This Is Rock ’n’ Roll

The BU Today Sessions: Grimis

By Alan Wong

Click on the video above to see Grimis perform “Nobody Knows My Name.” Click here to watch “Bagheera.” Click here to watch “All My Friends.”

Last August, most students were getting ready to return to school. Not singer and guitarist David Tanklefsky of Grimis: he was in a van with his bandmates on an ambitious 32-date national tour that took them across the country and back.

“It was an incredible experience,” says Tanklefsky (COM’08), a graduate student and recent alum who studied broadcast journalism. ”Touring and meeting people has just been a dream come true — to travel with your friends, share your music with others, and see new places together.”

Tanklefsky, bassist Andy Doherty, drummer Pete Michelinie, and guitarist Lyle Brewer began their life as musicians playing jazz together in high school. The childhood friends eventually formed Grimis, which Tanklefsky describes as “something near folk-rock, after exploring lots of jazz and more improvisational music.

“Over the years, our influences and ideas about music have evolved,” he says, “and Grimis has evolved with it.”

With eight years, several tours, a couple of hundred shows, and college degrees under their belts, the future may be uncertain for Grimis. “The band is up in the air, with everyone moving in different directions and trying to figure out if life as a musician is feasible,” says Tanklefsky. “But I plan to continue writing songs and hopefully playing music for a living for at least the next few years.”

Stay tuned for next week’s BU Today Sessions, shot on location at 808 Commonwealth Ave. and featuring performances by musicians, bands, and songwriters from the BU community.

Grimis will perform on Sunday, December 14, at the Middle East Upstairs, 475 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, with BU bands Blastronauts and Action Verbs. Their new record can be purchased currently at shows and online in early 2009.

Click here to watch more BU Bands.

Alan Wong can be reached at alanwong@bu.edu.

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