Garden Variety was a U.S. rock band from the 1990s who created two LPs (self-titled in 1993 and "Knocking the Skill Level" in 1994) and several 7" singles between 1991-1996. The band members eventually joined bands such as Radio 4, Bluetip, Hell No, Vic Thrill, Retisonic and now Marah.
ANTHONY ROMAN - BASS, VOCALS
ANTHONY RIZZO - GUITAR
JOE GORELICK - DRUMS, B. VOCALS
DISCOGRAPHY
Garden Variety - "New Guitar Parts" (Garden Variety split with JeJune 7") Montalban Hotel Records/BWR 1996
Garden Variety - "Binder" (CMJ New Music Monthly - May 1995 comp) gern blandstein/cmj 1995
Garden Variety - "Stickler" (Garden Variety split 7") Cargo 1995
Garden Variety - (Knocking The Skill Level) Cargo/Headhunter 1995
Garden Variety - "Parker" (Garden Variety split with Dahli
a Seed 7") MintTone 1994
Garden Variety - "S/T" (Garden Variety) Gern Blandsten 1993
Garden Variety - "Hedge" (Garden Variety 7") MintTone 1992
Garden Variety - "First Demo tape" Recorded on Northern Blvd in Queens, at a studio called "Boulevard" (we think) that doesn't exist anymore. late 1991
ASSORTED ODDS & ENDS
Garden Variety also appeared on a SoundViews magazine CD compilation and with Pavement and many others on the famous "Homage" Descendents tribute cd. They were interviewed by actress Janeane Garofalo on the 1995 "7-Up listen up" series (in studio interview and recordings), appeared on the Lookout Records (Ben Weasel created) compliation "Punk Rock USA" alongside Jawbreaker, appeared with Texas is the Reason, Quicksand and many more on the "Anti Matter" CD/Vinyl compilation (as well as the Anti Matter book that came out last year), and lastly, GV appeared on several VHS video compliations during 1995/1996. In 1996, Vogue Magazine interviewed the band for it's 1996 Spring issue which featured Lee from Sonic Youth and the Long Island band Sammy.
ANTHONY ROMAN POST GV - PLAYED / RECORDED WITH ROCKETS RED GLARE THEN CREATED THE POPULAR BAND RADIO 4 AND NOW PLAYS ALL OVER THE WORLD.
ANTHONY RIZZO POST GV - PLAYED / RECORDED WITH MEMBERS OF THE BOGMEN IN THE BAND VIC THRILL (AS GUITARIST "THE SATURN MISSILE") AND PLAYED GUITAR FOR RADIO 4 WITH ROMAN FROM GV. CURRENTLY, RIZZO IS PLAYING IN THE BAND LITTLE EMBERS.
JOE GORELICK POST GV - PLAYED / RECORDED WITH BLUETIP, SUGARHIGH, THE ST. JAMES STARS, RETISONIC AND MARAH. CURRENTLY, GORELICK IS PLAYING A SERIES OF 2008 REUNION SHOWS WITH BLUETIP AND FINALLY RECORDING NEW MUSIC WITH BOTH BLUETIP AND RETISONIC, POSSIBLE MARAH U.S. TOURING AS WELL.
Fact - The only time all three members have played together (since the band's 1996 break up) was at a Freddy Frogs (Roman's rockabilly musician uncle) show at Downtime (251 West 30th Street) many years ago - doing an Elvis song. Nobody related to GV besides 4 or 5 people got to see the brief reunion.
PUNK PLANET-REVIEWER SPOTLIGHT- JANUARY 2007 Garden Variety-Knocking the Skill Level "When this came out in the late '90's, I remember the punk scene had a hard time categorizing it-and it was a time when sub-genre mattered a great deal. for those who looked past the fact that they(gv) transcended labels and got it, got it. And what a brilliant album it was. KNOCKING THE SKILL LEVEL was their second outing, following an album that had sealed them as a burgeoning East Coast pop-punk outfit, New Jersey to be specific. Their second record-and their last-was noisy and discodant, but had this subtle melody that made it accessable. Somehow, this garnered plenty of very unfair comparisons. It was an album that didn't draw upon it's first hearing, as the songs meandered through plenty of dynamics, textured tempo changes, and other general traits that were too challenging for a casual listen. And then another. The songs are far from catchy, but definitely infectuous. Sections of this album (that breakdown that happens a quarter way into "Chatroom Walkout" Holy shit!) will get stuck in your head, but I'll never be able to hum them, and theirs a certain beauty in that elusiveness." - Vincent Chung/PP
"To give you all an idea of how much I loved Garden Variety as a naive teenager, when my second band (of four, proper) played a show in the summer of 1996, I wore a Garden Variety t-shirt and played a guitar emblazoned with a huge, homemade Garden Variety sticker. And we tried our damnedest (unsurprisingly) to sound like them as well. The very friendly folks from Dahlia Seed, who co-headlined the show and had earlier released a split 7" with GV, apparently took to referring to us as 'Garden Variety, Jr.' I took it -- get this -- as a compliment. What the hell was wrong with me? Other than the fact that I just loved Garden Variety that much, I don't really know. What can I say? I was a silly kid. As I grew up a bit, I realized that the Garden Variety, Jr. tag was really more a term of derision (albeit friendly derision... I think). I was never really as embarrassed as I think I might have been though, had we been referred to as 'Green Day, Jr.' or 'Sick of it All, Jr.' Even if we weren't that great at it, I'm still pretty proud that we threw in our lot with bands that went for a bit more than the cheap pop punk or shout-along hardcore that dominated the scene at the time. And when I survey the 'emo' scene that grew up in the wake of bands like Garden Variety in the later nineties, I can't help but be impressed with the fact that their two full-length albums stand out as gems of the genre, such as it is. .."- deadvinyl blogspot comment by Scott
"I guess we formed when I got a tape from roman and rizzo who also had an ad out in a crappy long island zine asking for a drummer who liked punk and it listed bands like skunk and i think the replacements or soul asylum, maybe squirrelbait was in there too, it was a good ad and one you didn't see on long island at that time, i was way psyched to meet these guys. Anyway, we rehearsed a few times and it was perfect. We were a band in no time, because the music was there and it all connected. The influences, the general attitude, even the sneakers we wore, it was a band in the truest sense. From there, I guess we we met a lot of good folks like Vinny and Charles and not so good folks. I'm sometimes sad that I am not a part of that family anymore, but i enjoyed my time there. I am proud of those records..." --Joe Gorelick/Retisonic Radio interview 2003 ...amazing guitars, brilliant drumming and scream/singing that could make you cry with happiness.-Amazon.com
Knocking the Skill Level is a volatile and immediately powerful blend of harder rock styles: musically, there are vague punk and hard-rock touches in the angular indie-guitar work, while the vocals and overall construction lean toward powerful and explosive emo structures. This blend is remarkably effective, and tends to sound bigger than most three-pieces would dare; through a series of well-constructed tracks, the band builds up frantic swells of sound, drifts down from them, and then returns to anthemic, punch-in-the-face riffing without ever seeming like they're trying too hard to be as powerful as they are. This very solid release will appeal to fans of driving rock, anywhere between Cap'n Jazz and Stanford Prison Experiment. ~ Nitsuh Abebe, All Music Guide
GV is also known for their hidden track in the Lookout Records compilation Punk USA. The song which isn't mentioned in any way in the cover-sheets is called "Pretty Mouth" and you can also find it in the self-titled album from 1993.
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