Just a number

Grandchamp is proof positive that age is not a deal-breaking requirement for a good band.

Each of the Grandchamp’s component members — frontman Charlie Cacciatore, bassist Andrew Jones, guitarist Nate Kouri and vibe-man Jack Reardon — is under 19, but they have already managed to take part in both this year’s Gross Domestic Product and the 2014 edition of 80/35. Not bad for a band with a combined age barely enough to qualify for Social Security payments.

Grandchamp plays Vaudeville Mews on Friday, May 22, at 5 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door. Doctor Murdock and Junnouchi Power also perform.

Now the band is putting together its first album, to be released later this summer on the Nova Labs label. The album will feature 11 songs, but the guys say they have enough material for another album or two already.

“We have too many songs,” guitarist Nate Kouri said. “Too many to pick from.”

But even with such a thick catalog, Cacciatore says deciding which songs were on album number one was easy.

“It was obvious,” he said. “They all just go together.”

Cacciatore does most of the writing for the group, but he credits Jones with a solid assist, calling the bassist “just as important as I am in the writing process.”

The band has been playing with its current lineup of musicians for about a year now, with one notable exception: The spot behind the drum kit is a bit of revolving door.

“Our former permanent drummer has been going back and forth between here and L.A.,” Cacciatore explained. “She has an acting thing going on out there, so when she’s not here, we just go with whoever we can.”

No matter who’s keeping the band’s time, the result is always the same: Grandchamp’s sound is built around solid power chords, the occasional memorable hook and a couple of slick chord progressions. What these particular teenagers have managed to do is take the prototypical garage-rock sound and build it into something more sophisticated than the genre deserves.

In just a couple short years, Grandchamp has managed to prove itself to be better than their young ages suggest they should be. And since none of the guys seem content to rest on their laurels, seeing where they go from here should be fun. CV