Biography

An indie pop band from Athens, Georgia with a unique personality, Nana Grizol marry the cheerfully lackadaisical sound of slacker-informed bands like Pavement with the bent yet engaging psychedelic pop of the Elephant 6 collective, all filtered through the lyrical worldview of vocalist and songwriter Theo Hilton. Incorporating a queer sensibility into his tales of life in the American South, Hilton's songs are deeply personal, alternately playful and introspective in their depiction of joy and outrage, and the use of a large, horn-enhanced ensemble adds to the drama and tonal color of his music. Nana Grizol introduced the low-budget spectacle of their music to the world on 2008's Love It Love It, with the band gaining a new level of confidence and dynamics on 2017's Ursa Minor before stripping down to spontaneous folky punk with 2019's Theo Zumm. Theo Hilton formed Nana Grizol in 2007, engaging with the musical community that had helped him make sense of life as viewed by an outsider in a straight world. Using music as a means of expressing his feelings and anxieties, Hilton began writing songs and assembled the first edition of Nana Grizol to play them as the new band hit the road for a tour of D.I.Y. performance venues around the country. Upon returning, Hilton and his crew -- Madeline Adams on vocals and bass, Jared Gandy on bass and guitar, Laura Carter on drums, trumpet, and clarinet, Matte Cathcart on drums, Patrick Jennings on keyboards, Margaret Child on percussion, Kate Mitchell on trumpet, and Ian Rickert on clarinet and harmonica -- headed into the studio to cut the group's debut album, 2008's Love It Love It. By the time Nana Grizol presented their second LP, Ruth, to the world in 2010, Child, Mitchell, and Rickert had left the band, and multi-instrumentalist Robbie Cucchiaro stepped in to cover guitar, trumpet, baritone sax, and euphonium. Hilton left Athens and spent time in Seattle and New York before settling in New Orleans and starting work on the next Nana Grizol album. The polish and accomplishment of the group's studio sound got a boost on 2017's Ursa Minor, while 2019's Theo Zumm rescued songs from early recordings and documented Nana Grizol at their scrappiest and most elemental, if not their loudest. Hilton and his bandmates upped the ante on the polished Ursa Minor with 2020's South Somewhere Else, a concept album inspired by growing up in Athens. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi