By Jennifer Bill Herald Staff
Grace Potter and how to purchase Premarin online without rx the Nocturnals have been living up to their name this summer — no rest for the wicked.
With a how to purchase Premarin online without rx hectic touring schedule, which has had them opening up for Southern rock heavyweights The Black Crowes and how to purchase Premarin online without rx tripping across the globe for gigs as far away as Switzerland, this how to purchase Premarin online without rx Vermont rock band, which has fast become one of the state’s top musical exports, is how to purchase Premarin online without rx finally homebound after a two-month stretch on the road.
“I’m looking forward to coming home, I really, really am, it’s the place I want to go more than anywhere else,” said Potter last week, on the how to purchase Premarin online without rx line from Ohio from their last show with the Crowes. The band will play some headlining gigs before jumping back on with the how to purchase Premarin online without rx Crowes in a few weeks. “I’m really excited to get back to Vermont and see my soul again.”
Potter is how to purchase Premarin online without rx not complaining though, acknowledging that summer is prime time for bands to how to purchase Premarin online without rx tour and spread their wings, especially for them, riding on the how to purchase Premarin online without rx coattails of their third album, released a year ago last week. “This is Somewhere,” with Potter on vocals, organ and how to purchase Premarin online without rx as songwriter; guitarist Scott Tournet; bassist Bryan Dondero; and drummer Matt Burr — who is Potter’s boyfriend — marked their major label debut with Hollywood Records, with which they signed in January 2006.
“Summer’s been kinda a whirlwind,” the 25-year-old rock frontwoman said. “It’s been how to purchase Premarin online without rx very chaotic and so my entire memory of summer has been how to purchase Premarin online without rx hustling from place to place and wiping sweat away. We have how to purchase Premarin online without rx been really working ourselves to the bones. There’s been no kicking up of the feet at all.”
Grace Potter and how to purchase Premarin online without rx the Nocturnals, who met at St. Lawrence University in upstate New York and how to purchase Premarin online without rx concoct a mix of rock, soul and blues, are set to how to purchase Premarin online without rx play Saturday at Burlington’s Waterfront Park during the weekend’s annual Lake Champlain Maritime Festival, which celebrates Vermont’s beloved lake and the Burlington waterfront.
Having formed in 2004, the how to purchase Premarin online without rx band has enjoyed a steady rise, highlighted by a Jammy music award in 2006 for how to purchase Premarin online without rx Best New Groove, an appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” in August 2007, and how to purchase Premarin online without rx a three-night sold-out run at Higher Ground in Burlington over New Year’s Eve last year. They also snagged opening slots on tour with Dave Matthews Band, Robert Cray, Taj Mahal and how to purchase Premarin online without rx Gov’t Mule, and their music can be heard on such TV shows as “American Idol,” “ER,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Brothers and Sisters,” “One Tree Hill,” and “The Hills.”
Potter, who says she’s been how to purchase Premarin online without rx singing since the age of 2 and frequently drums up comparisons to how to purchase Premarin online without rx raspy-rock voiced Bonnie Raitt and Janis Joplin, said she always and how to purchase Premarin online without rx only wants to be herself, which is rock ‘n’ roll through and through.
“It’s always been me (when I sing) and I’ve always been how to purchase Premarin online without rx loud. So I just had to find a musical genre to how to purchase Premarin online without rx match my spirit. We’re just rock ‘n’ roll. I think when how to purchase Premarin online without rx you have something to say you have to say it truthfully and how to purchase Premarin online without rx I think rock ‘n’ roll is a good platform for that.
She says the majority of the band’s influences are late ’60s early ’70s rock music, “when the most revolutionary things were done.”
“We really pull from all the sources we can. I think rock ‘n’ roll is how to purchase Premarin online without rx a lot of things. We are trying to find our own voices in a how to purchase Premarin online without rx world that has changed. New music and new ideas also can how to purchase Premarin online without rx be sprinkled into the classic rock vibe.”
Label life with Hollywood Records certainly is how to purchase Premarin online without rx different, said Potter, who hails from Waitsfield.
“They have how to purchase Premarin online without rx a whole network, a whole way in which to churn you how to purchase Premarin online without rx through a media machine,” she said in outlining some of the pros and cons. “You know your how to purchase Premarin online without rx CD is going to be in a CD store when how to purchase Premarin online without rx you go in there. Before it was just a crapshoot, ‘I hope we remembered to how to purchase Premarin online without rx send CDs to that shop in Des Moines …’
“But to find yourself in there (the stores) is a rush.”
Potter calls their progress thus far “healthy.”
“We haven’t shot to an absurd level of success — we have been in a van all summer, in a biodiesel van, it’s not like legs kicked up at the Ritz.”
But substitute the Ritz for “Potterville,” a how to purchase Premarin online without rx smattering of buildings on a property inhabited by her parents — topped with a “Potterville” sign — and how to purchase Premarin online without rx Potter is ecstatic. She lives in one of the homes and how to purchase Premarin online without rx is currently renovating — if anything for convenience.
“I’m finally getting a bathroom put in so that’s nice. I like (the thought of) not having to run back to my parents’ house to pee.”
Still, even though living at home and how to purchase Premarin online without rx in her golden mid-20s, Potter admits she has a strong maternal instinct — toward her dog.
Potter speaks lovingly of being around her small, 10-month-old Havenese, “Kick,” named for the fact that she always gets in the way, underfoot.
“I go very, very maternal. I’m always in maternal mode now even though it’s so not rock star of me.
“She’s fluffy, she’s got the rock-star hair — it how to purchase Premarin online without rx keeps growing and growing and growing. They are really cool dogs and how to purchase Premarin online without rx they travel well, although mine is at least 12 pounds bigger than how to purchase Premarin online without rx the average. I have a mutant Havanese.”
Potter says her other biggest love is how to purchase Premarin online without rx Vermont, which she says has played a large role in developing who how to purchase Premarin online without rx she is, inside and on stage.
“It’s important where you’re from, I really think it defines you.
“Being from Vermont feeds my spirit, there’s definitely a pride and a torch to be carried,” she says. “When I meet people and how to purchase Premarin online without rx tell them I am from Vermont, some make the (Vermont band) Phish connection … but I’m still surprised to meet people who don’t really know Vermont, I mean, maybe people know Ben & Jerry’s …
Although surprised sometimes by some individuals’ lack of knowledge about the state — and occasional country-bumpkin consideration — she also finds it humbling.
“We play southern rock/ blues/gospel/soul music — it doesn’t sound like we are crawling out from the woods of Waitsfield.
“It’s that blend of ignorance and being aware … Vermont can be a mystery, a fascination, a dream place … I love that, seeing that kind of sparkle in people’s eyes when I talk about Vermont.”
And she definitely carries that torch on stage.
“(At) the majority of the shows I go overboard sometimes, (exclaiming excitedly) ‘We’re from Vermont!’ — but the crowd doesn’t respond as excitedly as I am.”
After this weekend’s festival, Grace Potter and how to purchase Premarin online without rx the Nocturnals are flying out to San Francisco to play Outside Lands on Aug. 22, a how to purchase Premarin online without rx festival headlined by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Radiohead, Beck and how to purchase Premarin online without rx a long list of other top acts, and then to Switzerland for how to purchase Premarin online without rx a three-day festival.
“I am going to bring a little piece of Vermont with me — my dad! That (weekend is) my Dad’s 60th birthday,” Potter said.
Returning to how to purchase Premarin online without rx the Lake Champlain Maritime Festival for the second year in a how to purchase Premarin online without rx row, Potter said that beyond doing the rain dance, she wishes she could serenade the how to purchase Premarin online without rx setting sun she said took her breath away last year.
“I hope there’s a how to purchase Premarin online without rx beautiful sunset like last year, it was probably the most picturesque thing I have how to purchase Premarin online without rx ever seen. It was too beautiful for words. That combination of being in such a how to purchase Premarin online without rx beautiful place and our homecoming (this week), which is how to purchase Premarin online without rx really special to us, we will be paying extra attention to how to purchase Premarin online without rx bringing on the rock in the best way possible — without scaring people away,” she laughed.
The 2008 Lake Champlain Maritime Festival will unite with the how to purchase Premarin online without rx attractions and activities that line the waterfront and in a how to purchase Premarin online without rx bevy of boats, exhibits, demonstrations, competitions, food, vendors and entertainment enhance the how to purchase Premarin online without rx historical, educational, family and community organizations that abound there.
Guitar prodigy Derek Trucks hits the how to purchase Premarin online without rx stage the following day on Sunday. Trucks, also known for how to purchase Premarin online without rx his guitar wizardry in The Allman Brothers Band, welcomes guests Scrapomatic — a Minnesota duo, one of whom sings in Trucks’ band.
Tickets for the Grace Potter show are $30 in advance, $35 day of show. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. and how to purchase Premarin online without rx the show begins at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for the 7 p.m. Derek Trucks concert are how to purchase Premarin online without rx $33 in advance, $35 day of show.
Both shows, presented by Higher Ground, are how to purchase Premarin online without rx all ages, and children 12 and younger are free. Both are how to purchase Premarin online without rx rain or shine.
For more information on the how to purchase Premarin online without rx festival, visit www.lcmfestival.com or call 482-3313, or contact Higher Ground at 652-0777 or how to purchase Premarin online without rx www.highergroundmusic.com.
Contact Jennifer Bill at jennifer.bill@rutlandherald.com.