We’ve hit September, the month best known for the beginning of college football. This past Thursday, USC started out their season with a big W, and our friends from the upstate, Clemson, prepare for their first game tonight. Along with the start of football season, September also brings cooler weather, the start of school, and an evident increase in great shows. Trying to pick this month’s band was tricky, due to the great bands playing right now, but we couldn’t be happier with selecting Grayson Venters as our SceneSC Band of the Month.
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Grayson Venters has been around the Columbia music scene for a long time. His most notable projects include: The Devil and the Lion, CALCULATOR, and now a stint with the band LATENIGHTS. [Visit all three of those artists bandcamps to get their music FREE] Throughout each project, Grayson has always played and impressed as a solo artist. Thursday I got the opportunity to catch up with Grayson and talk about what he’s been up to:
SCENESC: It’s a been a while since we’ve heard anything out of you. What have you been up to? When’s the last time you played a show?
GRAYSON: Last show was January of 2011, with CALCULATOR, so it has been quite a while. I think my last solo show was the summer of 2009, before I moved to Charleston for a while. I moved to follow a girl, and naturally we broke up after the first month. I went to massage therapy school, and once I finished that, Tyler Morris from CALCULATOR contacted me about playing with them. I played lead guitar with them for a year, which was my first time not being a frontman. After a year or so we split.
SC: You are playing for LATENIGHTS now right? How did that happen?
GRAYSON: I started hanging out with the drummer. One night I went to one of their shows. After the show we were joking around about me filling in while Keaton was in Chile, and I drunkenly said yes. I woke up the next morning and realized I was still serious, so we started working right away. Three weeks later I played my first show with them.
SC: Cool. You’ve gotten to play with a lot of awesome musicians and bands throughout the years…any particular show or band that sticks out to you as being your favorite?
G: What stands out the most, was about midway through The Devil and the Lion’s life, when we started playing with a lot of bands that have kept going, and are now beginning to find some success. (i.e: All Get Out, O’brother)
SC: This is random, but do you watch the TV show The Walking Dead? If you were one of the characters, 
how soon would you die?
G: Now I’m not saying I would make it to the end of the series, but I will say that I think I’d currently still be alive at the end of season 2, but we’ll see what happens.
SC: You kind of just started playing music again all of a sudden. Was there a moment that you thought you wanted to get back into it?
G: Well I wanted to start supporting local music again, so I started going to shows. I kind of fell into an opportunity, so I just figured, “why the hell not?”
SC: What can we expect in the future? Are you thinking about taking this Grayson Venters thing pretty seriously?
G: I plan on recording a full band EP with the guys from LATENIGHTS. They don’t know that yet, but it’s definitely in the works.
SC: Cool. Those guys are talented. They are playing with you on the 11th right? Give me some details about that.
G: It’s September 11th. Doors are @ 7:30. I play @ 8:15. Then, The Vespers are playing, followed by Ned Durrett and the Kindly Gents. It’s $5 over / $8 under.
SC: What kind of music can we expect at the show? You have played tons of different genres.
G: It’s going to be real natural sounding, kind of like singer/songwriter gone full-band, with a little taste of space.
SC: Final question…go to joke on stage?
G: I don’t really have jokes…I kind of just usually ask everyone if they are as drunk as I am…
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Grayson was kind enough to include two songs for FREE DOWNLOAD
Make sure to go and support Grayson on September 11th. Show details:
Tuesday, September 11 / New Brookland Tavern
Ned Durrett and The Kindly Gents
The Vespers
Grayson Venters
$5 over / $8 under / Doors @ 7:30Â
 *SceneSC’s Band of the Month is a new and upcoming series aimed at highlighting the best bands from the southeast. If you are in a band or know of a band that deserves some positive press, feel free to email me at bdesseyn7@gmail.com. Any suggestions are welcome. (except bad ones. i will punch you in the throat.)
