Vending Machine

If Memphis, TN is the best record store in the world, with all your favorite rock n' roll, funk, soul, and indie records, then Robby Grant, the one-man-band behind Vending Machine, is the record store DJ, mixing the classic and the new, turning heads and turning open-minded listeners onto new sounds. Vending Machine is true to its name, serving up bite-size sonic treats for music fans with a taste for the eclectic.

After being weaned on timeless artists like Neil Young and David Bowie, and growing up in a town where legendary acts like Al Green and Booker T. and the MGs came up, Vending Machine brings together solid songcraft and from-the-soul performance, all stewed in Grant's indi-o-syncratic sensibilities.

After nonstop touring and recording with his band Big Ass Truck (Upstart/Rounder) for seven years, Grant's aural experiments and catchy hooks pick up where BAT's fifth and final record, The Rug, left off. While BAT's signature sound was a heavy dose of funky rock anthems big enough to fill the amphitheater (with a full time turntablist orchestrating the cuts and samples), Grant's songs on his four Vending Machine records are ultimately more mature, succinct, and diverse. Take, for example, the midtempo piano pop of "Crickets" from Vending Machine's 2004 release Kicked and Scratched: a tune about the secrets whispered by the insects floating in the wind, it sounds like Vince Guaraldi scoring an episode of 'Peanuts' directed by Billy Gibbons and Dean Ween. Or, listen to "Kids Move Alone" and hear syncopated drum machines and acoustic snares duel the Prince-inspired sparse, dry guitars and wet synths.

As if writing and recording his albums almost entirely on his own is not enough, Grant has kept himself busy with other projects, including playing in Mouserocket with Memphis indie queen Alicja Trout, as well as scoring music for the upcoming Starbox Pictures feature film The Hanged Man. He has also recently produced the theme for public radio show "Smart City", and provided music for MTV shows "Pimp My Ride" and "Real World". Grant has also launched Shoulder Tap Records with fellow musician Yazan Fahmawi (DJ for MC Paul Barman, guitarist for NYC band Max Nasty, Private), and is planning on releasing a compilation album in mid-2007.

On Vending Machine's latest full length, King Cobra's Do, out early 2007 on Shoulder Tap Records, Grant brings in some new inspiration while maintaining his unique palette of sounds and stories. "Recording Your Thoughts" sounds like a Michel Gondry film performed by Elvis's band with Wire's Bruce Gilbert on guitar. Meanwhile, the epic "Saturn National Anthem" is a retro-electro-cosmic journey, with a homesick Grant cruising home across the galaxy, his rocketship bumping to the bleep and bloops, weaving in and out of the planet's rings; the second movement catches him lonesome, staring out the viewport at the emptiness of space, oohing over only a haunting acoustic guitar. The dark rocker "44 Times" chugs along under a taunting guitar and vocal melody while Grant himself taunts "... when I told you that you'd die".

When asked where he gets his ingredients for his diverse oeuvre of songs, Grant likens the influence of AM radio on songwriters of the past to the impact the Internet has had on him as a musician and songwriter. He is from the a generation of songwriters influenced by internet radio, listening for that obscure pop gem, or those perfect harmonies sung by a Juarez mariachi band, or that lost 80s electro-funk record. Take all that, stew it in some Mississippi mud, and you've got Vending Machine.