California rock act Grandaddy is putting the final touches this week on the follow-up to its 2003 V2 release, "Sumday," which debuted at No. 84 on The Billboard 200. Titled "Just Like the Fambly Cat," the album will be a departure from the band's previous work, according to lead singer Jason Lytle.
"It's really big and luscious and gooey," he tells Billboard.com. "It's an extreme of everything. The immersion that each song required was insane; it was very time consuming, but it's done this week."
The band has spent a year-and-a-half recording in Lytle's home studio in Modesto, Calif. Over this time, the decision was made to release an EP before the full-length. "It just seemed like a good idea," Lytle says. "I mean, it has been so long since the last album, so rather than barge in on someone's house unannounced [with the album] we thought we'd rather call on the phone, and say, 'We're coming over.' That's what the EP does."
On Sept. 27, "The Excerpts From the Diary of Todd Zilla EP" hits the shelves. The title is not an ode to a band friend, fan or foe, but rather a name seen on a truck's vanity plate. "I've probably met Toddzilla a bunch of times throughout my life," Lytle says. "He's a guy who is not very intelligent, and just kind of there. But I didn't meet the actual Toddzilla."
Both new releases see the band wrestling with the structural changes its hometown has gone through over the last several years. "The [songs] are about the thoughtlessness and mindlessness of sprawl," Lytle admits. "I think it just breeds; it creates a very shallow place. The people and environment haven't really been around enough to know the effects. There is just an acceptance that I don't understand. The EP is much more blatant, but the new album still covers these issues"
No tour plans are in the works and according to Lytle, "they are very much up in the air. It will be much different this time, in what comes with the album."
"It's really big and luscious and gooey," he tells Billboard.com. "It's an extreme of everything. The immersion that each song required was insane; it was very time consuming, but it's done this week."
The band has spent a year-and-a-half recording in Lytle's home studio in Modesto, Calif. Over this time, the decision was made to release an EP before the full-length. "It just seemed like a good idea," Lytle says. "I mean, it has been so long since the last album, so rather than barge in on someone's house unannounced [with the album] we thought we'd rather call on the phone, and say, 'We're coming over.' That's what the EP does."
On Sept. 27, "The Excerpts From the Diary of Todd Zilla EP" hits the shelves. The title is not an ode to a band friend, fan or foe, but rather a name seen on a truck's vanity plate. "I've probably met Toddzilla a bunch of times throughout my life," Lytle says. "He's a guy who is not very intelligent, and just kind of there. But I didn't meet the actual Toddzilla."
Both new releases see the band wrestling with the structural changes its hometown has gone through over the last several years. "The [songs] are about the thoughtlessness and mindlessness of sprawl," Lytle admits. "I think it just breeds; it creates a very shallow place. The people and environment haven't really been around enough to know the effects. There is just an acceptance that I don't understand. The EP is much more blatant, but the new album still covers these issues"
No tour plans are in the works and according to Lytle, "they are very much up in the air. It will be much different this time, in what comes with the album."
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