Philadelphia Grand Jury

Philadelphia Grand Jury formed under a house in Sydney, Australia some time around 2009. Simon ‘Berkfinger’ Berckelman had been listening to too much Snakefinger and Talking Heads and decided to sell his car and buy enough gear to record his friends MC Bad Genius and Dan ‘W.’ Sweat. Their first minimal, loose, blues indie punk soul single ‘Going To The Casino’ fluked it’s way across the desk of jjj radio boss Richard Kingsmill and suddenly they were a real band, with real concerts and real high rotation radio play. They even quit their jobs! The next few years were a bit of a blur: they signed to Boomtown Records and their debut record ‘Hope Is For Hopers’ sold way more copies than anyone expected and helped them play hundreds of shows and festivals across Australia, USA, U.K., Europe and even South Africa. Guitars were broken, Dan Sweat left to get rich with Art Vs Science, drummers like Emergency Ivan, Calvin Welch, Dick Stick and Susie ‘Dreamboat’ Patten came and went. They were slammed on Australian and UK radio, scored syncs in too many movies and TV shows to mention and right on the cusp of releasing a second record, Bad Genius and Berkfinger had a major bustup and it was all over as quickly as it began. Well that was 2012 and everyone has been keeping busy. Berkfinger built Berlin’s Golden Retriever Studio, Bad Genius has been working with refugees and Dan Sweat has invested his money wisely, but of course it was inevitable that the guys would make up and realise the stupidity of not playing together when they (and a hell of a lot of other people) miss the band so dearly. After some fun surprise shows in 2013 and an intimate 2014 tour for the original faithful, the band flew with long time friend and very legendary engineer and producer Tim Whitten to Berlin and punched out writing and recording their new album, ’Summer Of Doom’ over 10 intense days. Tim thought they were nuts and actually said so, but made it sounds shit-hot nevertheless. He even showed Berkfinger how to use his compressors properly! The album continues the party they started in 2009 but reflects the fact that nothing ever stays the same. Most of the tracks were recorded live within 30 minutes of being written and there is no editing, no computer trickery. If Berkfinger couldn’t sing it perfectly in tune, then it stayed out of tune.