Grand Archives

Grand Archives
Grand Archives at the 2007 Bumbershoot festival
Background information
Origin	Seattle, Washington, USA
Genres	Indie rock
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Sub Pop
Associated acts	Carissa's Wierd Band of Horses
Website	grandarchives.com
Members	Mat Brooke Jeff Montano Curtis Hall Thomas Wright
Past members	Ron Lewis

Grand Archives is an American indie rock band that formed in Seattle. They were originally called Archives and are led by principal songwriter Mat Brooke, formerly of Carissa's Wierd and Band of Horses.

Following his departure from Band of Horses in 2006, Mat Brooke (vocals and guitar) formed a new band with Jeff Montano (bass and vocals) and Curtis Hall (drums and vocals). Ron Lewis (keyboards, guitar and vocals) was added to the lineup later in the year, and Thomas Wright (guitar and vocals) joined in early 2007.

The band emerged, under their original name, in March 2007 by posting two tracks to their MySpace page. After a show with Brooke's former Carissa's Wierd bandmate Sera Cahoone they had their track "Sleepdriving" added to Pitchfork Media's Forkcast playlist, which provided them with substantial internet exposure.

Once the band switched to their current name, Pitchfork published a more in-depth feature on the band, which discussed all four demos from their MySpace page. Soon afterwards they supported Modest Mouse on seven west-coast tour dates and subsequently signed to Sub Pop for a full-length album.

The band released The Grand Archives in February 2008 and toured the U.S. and Europe in support of it. In April 2008 the band played "Torn Blue Foam Couch" on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Ron Lewis left the band in November 2008 to tour with The Shins and rejoin The Fruit Bats.

Following the release of their second album, Keep in Mind Frankenstein, Grand Archives embarked on extensive tours of the USA, Canada, and Europe, playing their first UK concert on February 5, 2010. For these live shows the four piece band was augmented by Robin Peringer (guitar & keyboards). Jason Kardong (pedal steel guitar) has also played with the band following Lewis's departure. The band toured the West Coast of the USA in July 2010 and Europe in August.