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Grandaddy Retires; 22-20s Disband

After fourteen years together and on the heels of their fifth full-length album, Grandaddy have decided to call it quits. “There’s not an easy one-through-five [list] of answers why we decided to break-up,” lead singer Jason Lytle told SPIN.com today. Lytle sounded weary as he compared Grandaddy’s tenure as a band to a long journey. “It was like an expedition,” he said. “Every time something good happened, it justified our doing it a little longer. We never started off with any guarantees. A lot of it was good intentions, and you see how far you can get with those, but unfortunately you have to set aside the idealism and realize that people have to pay rent, and people have to justify what you’re doing, and the older you get you have to justify with the other people in your life what you’re doing.”

Lytle also emphasized that the band was never into the business of being rock stars. “There’s a lot of people who would be totally content touring, and being on the road, and sitting on tour buses and the whole rigmarole that goes along with the lifestyle,” he explained. “[Eventually] you just say, shit, that’s all we’ve got, at least in this incarnation.”

Even though Grandaddy will not be touring in support of their fifth album, Just Like the Fambly Cat, Lytle thinks it’s an appropriate end for a little band that could. “If any album was going to be the last stop for Grandaddy, I think it’s pretty fitting,” he said. “I’m not going to say it’s any more outstanding or credible than the others; I’m just saying that it’s a fitting end for this little band.” Finally, he assured us with a chuckle, “There’s not going to be a crappy Granddaddy knock-off band, like that Robert Palmer video, with the models playing the instruments.”

Another band that split this week was U.K. blues-rock group, the 22-20s. After four years together, frontman Martin Trimble posted a lengthy farewell on the band’s MySpace page that’s since been deleted. “Honesty is about playing songs you passionately believe in, playing in a band you passionately believe in and I am no longer able to say that about 22-20s,” Trimble wrote. “I am no longer comfortable being in a band named after a blues song. Much like the last record, it indicates where I was four years ago and what I was listening to. It doesn’t accurately reflect what I listen to now and where I want to go. I’m no longer comfortable with people’s perception of what we represent.” NME.com reports that Trimble is currently working on a solo effort.

Grandaddy official site
22-20s on MySpace

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