The Grabs Ready 'Sex, Fashion & Money' for November 8, 2005, Release

Press release
Source: conqueroo / Cary Baker

The Grabs have completed their debut album, Sex, Fashion & Money, which will hit the streets on November 8. The band is a side project for its members: indie singer/songwriter Eleni Mandell, guitarist Steven Gregoropolous (Wild Stares, W.A.C.O., Lavender Diamond), bassist Nigel Harrison (Blondie) and drummer Elvira Gonzalez - even an audio sample from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung. Mandell calls the quartet "the side-project rock band of my childhood dreams."

The album was produced and recorded in six days by Sheldon Gomberg (Warren Zevon, Beck, Ryan Adams) at his Los Angeles-based studio. Burnside Distribution will distribute the CD.

The Grabs came about as a result of Eleni and Steven discussing a band that would be poppy, fun and light-hearted and would sound great in the summer - not necessarily the words one would use to describe Eleni's body of somewhat darker critically acclaimed recordings. Eleni exclaimed, "Let's write really catchy, fun post-punk pop songs." "That's too easy," responded Steve.

Although the two had never previously co-written a song with anybody, they wrote an album's worth of songs in no time, then recruited founding Blondie member and veteran A&R nabob Nigel Harrison. Eleni asked Nigel if he could play on a new project she was working on. He agreed immediately but thought it would be a song or two, not 13 songs. Still, he dove in and called Eleni "the best singer and songwriter I've ever known since Deborah Harry."

The Grabs also enlisted itinerant drummer Elvira Gonzalez (Silversun Pickups), who the band says "provides the cute factor and general salability."

Everyone immediately agreed to be involved in the project after the few months between tours when Steve and Eleni quickly co-authored the songs.

Presently, Eleni Mandell is at work on her own album, very different from the Grabs project, which will be released in spring of 2006.