I asked Grimes what there is to love about contemporary rock. "Well, there has been a return to art and the underground, sort of subculture music lately. In Kansas City, the only radio stations we had for a long time were top 40, and then just recently we've had a couple of radio stations that have started to actually play some pretty interesting stuff and I even heard Steve Earle on the radio recently... People are starting to rediscover the joy of artful music, stuff that requires a little bit of thought."

We talked too about the band's local music scene in Kansas City. Grimes made no effort to sugar coat his dislike of the country's cultural capitals. "I think that the coasts are so clogged with ego and motivation and..."

Harry volunteers "pretentiousness?"

Ben agrees: "...pretentiousness - people who are so caught up in building a name for themselves, and it's like you can only be in that environment for so long where it just seems like you forget what you're really doing and why you're really doing it. I don't know, I just think that it's hard to create art when you have to spend so much time convincing other people what an artist you are.

When I asked if he would ever consider moving to one of the coasts, he told me he didn't think he would ever leave Kansas City. His adoration for his hometown was so intense that it practically radiated down the phone line: "I love it there. It's like a big city with a small town feel to it. Everybody's wonderful, everybody helps each other. There isn't a single band in Kansas City that we wouldn't and probably haven't played with, and everybody loves each other. It's like, why leave that just to go live in a place that's bigger?"

Although the guys are happily settled in the Midwest, on February 8th you'll find them - in the form of their debut full length - in the new releases section of your local record store. Happily, though you don't have to wait that long - you could (and if you're an aspiring hipster you should) head out right now and get a copy of the EP. If the full length is as good as the EP, these guys deserve to be huge - and you'll be able to say you knew 'em when.

Read more...

The full transcript of my interview with Ben Grimes and Harry Anderson
The Golden Republic's official web site
Astralwerks Records official site
More from Matthew Poe