The long and arduous journey of the belching beast that is Grimis began in 1998 when Jupiter's seventh orbital aligned with that of Uranus and four middle school 6th graders were magnetically binded by Mr. Napierkowski, of the 6th grade concert band at the Doherty Middle School in Andover, Massachusetts.
Three of the chosen students, Pete Michelinie, Lyle Brewer, and Andy Doherty played drums in the band. The fourth, David Tanklefsky played saxaphone. Later in that year Lyle began playing the guitar and started playing music with Pete. The two shared an abiding love for the death-metal outfit Iron Maiden.
Soon after the lovefest began, Andrew began to play the bass and the three began playing together. Spurred on by middle school music teacher and guitarist extraordinaire Jeff Buckridge (the Boston Horns), the group began performing at various middle school events often playing with guests such as Tanklefsky, Andy Berman, and Dale Spollett.
The band, yet unnamed, continued to play through 7th and 8th grade, their talents culminating in a now-infamous performance in the Doherty Auditorium during the 8th grade Graduation Ceremony. During the performance the group played a racuous version of 'School's Out for Summer' featuring a robust Dale Spollett running across the stage without any clothes.
In 2000, an 8-piece jazz outfit featuring the present members of Grimis performed at a number of different events at the Collins Center at the Andover High School. The group met every other day during school. It was here that the members of Grimis began to build their jazz-based musical repetoire, playing songs from the catalogues of Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, etc. The 8-piece jazz band disbanded after freshman year due to the firing of music teacher Brandon Psenicka at the hands of the evil warlord Dr. Claudia Bach.
As the members of Grimis entered their sophomore year of high school, they began to develope a more serious focus as to where their music would go. After four years of jamming and playing together Brewer, Michelinie, and Doherty formed the band that would come to be known as Grimis. The band's first performance as Grimis took place at the 2001 AHS Talent Show where they performed the Slip's 'Spice Groove.' The group played at other high school events such as the AHS Battle of the Bands which they lost to their kniving second cousins, the TouchTones, a group consisting of a member of the Grimis family, Dale Spollett. They also played at the Java Jam and other events at the Andover Towne Hall and began to develope a following.
In the summer of 2002, David Tanklefsky was officially introduced as a member of Grimis and the band became a quartet. Contrary to popular belief, Tanklefsky was not brought into the band for his unearthly saxaphone skills, but rather because of his dashing good looks which greatly enhanced the group's female fanbase.
Throughout the summer and fall of 2002 the band continued to increase its fanbase with two inspiring concerts at the Essex Art Center in Lawrence. The band continued to perform at acoustic concerts, town hall shows, graduation parties, and a wedding. In November 2002, they released their debut record, 'The Noble.' The record consists of five original songs, the bi-product of a year of songwriting, and one cover song. The band also closed out 2002 with a holiday concert at the Collins Center for more than 1000 students and teachers at the Andover High School.
Grimis kicked off 2003 with a trip to Wyoming for a weekend of exploring in Yellowstone National Park. Over the year the group has been busy writing new material and exploring the boundaries of their musical tastes while playing a number of area concerts with acts such as the Aaron Thurston Trio and the SliP. In early '04 the band hopes to start work on a second studio album...Stay Tuned and LiStEn.
