Philadelphia’s GRAYSCALE will release the Live From The Barber Shop Studios EP on July 29 via Fearless Records.The EP features three reimagined versions of songs from the band’s second album ‘Nella Vita’, which arrived last September.
The “Reimagined” versions are enhanced and embellished with horns and additional musicians, fully demonstrating the depth and breadth of the band’s songwriting skills. “Every single member of the band grew up with an incredibly wide musical palette,” explains guitarist Dallas Molster, who produced the EP. “We were drawn to everything from jazz, classic rock, hip-hop and anything in between. We saw this as an opportunity to rearrange our songs in totally different styles and to tap into some different musical influences than usual.”
The band have shared the video for “Baby Blue” (Reworked). This version has a delightfully retro and room-filling vibe.
Molster offered further insight into the EP, saying, “It started with our good friend, Skyler Patzer, who had written the piano arrangement previously on our Punk Goes Acoustic ‘Atlantic’ track. I had written the acoustic, bass, and drum loop parts for a reworked version of ‘Painkiller Weather,’ and then sent it off to Skyler, who then wrote a beautiful piano part to accompany what I had written. The chemistry and workflow that I had developed with Skyler was so enjoyable that I wanted to work on another song with him.”
Regarding the “new” version of ‘Baby Blue,’ the guitarist shares, “Skyler laid down a piano part reminiscent of the Motown sound to the vocal of ‘Baby Blue,’ and after hearing this, I was immediately inspired to arrange this in the vein of a ‘big band’ song.” Molster finishes, “What made this such a cool project for me, personally, was that this was the first time that I had gotten to produce a collection of songs for the band from start to finish. This was a unique opportunity for me to play both the roles of producer and musician simultaneously. We performed these songs at the Barbershop Studios with the help of our friend Brett Romnes. Brett was the mixing engineer on this project and was my right-hand man in setting up and rearranging the studio for each of these three very different songs. This was special for all of us because it was the first time that we had played our songs with other musicians outside of the band. The additional musicians and creatives allowed each song to take on a completely new life, and we couldn’t be more excited to share them with the world.”
LIVE FROM THE BARBER SHOP STUDIOS EP TRACK LISTING:
1. Baby Blue (Reworked)
2. Painkiller Weather (Reworked)
3. What’s On Your Mind (Reworked)