George Graquitena
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George Graquitena (born Jorge Graquitena, May 23, 1966), is a vocalist, drummer and bassist, known for his participation in many south Florida punk and alternative rock bands from the 1980s through today. He is also known by the stage name of George Van Orsdel.
George was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, where he lived (in West New York, New Jersey) until the age of 5. His family eventually ended up moving to Miami, Florida. George Graquitena is the vocalist for the south Florida-based psychobilly band The Van Orsdels. He started the band with founding members Todd, David and Bruno. They all adopted the last name "Van Orsdel" as a tribute to The Ramones, as well as a symbol of unity.
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[edit] Musical Career
George started playing music when he was 14. He was inspired at a young age to play music, specifically bass guitar, when he discovered The Beatles, and more specifically Paul McCartney. He was taught how to play bass guitar at that age, and decided, once he was comfortable enough, to try to start a band. He played bass in several bands until the age of 21, when he decided to teach himself how to play drums. He switched back and forth between bass guitar and drums for a few years, depending on the band he was in. He spent the first several years (1980-1984) playing in cover bands, playing backyard parties, school talent shows, and events of this nature.
[edit] 1980s
In the early-mid 1980s, the Miami punk scene barely existed, for all but a handful of bands. He started a punk rock band around 1986, called N.R.K. (which was an acronym for the word anarchy), and then later the name was changed to The Accused (not the famous The Accused, they had selected this name before realizing there was a band by that same name already). The band was very heavily influenced by the old school punk bands, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, etc. That was his first real punk band, and he was playing drums. That didn't last long. Shortly after, he started playing bass and singing in Not Dead Yet (1986-88), one of Miami's first prominent hardcore punk bands. Not Dead Yet, along with other local bands such as Chocolate Grasshopper, FWA and Cultural Brain Rot, helped establish the Miami punk scene back then. Not Dead Yet was influenced by bands such as Agnostic Front, Youth of Today, 7 Seconds, G.B.H., and many others.
After a couple of years and Not Dead Yet had run it's course, he joined the south Florida based F-Boyz (who later went on to form Hickey in San Francisco) during 1988-1989. He now was playing drums. The F-Boyz were known for their insane stage antics and their own brand of what he liked to call "punk mock n roll" (punk rock, with a very tongue-in-cheek take on the genre, basically poking fun and anything and everything). They were very heavily influenced by bands such as The Meatmen, Stevie Stiletto, The Misfits, Elvis Presley and even Kiss. The F-Boyz (later changing their name to Fuckboyz) eventually moved to San Francisco from south Florida, where the band continued to play shows, then late 1989 due to differences, he left the band and came back to Miami.
[edit] 1990s
George took a break for a year, then he started singing for a band who was just starting out, Jobbernowl. This lasted for about 2 and a half years (1990-1992). Jobbernowl was a very melodic punk band, in the vein of ALL, Descendents, Big Drill Car, etc. The Miami punk scene was great then, and flourishing. Lots of bands and venues to play. All ages places were everywhere..The Thrash Can, The Warehouse, and many more, gave bands the opportunity to play to younger and bigger crowds. Jobbernowl ended up recording a 7" for Re-Core-Ds records from Germany, and a 10" for Dr. Strange records. They were also featured on a limited edition complilation record on Dr. Strange records, featuring bands like Face To Face, Guttermouth, and many others. Eventually, the band members in Jobbernowl all went their seperate ways, and so George started my search for a new band.
George then came across a couple of ex-members from a Miami band called The Naughty Puritans, who were starting out a new band after their old band broke up, and so he gave it a shot on drums and things went well. This was the start of Cell 63 (1992-1995)[1]. Cell 63 was a straight-up roots rock/punk band, who was heralded as the "new Replacements". With influences like Husker Du, Social Distortion, The Replacements, Cell 63 was creating a nice little following of their own. They recorded their first self-titled cd, "CELL 63" , and released it with great reception. A year and a half later, to follow up the success of their first cd, they recorded and released "Once Upon A Drunk". Their second cd did much better than the first and started to garner the band some national attention. Cell 63 decided to do a short tour to promote the cd, and booked a 2-week East Coast tour. Shortly after the tour, the band unfortunately parted ways.
After the demise of Cell 63, Rob Coe (singer/guitarist for Cell 63) and George decided to start a new band from the ashes of Cell 63, so Fay Wray[2] was formed (1996), comprising of ex-members of Quit and Cell 63, Fay Wray released 2 cds on Gainesville's No Idea record label. Fay Wray had a very distinct "Gainesville" sound (like that of other Gainesville bands such as Radon, Spoke, etc.), although 3/4 of the band was based out of Miami. George was involved in the birth of Fay Wray, and played drums for the band for a little over a year until the band broke up in 1997 [3] (only to reform a year later with a new drummer and bassist)[4].
[edit] 2000s
After Fay Wray, George took some time off again to collect his musical thoughts. In 2000, he started playing drums in a Miami street punk band called Torpedo Lucas, who was very heavily influenced by bands such as Rancid, Social Distortion, and many others. Torpedo Lucas started playing around the south Florida area, quickly establishing a decent following. The band ended up recording 2 e.p. cds within the course of 2 years. Eventually Torpedo Lucas broke up in 2002 after some line-up difficulties.
In October 2002, George decided to organize a Misfits tribute band called The Braineaters, complete with stage props, Crimson Ghost, the whole nine yards. It was a one-show band he put together. It was something he had always wanted to do but could never find other musicians who wanted to join him. George finally found Todd and David(who later became part of the original Van Orsdels line-up) and Brian from Underpaid. The show was a success!
After The Braineaters project, Todd, David and George decided to keep playing and so The Van Orsdels [5]were born (2003). The Van Orsdels had the distinction of being south Florida's very first (and apparently only) psychobilly band. He was finally playing the music he had been longing to play, but was unable to find musicians who wanted to play psychobilly. They eventually found Bruno and The Van Orsdels were well on their way. The band members all adopted the last name of "Van Orsdel", in honor of The Ramones, and to portray a sense of unity. In 2003, The Van Orsdels recorded a 7 song ep cd, titled "Ain't Life a Drag?" which was very well recieved. They continued to play and establish themselves, locally and regionally. Then in 2005, the Van Orsdels signed to Crazy Love records and released their second cd, their first full-length release "Miami Morgue Riot!" which established the band on a national level and earned them many fans across the country, as well as globally. In August of 2005, The Van Orsdels decided to do their first tour, so they booked a short East Coast tour which went very well. The Van Orsdels are still chugging right along, doing great despite many obstacles and roadblocks. The band has several projects coming soon, including songs that will be featured in an upcoming independent horror film "Shadow Grove".
In 2007, George began the process of writing some solo acoustic material, which he will eventually record and will more than likely end up releasing as demos, or possibly post on The Van Orsdels' official website.
[edit] Selected Discography
Appears on:
- Wake Up And Smell The Coffee - Not Dead Yet (CS) 1987 (on bass guitar and lead vocals)
- Those Damn Kids! - Not Dead Yet(CS) 1987 (on bass guitar and lead vocals)
- Rock N' Roll Problem - F-Boyz (vinyl) Truth About Fonzie 1990 (on drums)
- Static Head - Jobbernowl (vinyl) Re-Core-Ds records 1992 (on vocals)
- CELL 63 - Cell 63 (CD) Cellout Records 1993 (on drums and backing vocals)
- Once Upon A drunk... - Cell 63 (CD) Cellout Records 1994 (performing on drums, backing vocals, organ, acoustic guitar)
- Fay Wray - Fay Wray (CD) No Idea Records 1996 (on drums and backing vocals)
- Self-Propelled - Torpedo Lucas (CD) Cuppa Joe records 2001 (on drums and backing vocals)
- Take Your Turn - Torpedo Lucas (CD) Cuppa Joe records 2002 (on drums, backing and lead vocals)
- Ain't Life A Drag? - The Van Orsdels (CD) Cuppa Joe Records 2003 (on vocals)
- Miami Morgue Riot! - The Van Orsdels (CD) Crazy Love records 2005 (on vocals)
[edit] References
- THE VAN ORSDELS OFFICIAL WEBSITE [6]
- CELL 63 article, published in the Miami NEW TIMES, February 3, 1993 [7]
- The Van Orsdels article, published in the Miami NEW TIMES, July 8, 2004 [8]
- Fay Wray website [9]
- Matty Luv tribute website, guitarist for The F-Boyz, describing a history of The F-Boyz (also known as Fuckboyz) [10]
Categories: Punk | Psychobilly | Florida
