This past Thursday, local hotspot Vinyl Music Hall saw performances by several gifted bands throughout the evening. Before the show, the headliner, Grizfolk, talked about their music, passions, and hopes for the future.

Grizfolk is best known for using laid-back, melodic undertones with a combination of sharp electronics and magnetic synths to create one cohesive sound. The alternative-rock quintet consists of lead singer Adam Roth, drummer Bill Delia, bassist Brendan Willing James, keyboardist Sebastian Fritze, and guitarist Fredrik Eriksson.

For Grizfolk, the songwriting process is mostly a group effort. “It just happens very naturally, very organically. Everyone respects each other, and everyone respects the writing process,” Fritze said. “Everyone respects what is best for the project and the sound. If I bring in something that the others don’t like, that’s OK.”

Each of their songs comes together differently, but recognizing one another’s ideas and keeping ego out of the songwriting process is essential to the creation of them all. “And it can be something small that triggers a whole idea,” added Eriksson. “You hear a sound, and then you see the whole vision, the story of the song, and the vibe.”

Painting a vivid picture with their music is important to Grizfolk. “Every song has its own story, but they still go together,” James said.

The five members of Grizfolk come from all over the globe, which gives each of them a unique perspective on the human condition. However, the band’s frontman, Adam Roth, actually is a Pensacola native who once attended the University of West Florida.

“I probably got as big as you can get in Pensacola, and that’s kind of why I left,” Roth said. “I felt there was nowhere else for me to go here.”

Roth’s decision to leave the little oasis of small-town Pensacola would eventually lead him to Venice, California, where Grizfolk would later be born.

Grizfolk is already planning for the future after the Troublemaker Tour has ended. “Next we have the Redemption Tour,” said Roth with a smile. The others grinned at each other in response, clearly happy with the extensive amount of touring still to come.

When asked where they hope to be in five years, Roth said, “We’ve been roughing it for a while and we’re not making tons of money, so it’d be nice five years from now to still be touring year-round, but be able to use a bus and have a nice place to live.”

That sounds like a reasonable request that will surely be met if Grizfolk continues on their steady rise in the music industry.

For more information on the Troublemaker Tour and where to buy tickets, check out the band’s official website.

With love,

Kinsey

Kinsey Keys

aspiring memoirist rummaging through my noggin, stubbornly clutching the past to my chest like it’s a newborn babe starved for mother's milk.

See Full Bio