A Grimm Fairy Tale:

After the demise of Houston's legendary Mike Gunn, vocalist/guitarist John Cramer got in touch with drummer pal Rick Costello who volunteered his own considerable services, despite commitments to the band Bleach Bath. After various try-outs, guitarist Jim Otterson and bassist Drew Calhoun were recruited from another Houston rock outfit - Smile 69. The resultant band Project Grimm played near weekly shows locally, though shunned the horrors of touring. Their first CD "Lying Down" had a low-key release on Houston's Worship Guitars Records in 1996. Subsequently they plundered on, virtually ignored by the entire known universe and were somewhat pointlessly and unfairly reminded that the Mike Gunn was a much better band. In reality Cramer was an important part of what drove the Gunn, and they carried on the epic riff-o-rama of the Gunn's more metallic moments with fine style and precision. Jim Otterson quit with no warning immediately following a trip to an SXSW music conference in 1997, but the band carried on as a three piece and actually became a much tighter and more powerful force despite his mighty absence. They recorded, mixed and mastered their second CD "Huge Beings" in this power-trio format between Nov 1997 and Mar 2000. Rick Costello parted to concentrate on other things, and Bo Morris stepped into the ranks as replacement drummer. He did an admirable job of filling Rick's massive shoes and the shows continued, but the strain was beginning to show and the bands days were numbered. Cramer says his "disdain for the complete idiocy of rock/club culture has crystallized over the many years", and this creative block was terminal for the band. Notwithstanding this, the excellent "Huge Beings" deserves to see the light of day.

Huge Beings:

If ever a band is going to make a sign-off record, it should have the comprehensive sweep and confidence of "Huge Beings". As John Cramer puts it "this is a record created the way we wanted to create one, in a comfortable environment, with a talented engineer who understood what we had in mind, and with the time to do it right. Sure I would change things but generally I would say I am fairly proud of it". The band has clear influences - vintage heavy metal, the legacy of Texas psychedelia and the feel of desert expanses provide a cohesive framework that is filtered through Cramer's vision in the same way that imbues it with the feel of a personal journey for him and his compadres. There are extraordinary slabs of spine-tingling rock throughout, from slavering beasts that would be at home on "Houses of the Holy" to ballads that recall the best of The Mike Gunn circa "Almaron". Again from John Cramer "we never really cared what anyone else thought and stayed true to our own skewed ethic. Huge Beings is the last gasp of a uniquely idiosyncratic rock band with qualities similar to but also quite unlike those that surrounded us in this great western wasteland". Huge Beings is Project Grimm as they should be remembered - intensely personal, melodic, dynamic, subtle and bloody-minded all at the same time.

- Tony Dale
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