The band has performed in venues throughout Chicago, but is always on the lookout for the venues best-suited for dancing. Like a lot of times, I can see that people are actually listening to communication within the band,” Howe said. And at house parties, they just seem to listen more to what we’re playing. “Typically when people are within five feet of you, they tend to dance more. Actually, as their website puts it, the band is “hell-bent on helping you get down.” That’s part of the reason why Gramps prefers to perform in the more intimate, house-party setting. You get the arm from this guy and the leg from another guy, and then you get this weird output that’s the result of merging everyone’s ideas.”īut the band’s purpose isn’t simply to freak you out. “It usually starts with someone bringing in a basic idea, and then it’s really a collaborative style of just morphing and refining, wherever it may go. Gramps the Vamp creates their music through an unusual, Frankenstein-esque process. As Howe told me, “We’re pretty rooted in jazz and the whole free, improvisatory-type sound.” Most of the band members have studied jazz at one point or another and they have modeled their style on other well-known funk and afrobeat artists such as Fela Kuti, Budos Band and Lettuce. His name in the show is Gramps the Vamp, and vamping is what we like to do best,” Howe explained. They think it’s a real vampire, but they take the mask off and it turns out to be Grandpa Joe and he’s been going around scaring people for fun. “It boils down to an episode of Scooby-Doo where this vampire is haunting people. So we just wanted to make some creepier moods with the music,” Howe said.Īfter that, inspiration for the band name came naturally from a classic cartoon. He goes crazy every Halloween with all the decorations. “Maxx is really into the whole Halloween thing. Howe told me that it was McGathey, who initially brought idea of adding spooky vibes to the band’s sound. All members except the last two mentioned are either current or former Loyola students. In addition to Howe, the lineup consists of alto saxophonist Nick Bush, trombonist Drew Steury, drummer Stevenson Valentor, percussionist Cassie Gerber, guitarist Justin LaForte, keyboardist and bandleader Maxx McGathey, bassist Kevin Holt and baritone saxophonist Brent Schumard. Like a lot of funk bands, Gramps is a large group prominently featuring horns. “Our first thoughts were ‘all right we need to start a funk band.’ But then we had in our mind ‘We should play a house party on Halloween,’” Howe said. Meanwhile, House II: The Second Story sees young Jesse (Arye Gross) moving into an old family mansion where his parents were mysteriously murdered years before.Gramps the Vamp is a Chicago-based, nine-piece band who defines their music as “ghost-funk.” Tenor saxophonist and Loyola junior Justin Howe elaborated on the origins of the band and their genre as we sat down for a cup of coffee a couple weeks ago.

Unfortunately, the house's monstrous supernatural residents have other ideas. When he inherits his aunt's creaky old mansion, Roger decides that he's found the ideal place in which to get some writing done.

In the original House, William Katt (Carrie) stars as Roger Cobb, a horror novelist struggling to pen his next bestseller. Step inside, we've been expecting you! At long-last, Arrow Video is proud to present the first two installments of hit horror franchise House on Blu-ray for the first time! In one of the funniest parts of the film, Charlie shows Gramps his car and they go out to the middle of nowhere, get drunk, and look at the stars. Gramps and Charlie take to each other right away. Dano was from a time where Westerns were everywhere and he was in almost all of them, which really lent itself to Gramps, an old cowboy. Finally, only Royal Dano can play a walking, rotting corpse that you could really care about. Bill rips out a wire in a wall and opens up a doorway to an alternate universe, but he takes it in stride, goes to his toolbox, grabs his sword and he, Jesse, and Charlie save a Virgin and the skull from ancient Aztecs. Jesse calls him early on in the film, and by the time he gets out to the house, Jesse is knee-deep in skull-seeking bad guys. John Ratzenberger, another Cheers alum, played Bill Tanner, electrician and adventurer. Jonathan Stark, hot off of Fright Night, played comedic sidekick, Charlie, an opportunistic music manager, who was cracking a joke a minute, and was more than game to dig up a supposed corpse.

As fun as Arye Gross was, he was overshadowed by Royal Dano, Jonathan Stark, and John Ratzenberger.

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