Grand Mal

After St. Johnny, the Connecticut outfit Bill Whitten had previously led, came to an end in 1995, he assembled Grand Mal in New York City. Whereas that earlier combo had trafficked in Sonic Youth-style fuzz and feedback along with a pronounced slacker attitude, Grand Mal moved in a brisker direction marked by glammed-up aggression and gutter-punk abandonment. Whitten inaugurated the project with a largely solo EP in 1996 whose bursts of vigor and pointed nods to club-kid culture, heightened by Carmen Quinones’s vocals, signaled a decisive shift. Lead guitarist John deVries, late of Agitpop, quickly became a reliable partner, and together they drew fresh impetus from such ’70s rock ’n’ roll outfits as the New York Dolls and Mott the Hoople. A changing roster of players supported the band’s initial pair of releases. By the arrival of the 1999 album Maledictions, Grand Mal had stabilized with Whitten, deVries, bassist Steve Borgerding, drummer Parker Kindred, and keyboardist Jonathon Toubin. The group issued Precision Exits in 2000, followed three years later by the glam-heavy Bad Timing.