dad’s country band (who play town halls in rural California to this day) and tidily show up the regular drummer, twenty years his senior. He soon took to songwriting, after teaching himself to play guitar the way every teenager does, by being in a band. A songwriter who takes his craft very seriously, Grub’s lyrics have roots, but they rise above the back porch level and bring in the influences of his day and beyond –Rolling Stones, Gram Parsons and the songwriters of the 70’s Outlaw movement. He plays American music that grows directly out of the nutrient-rich soil of California’s Steinbeck country, but it comes through him with the sneer and swagger of the adolescent archetypes of James Dean, Johnny Rotten and Johnny Cash. Now, with over 300 songs under his belt, Grub’s got a rock-solid lyrical voice and a terrific knack for the hook. He’s also got a knack for surrounding himself with the best musicians, who bring sound and fury to his songs but still with the clarity it takes to show them off. The result of that is a rotating cast of characters that bring texture and diversity to his recordings, and vitality to his live shows. Grub’s songs speak to every lonely guy who’s ever been at a loss for words in front of a pretty girl at the end of the bar. They speak to the bored and pissed off small town kid. They speak of the guy who can’t get past those glory days of high school. They speak, with stark sincerity, of those three great loves… the road, the bottle and the bed. But, most importantly, they speak to anyone who still wants music to rock.

Music Style Rock & Roll, Alt-Country, Alternative, Singer-Songwriter

Musical Influences Neil Young, Replacements, Tom Petty, Sex

Similar Artists Replacements, Neil Young, The Band, Whiskeytown, Wilco

Group Members Grub Dog

Instruments The Usual Suspects

Albums State Fair Talent Show (cassette) 1996, Grub Dog and the Amazing Sweethearts 1998, Live at Times Square 1999, God Damn Rock and Roll 2002

Press Reviews "Grub Dog and the Amazing Sweethearts: Best Live Band in Northern California." Alive and Kicking Year in Re-chew Issue, January 1999 “…If Big Star hangs out with Wilco and Sun Volt and it doesn't sound too much like Golden Smog, it would probably sound like this, but probably not this good." Barry M. Pickett, Sacramento News and Review, December 1998 “Grub Dog and his ever-changing band of swaggering country rockers have produced an album which’ll probably go down in history as a lost classic, unless of coarse it sells shitloads, which it won’t. It’s too rough ‘n’ ready for mass consumption and Grub’s songs about porn stars and sticky fingers would be considered lewd if they were delivered with a smirk. They’re not, it’s done with a poker face and that’s what gives the record it’s steely edge and it’s one of the reasons that in ten years you’ll be either telling everyone you know about it or you’ll be scouring every record shop you come across in the hope that you’ll finally get your hands on it.” Luke (UK) - December 1999 (Volume 8, Issue 422) “Grub’s a damned good songwriter, perhaps the closest thing we have to the Replacements’ Paul Westerberg.” Jackson Griffith, Sacramento News & Review, 2001 “Grub Dog and the Amazing Sweethearts at the Heritage Festival, Camp Pollack, California - June 1998 - One of the Best Live Shows in 1998, the best by a Sacramento Band in years.” J. Freedom DuLac, Sacramento Bee “Grub Dog & the Amazing Sweethearts fuse the drunken, angry calamity of a Replacements-esque stage show with the mournful, literate musings of Tom Petty or the Flying Burrito Brothers. It's the best of both worlds: bar band music you can listen to in the morning.” Rachel Leibrock (Pop Culture editor, Sacramento Bee)

Additional Info Fans Hit Back- A tribute to the Replacements, Sloppy Seconds- Kevin Seconds tribute, www.rootsrock.com compilation, Live at Times Square 1999 (e.p.), Rootsrock.com Compilation

Location Austin, Tx - USA

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