| Grand Buffet | |
| Landscape: | yes |
| Background: | group_or_band |
| Origin: | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Genre: | Alternative hip hop, Experimental |
| Years Active: | 1996 - Current |
| Label: | Self Produced Fighting Records |
| Current Members: | Jackson O'Connell-Barlow Jarrod Weeks |
| Past Members: | "G-Rude" (Dan Grudovich) |
Grand Buffet is a hip-hop funk duo from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, made up of Jackson O'Connell-Barlow (stage names: Iguanadon, Grape-a-Don, Plaps, Nate Kukla, and Mr. Pennsylvania) and Jarrod Weeks (stage names: M-Dog, Lord Grunge, Viceroy, Matt Kukla, Fred Durts). The group's music is a unique brand of humorous, often satirical rap.
This duo has toured several times with notable artists such as Gil Mantera's Party Dream, Sage Francis, Of Montreal, Cex,[1] Sole, Magnolia Electric Co.,[2] Streetlight Manifesto,[3] and the late Wesley Willis, and has also toured the United States and Europe extensively.
In 2005, the duo finished a European tour with Sage Francis,[4] and an American Tour with Of Montreal and MGMT in 2006.
The duo then toured with Girl Talk in 2008 and Third Eye Blind in 2009.
Grand Buffet has been together since 1996, meeting at Hampton High School in Allison Park. The group has released two self-produced, full-length LP's, Scrooge McRock (1997, out of print) and Sparkle Classic (2000), as well as a "Trilogy of Terror": 3 EP's – Undercover Angels (2002), Cigarette Beach (2002), and Pittsburgh Hearts (2003). Each of these releases has included different names for Jackson and Jarrod in the liner notes; the stage names are listed chronologically from Scrooge McRock to Cigarette Beach – Pittsburgh Hearts attributed them by their real names.
Grand Buffet's MySpace account also lists the duo as Viceroy (Jarrod) and Plaps (Jackson). There was a third member, a DJ named G-Rude (Dan Grudovich), who was credited on Scrooge McRock but no subsequent albumsthus the liner art for both Scrooge McRock and Dicer contains three member's pictures instead of two.
In 2004, Grand Buffet released a full-length CD of outtakes, rarities, and radio performances called . In 2005, the duo released a greatest hits collection, Five Years of Fireworks, which included a new track and a bonus DVD filled with music videos, outtakes, backstage antics, and live material. A sequel to Dicer was announced in 2005, and Weeks mentioned possibly expanding it into an annual release.[5]
Grand Buffet toured with a DJ for some shows in 2005 and 2006; a DJ from Texas, DJ Jester the Filipino Fist, who has toured with Kid Koala.[6]
On May 8, 2007, "The Haunted Fucking Gazebo" EP and on January 8, 2008, "King Vision" were released, both on Fighting Records.
The band has distanced itself from Scrooge McRock in at least one interview, dismissing it as more of a retrospectively-viewed collection of demos than a proper album.[7] For the following two years, the duo worked on material for an album that was to be called Peter Weller (after the actor), which ultimately was never released, culminating in its abandonment in 1999. (Several tracks from these sessions were released on Dicer). Sparkle Classic is the first album that they consider to be part of the official discography.
The duo has hinted at a children's album entitled Gorilla and Fox,[8] but there has been no official release date announced.