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The Golden Republic- 4/1/2005 @ The Bowery Ballroom
by Raul Stancov

The night was April 1st known as “April fools,” but the Golden Republic weren’t joking around. On their last performance as an opening act for the mighty Graham Coxon (the ex-guitar player/songwriter for the british pop band Blur) the Golden Republic made their mark.

The band rocked a packed house in the Bowery Ballroom with pounding rhythms, elapsing floating guitar riffs and a little of that so-called New York hipster hair-style.

The foursome Ben Grimes guitar/lead vocals, Harry Anderson on bass, Ryan Shank on drums and Kenn Jankowski on guitar/keyboards were received with cheers by a crowd of a few hundred people. Astralwerks Records, who also sponsors Graham Coxon is the label promoting the Golden Republic’s new self-titled LP across America.

The lights dimmed and the energy on stage fumed with vapor sweat. The song structure went from short and sweet, to long stretches of guitar feedback. During “Great Communication” a song from their first release “People,” the floor shook with that good old disco-punk. Later the band displayed versatility with a smooth blues heartbreak song titled “She’s So Cold.” From classic rock to disco, the band collectively meshed multiple decades of genres into something of their own.


Photos: Mark Peterson

A fan named Lester Rogers, while smoking a cigarette in the rain, described the band as “the right mix of genres.” It’s no surprise because lead singer Ben listens to old country music like Johnny Cash, Neil Young, old school hip-hop like RUM DMC, and CGBG’s New York classic, the “Talking Heads.”

The band originated on the Missouri side of Kansas City. Ben says, “Kansas is a nice city but New York has this whole energy and excitement that we don’t have.” After the show the band hung out with fans and drank beer.

This band has even shown the potential to capture the money of internet criminals. Another fan, Simon Tepaz shouted into the tape recorder “I’m a pirate on the net but I bought the Golden Republic’s LP.” The excitement to say something became unstoppable as a drunken bystander Chris Reis shouted “The Golden Republic is better than The Rolling Stones since 74.”

As some fans cheered and applauded others made negative comments. Dave Santana a Graham Coxon fan said, “I think they should have gone with the Franz Ferdinand thing,” calling the band a rip-off from modern Scottish Pop Rock. Harry the bass player later dismissed the negative comments with a smirk, promoting the plans for their new video.

By this time Graham Coxon stepped into the stage and the venue echoed with anticipated vibrations. The “Golden Republic” closed their comments by announcing their video shoot on “Morning Becomes Electric” hosted by Nic Harcourt at KCRW at on Friday May 6, 2005. Those that don’t reside in the LA area can tune into KCRW.com

It was the last night for the “Golden Republic” tour of British billboard breaker Graham Coxon, but their careers as superstars are only about to begin. Their self titled LP “Golden Republic,” is sold in most stores but for pirates, like the crazy fan Lester, there is the web site, thegoldenrepublic.com