Comprised of Jay Butler (vocals), Ralph Jezzard (bass/keyboards), Chris McCormack (guitar), and Ritch Battersby (drums)
"We didn't want to make an album that makes people say 'Oh, that's alright,'" says Grand Theft Audio frontman Jay Butler. "We wanted to make a record that either completely inspires people, or makes them never want to hear it again. We wanted to make a record that's gonna bug the shit out of people, but in the best possible way." On its London-Sire debut album Blame Everyone, Grand Theft Audio emerges as one of the freshest, most exciting new rock acts in recent memory, taking its place as world-class purveyor of big, maddeningly catchy widescreen rock. On such infectious numbers as "As Good As It Gets," "We Luv U," "Stoopid Ass" and "Wake Up In Your Own Mind," the London-based quartet merges aggressively anthemic rock choruses and sly lyrics of tongue-in-cheek grandiosity with sonic and rhythmic elements derived from electronica and hip-hop, to produce music that's as adventurous as it is accessible. No wonder the foursome has been described as sounding like the bastard offspring of some unholy union between the Sex Pistols, AC/DC and the Prodigy.
"In England at the moment, there's a big divide between rock bands, metal bands and electronica bands," Butler notes. "It's like you can't have a song that's catchy if you're a rock band, and you're not supposed to rock if you're an electronica band. But we don't look at music that way, so we took all the little bits that we liked and bastardized them to build the kind of band we wanted to be in. We wanted to create a band that was like all of your favorite bands at the same time."
Grand Theft Audio (who were originally known as "The Infidels", before the band learned of the existence of several other combos with the same moniker) came together out of the friendship and musical rapport that had developed while its four members were in separate bands.
Vocalist Jay Butler had been involved in a variety of musical projects, while guitarist Chris McCormack had been a member of 3 Colors Red, and bassist/keyboardist Ralph Jezzard and drummer Ritch Battersby worked together in The Wildhearts. Jezzard had previously gotten his first taste of musical notoriety as producer and co-writer of EMF's worldwide smash "Unbelievable."
"We'd all been around doing different things, and we finally just said 'Let's do something that we really believe in," Butler recalls. "There's such a big divide in England, there's either music for dinner parties or music to do sacrificial killings to. We got bored with that whole thing, and we wanted to be in a band that we could feel excited to be a part of.
We wanted something with lots of hooks, but also with a bit of rock backbone to it, something that was so annoyingly singalong that you either had to love it or hate it. Our bottom line is: does it rock, does it sound good and does it make you want to go out and do something? We don't have any interest in being this week's flavor of the month; we don't want to be a band that's just recognized by journalists and other musicians."
Towards that end, Grand Theft Audio is now setting its sights on bringing Blame Everyone's bigger-than-life anthems to the live stage. "I think the live show will be very intense and exciting visually," Butler predicts. "We want to give people a show, rather than just playing the album.
"This record is like the charming drunk at the party," the singer concludes. "The funny, intelligent one. We are more like the obnoxious one who's going to try and steal your CDs."
# Original Release Date: October 3, 2000
# Release Date: October 3, 2000
# Label: Sire
# Copyright: 2000 London-Sire Records Inc.
# Total Length: 47:06
# Genres: Rock/hip-hop