#MyMusicStory

Submitted by: Grotoko (Instagram)

Transatlanticism by Death Cab for Cutie became one of my favourite records during high school.  At the time, I was the multi-instrumentalist in a band called Mabel’s Flight. It was the singer of that band that had gotten me into Death Cab. I bought Transatlanticism on vinyl because I loved the artwork.  When the singer of my band came over, they saw the record on my wall and started screaming.  “I’m so jealous!”, they said. Almost everything about the album spoke to me. It felt heartbreaking, yet healing, but also very catchy. 

I listened to that album a lot. I’d listen to the album before band practice and sometimes I even skipped school, just to give some of the songs one more spin. I can’t remember how it happened, but somehow I had developed a pre-show ritual where every night before we played a show, I’d light candles and listen to “a Lack of Colour”, the last track on Transatlanticism, and if I didn’t, then the show usually didn’t go as well as it could have. 

You could say I was a little bit superstitious and maybe I listened to the album almost too much.  At some point we covered “Title and Registration”. Eventually the time came for the band to play its last show.  After playing our hearts out on stage to the bassist’s girlfriend, the lead singer’s girlfriend, and an otherwise empty room, we got off stage and packed up. I was sad about the band breaking up to say the least. I will admit that I accidentally drank my entire flask over a very short period of time. The drummer and I were out for a cigarette when he watched me practically go from completely sober to completely plastered in about thirty seconds. 

Hours later, after being carried there, almost single-handed, by the lead singer’s girlfriend, I was sitting on the floor of the bathroom at a friend’s place, having a long, reflective conversation with the drummer as the song “Transatlanticism” was played on the piano downstairs.

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Grotoko is an art rock project, drawing inspiration from punk, grunge, and classical music. Its name is a collage of the words"rococo" and "grotesque". Using melodic lines and a confessional, sometimes sarcastic, non-sense lyrical style, it is a celebration of emotions, attempting to create something mildly beautiful from some uglier things in human experience.