Greenskeepers

Greenskeepers are a band that are forever changing in form and sound. Greenskeepers are a band that are forever changing in form and sound. At the inception of the Greenskeepers in 1999, the name represented James Curd and Nick Maurer. James Curd and Nick Maurer grew up skateboarding together in Chicago. When Curd began establishing himself as a talented and up and coming DJ, he invited Maurer to join and work with him in his studio. The two gained wide success despite their limited resources, courtesy of Curd's creativity on the MPC and Maurer's unique voice and clever song writing abilities.

In 2001, Maurer moved to Germany and the Greenskeepers name evolved to represent Curd's solo productions. Curd went on to release an array of music under Greenskeepers. This included his first full length album "The Ziggy Franklin Radio Show". He made his impression on the music world by infusing swing music and Chicago house to invent the term G-Swing, short for Greenskeepers Swing. This sound was synonymous with Greenskeepers at this time and audiences could not get enough.

Curd used his international success to collaborate with and feature many different artist. Mark Share was added to write and co-produce and Coban Rudish was added on bass to create the Greenskeepers' second album "Pleetch". Four songs off "Pleetch" have been featured on "Grey's Anatomy", while others have appeared on T.V shows such as C.S.I Miami, Point Pleasant, MTV Real World and Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

Although Maurer did not return to Chicago until 2005, he did appear on two tracks on "Pleetch", most notedly "Lotion". With Maurer back in Chicago, the band began touring internationally while writing their third album "Polo Club". "Polo Club" was a double disc. Disc one contained 17 tracks which showcased the band's originality with tracks weaving through various genres, while disc two featured a live mix highlighting Curd's extraordinary DJ abilities.

The latest album "Live Like You Want To Live" goes back to the original cast of Greenskeepers but with a surprise addition. This album was written by Curd and Maurer, with Curd producing it from his Chicago studio. He focused on creating upbeat hooks using an array of vintage analog keyboards, fusing together guitars and Maurer's vocals. With the music laid down, Maurer and Curd began the song writing.

To give the album a twist, Tommie Sunshine was brought into the mix. Tommie took all the separate song parts and put them back together adding live drums, sharp cutting synths to add an overall edge to the album. The result is a new Greenskeepers sound that takes the listener on an audio journey to many different places. With catchy choruses, clever lyrics and non-stop energy, this album inspires you to encapsulate it's title to "Live Like You Want To Live".

Greenskeepers' "Live Like You Want To Live" is coming soon featuring Tommie Sunshine's finished productions as well as Curd's original studio versions!

Greenskeepers' founding members James Curd and Nick Maurer grew up skateboarding together in Chicago in the early nineties. In those years, Maurer performed singing and playing guitar in various punk bands and Curd spent his time DJ'ing, holding down residencies with Derrick Carter. In 1998, Curd and Maurer got together and wrote the whimsical song "Should I Sing Like This" as Greenskeepers, taking their name from their shared employment at the time, caddying. It was Maurer and Curd's initial vision to have a good time, record it, and see if people would dance to it. They did! The tune became a hit amongst DJ's throughout the city and Carter signed the group to his Classic Recordings imprint releasing the song on 12" later that year. Gaining press support from the likes of Rolling Stone to URB, the Greenskeepers new and fresh take of mixing classic 20's swing with house and spinning it all together into one big twirling whimsical whirlwind caught the ear of multi-instrumentalist and producer Mark Share. While Maurer spent time traveling in Germany looking for love in all the right places, Share sat in with Curd to help complete the Greenskeepers first full length album "The Ziggy Franklin Radio Show" in 2001. Complete with skits a plenty, and a few tunes thrown in for good measure, "Ziggy" as its aptly referred to, put the Greenskeepers officially on the musical map.

Many moons later, in 2004 to be exact, Share, Curd, and Maurer joined forces with the bass playing cowboy Coban Rudish who had performed with Share in a funk band in college, to work on the second Greenskeepers album "Pleetch," so named after an equipment malfunction coined the phrase. It was around this time that word of the Keepers Green crossed the ears of San Francisco indie Om Records, who ended up licensing the album from Classic for U.S. distribution. After licensing three of the tunes from the album to the hit show Grey's Anatomy, as well as locking down the Greenskeepers' remix of the Pixar/Disney classic "The Incredibles" theme song, Om decided to pursue signing the group for worldwide distribution of their third album "Polo Club." Recorded as a LIVE band from beginning to end, "Polo Club" stands as the first Greenskeepers release completed by all four members together in one place at one time. Already receiving praises for the songs "15 Minutes" and "Polo Club," this album sets the record straight and signals only the beginning for these four maniacal young men from Chicago.

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