HEADLINES

Granite Hill or do they have a larger mountain climb

November 08, 2019
San Diego, California based rock band Granite Hills original members Blake Barnad, Jimi Lujan and Scott Brunton formed the band in the late 1980’s and have been performing in the southern california rock scene on and off for the last 30 years.  At first the three members practiced in a storage unit which was then converted into a small recording studio.  They wrote several songs and started to play the San Diego music scene.  They soon recruited a local singer Rick Hessler, who added more depth to their style.  They continued to play house parties, local clubs and gather a following but they soon found themselves broke and not able to pay their bills. They parted ways during the 90’s and played in different bands, but occasionally they would get together and jam, but nothing ever was serious as they all were committed to their jobs and families.   

About 10 years ago, after a 20 year drought the original members Jimi, Blake and Scott decided it was time to get back together and be serious about their music.  The original singer wasn’t available so they decided that Jimi would take up the lead vocals.  They got together several times per week to fine tune their original music they wrote in the late 80’s. They decided that the old music was good enough and that they should record it. 
After a search of the local recording studios, they decided on DoubleTime Recording Studio in the east county of San Diego.   It was cheap and good enough for their budget.  It’s claim to fame was that Blink 182 did their first demo album there.  That was good enough for them. The recording engineer Jeff Forrest was easy enough to work with and helped them develop their sound.  

The album took over one year to complete and was titled Granite Hill.   On the album each member took a shot at the vocals, with Jimi Lujan doing the majority of the singing.  Scott and Blake each took a shot at singing on Walk With Me and Can’t Find Love.  The sound of Granite Hill’s first album could be described as a unique construction of 80’s music with a new vive. After the release of their debut album they played the local Southern California scene and fine tuned their sound and live shows.    

After performing their new album they discovered something was missing and recruited keyboard player Will Schmehr from the heavy metal band Sator Square.  They also brought in a local singer, but after a few months they thought he probably wasn’t going to work out.  Also the bass players son, JP Parker who was watching them practice, said “he could do a better job than that singer” he also knew all their songs because he has been listening to his dad’s music all his life.  They decide to give JP a shot at the vocals.  They remember the first night of practice and they knew instantly that he was a good fit.  They say he has the energy and youth to take this band to the next level.  

They already had a collection of songs that they were writing before JP joined but he helped them write several more.  After fine tuning their songs they decided they wanted to go in a different direction with the recording studio.  They found a new studio called Grey Brick Studio in Lemon Grove and found that recording engineer and music producer Peter Duff was the perfect match to see the band’s vision for their 2nd album.  The total process took a year to record and they decided their 2nd album would be titled Still My Friend.  They said that’s a good name since we are still friends after all these years.  It was released on April 4, 2019.  
The songs on the album took a while to record, but they think they came up with intriguing melodies and clever lyrics.   The song I think I love you most was described as “Excellent melody, harmony, vocals (both lead and back-up), drumming, bass. Surprising little twist in the lyrics, too! "I think I love you most when you're not around." That's just classic.”    
Though they was featured in recently released Lifoti's October/November 2019 issue 10, you can check it from below link's for your country:

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