For those, like me, who have never seen Grand Archives before last Saturday night at Chicago's Schuba’s Tavern there’s one word that probably entered our minds collectively – WOW. On tour for their new release Keep in Mind Frankenstein, Sub Pop’s Seattle based artist, Grand Archives, kept the crowd mesmerized with a bevy of songs laden in four part harmonies. The band’s frontman, Mat Brooke, led the charge with a set list heavily filled with their newest material including “Witchy Park/Tomorrow Will (Take Care of Itself)”, “Topsy’s Revenge” and “Silver Amongst the Gold”, but also did past favorites such as “Miniature Birds”. Though a collection of considerably mellow songs, the vitality projected in each was nothing short of incredible.

The band’s well-crafted, heartfelt songs are reason enough to see them in the first place, but it’s the precision and energy they bring to their live show that will have you checking for more tour dates in the future. Not hidden by noisy guitars and bashing drums, each note of each song was clearly heard allowing the room to be filled with multifaceted guitar work and the kind of complex harmonies that immediately absorb the listener.

Amongst their own original material, Grand Archives also played an inspired version of ELO’s “Telephone Line” with, again, pitch-perfect vocals and spot on musicianship. After a healthy set, the band was called upon by the audience to do a series of encores before they could exit from the stage, leaving the packed house fulfilled and appreciative for a night of outstanding music. In short, Grand Archives, consisting of the talents of Mat Brooke, Curtis Hall, Jeff Montano and Thomas Wright, is a show not to be missed.

The following is an after show interview with singer/guitarist, Mat Brooke, and drummer, Curtis Hall.

Tell me about playing “Witchy Park” live. You really capture the essence of the song and more in your live performance and even add a full jam out session at the end.

Mat – When we recorded “Witchy Park” in the studio we added three drum sets and a whole load of guitars and we’re sitting at the practice space like How are we going to reproduce this live? It’s going to be nearly impossible. And what we’re doing now is what we came up with and it’s not exactly like the record but it’s big in it’s own separate way that serves the song.

Can you tell me a little bit about the new album Keep in Mind Frankenstein?

Mat – Yeah, I mean we went into the studio with maybe thirteen songs – something like that, and recorded the whole thing. I think there were like three mellow songs and everything else was rockin’. As we listened to it we agreed that we liked the mellow songs the best and the rockin’ ones were kind of making us cringe a little.

Really? Why was that?

Mat – It just didn’t sound right for this album. So we called Sub Pop and were like, “What do you guys think? We like the mellow stuff.” And they agreed so we talked more with Sub Pop and decided to scrap about half the album and write songs from scratch. So we kind of went out to a cabin in the woods and just wrote a whole slew of mellow songs.

What are you going to do with the songs that you scrapped?

Mat – Oh, they’ll be good for singles and EP’s and that kind of thing. As a whole on the album, they just didn’t fit. I know they will fit somewhere, but not on this record. 

How has it been touring with Grand Archives as opposed to Band of Horses?

Mat – It’s a lot more mellow than Band of Horses. I think that we don’t expect too much. We have a modest, humble approach and we like to be able to interact with the crowd so the smaller rooms - like where we played tonight - we feel really at home in that environment.

I must say your harmonies are fantastic with all four of you singing at the same time, which is most of the time.

Curtis – Thank you.

It’s such a big part of the band’s sound. What’s it like for you as the drummer to be so active in the vocal harmonies?

Curtis – Well, it’s like if you got a voice, use it. We all just started singing together. It’s just how we decided to do it, I guess. Originally, there were three of us and all three of us were singing then we added a fourth member and were just like, “Get up there and sing man.” (Laughs) And we put a mic in front of him and there you have it.

You guys have such great chemistry up there. As for your songs, are you the chief songwriter or is it more of a group effort?

Mat – We all are the chief songwriters. One guy will bring a skeleton to the mix and we’ll build an ugly human out of it (Laughs).

What do you love about being on the road? Or, do you love being on the road?

Mat – Yeah, we do. When we’re at home, we all have our day jobs –we’re all bartenders or DJ’s or whatever we do, but getting on the road is always nice. It’s kind of good on both sides of the coin because you get to go home and be with your families and that makes you appreciate that so much more, and then when you get out on the road you appreciate the open road and truck stop food and that kind of thing. So in a sense, we’re kind of living the dream just being able to be content all the time.

You’re doing what you love.

Mat - Exactly.

For more information on Grand Archives and their new release, Keep in Mind Frankenstein, visit www.GrandArchives.com or www.myspace.com/grandarchives.