Project Grimm

Project Grimm came together in 1995 when John Cramer, the guitarist and frontman of the Mike Gunn, decided to pursue a more direct style of guitar rock. To assemble players for this new endeavor, Cramer contacted Houston drummer Rick Costello from Bleachbath, who committed immediately. Bassist Drew Calhoun came aboard next, while Jim Otterson, previously of the University of Houston branch of Schlong Weasel, completed the quartet on second guitar. The group debuted live on July 3, 1995, then entered the studio to cut their debut album, Lying Down, which appeared the following year on Worship Guitars, the label operated by former Schlong Weasel member Ramon Medina of the Linus Pauling Quartet. Activity slowed markedly afterward, so the band’s sophomore effort did not surface until 2003. During the interim, Bo Morris replaced the ousted Rick Costello on drums, and Cramer collaborated with his ex-Mike Gunn associate Scott Grimm in the Dunlavy project. That July saw the release of Huge Beings on Camera Lucida, the Australian imprint affiliated with Camera Obscura, yet the same day also marked the group’s dissolution. Cramer subsequently performed under the solo moniker the Powers of Light & Darkness and made occasional appearances in Houston.