Grand Champeen

Grand Champeen
Grand Champeen at SXSW 2014
Background information
Genres	Rock
Years active	1997–present
Associated acts	Frosted Megawheats Mucho Maas Slobberbone Two Cow Garage Glossary Prescott Curlywolf THE BREMEN RIOT Gleeson Past Prayers
Website	GrandChampeen.com
Members	Alex Livingstone Channing Lewis Michael Crow Ned Stewart
Past members	Will Minor Rob Hargrove

Grand Champeen is an Austin, Texas-based rock band.

Guitarists/vocalists Channing Lewis and Michael Crow met drummer Ned Stewart while attending the private boarding school Woodbury Forest, located in Harrisburg, Virginia. As freshmen, they formed the band the cover band, Frosted Megawheats, with another student, Will Minor, on bass. After high school graduation in 1993, the group reconnected during summers while two of the band members, Crow and Lewis, attended Colorado State University, and Stewart attended James Madison University.

In the summer of 1994, the group, now renamed Mucho Maas in homage to a character from Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49, recorded an album of original songs in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Mucho Maas featured fIREHOSE guitarist Ed Crawford on one song singing vocals. Shortly thereafter, Minor left the band.

Lewis and Crow returned to Boulder for college. After graduation, they briefly considering moving to Minneapolis because of its thriving music scene, but eventually decided to relocate to Austin, Texas, in the summer of 1997. They were joined by Ned Stewart and bassist Rob Hargrove, a University of Texas law student and Crow's friend from childhood. That formation of the band took the name Grand Champeen in late 1999, and began playing local venues.

In January 2000, Grand Champeen self-released their debut album, the country-influenced Out Front by the Van. Out Front featured banjo, violin, and pedal steel added to a rock base sound. The band began playing regular shows in Austin as well as touring with The Damnations, Slobberbone, Richmond Fontaine, and Two Cow Garage. After the album's release, Hargrove left the band to focus on his studies and was replaced by Alex Livingstone, who played with the band at the South by Southwest in March 2000. Livingstone was a childhood friend of Will Minor, from the early days in Virginia.