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Nov 14, 2012 Jason Lytle By Mike Hilleary

Next week on Nov. 23 Granddaddy’s Jason Lytle and Sea Of Bees will release a split 7’’ covering one another’s songs. Available in independent record stores around the country on Black Friday and via pre-order online, the two songs have been made available to stream in full online. According to producer John Baccigaluppi the collaboration went something like this:

When we had finished the first Sea of Bees album, Songs for the Ravens, and were trying to get people to listen to it, Jason Lytle was one of the first artists to champion Jules and the album, and that really helped open a few doors and garner the record some listeners. A year or so later, Jason emailed me asking for the lyrics to “Won’t Be Long” as he was considering covering the track.

Another year or so went by and we got a call from someone involved in the Twilight soundtrack who really liked the track as well, but Twilight only uses unreleased songs. “Well, our friend Jason Lytle has a version of that song that’s never been released, do you want to hear that?” Send it over they said. So I emailed Jason, but he was just getting ready to go in the studio to mix his new album, Department of Dissapearance. “It’s close,” he said, “but it needs to be buttoned up and mixed. Let me give it a quick listen and I’ll send over the files.” So we get the track and it’s amazing. It didn’t have any bass, so Jules added a bass part and did the harmony part that Andy Cabic (Vetiver) did on the original version. I dug the flipping of the male/female vocal parts. We mixed it and sent it off.

Months go by again, and no word from the vampire posse. We’re getting antsy, because we really like the track and well, let’s face it, those movies are fucking goofy. Wouldn’t it be cool to do a split 7” and have Sea of Bees cover one of Jason’s songs? Team Lytle is into it. We get an advance of the new album which is great. Best yet from Jason IMO. There were several songs that would have been fun to cover, but “Get Up and Go” won out because it’s just so damm catchy. You’ll see. When Jason was passing through town, he stopped by and added a vocal at the end of the track and we shot the cover photo at the swingset across the street from the studio. Andrew McGranahan did the photo collage. To bring it full circle, the album is a joint release between Crossbill Records who put out the first Sea of Bees album and Off the Air Recordings which is based in Modesto, CA, hometown to Grandaddy. Vampires lose, you win.

Click below to listen and pre-order your copy here.

(www.jasonlytle.com)