Grant Claytor

Grant Claytor (Newark, Delaware)

Grant Claytor is a singer/songwriter who got his start playing house shows in Newark, Delaware. He draws a lot of his inspiration from place, and spent last summer solo in Greenport, Long Island developing his latest record, Beautiful Little Fool!. Claytor is still playing basements shows on Delaware’s DIY music scene, and has a full length album in the works.

How do you stay inspired? What are some places, people, or experiences that have transferred into your music?

This last summer (2019) when I was recording my record Beautiful Little Fool, I was living by myself in Greenport, long island and was very inspired by the place and very productive there because it was beautiful and also because I was in solitude the entire time. A friend of mine recorded a short documentary of the last few days I spent there and it's on my youtube channel, the video is called Aid To Navigation (view below)! Also, when I refer to people in my music I generally do so vaguely because I don't want anyone to know when I write about them :)

Where are you from?

I’m from Morristown, NJ! But I go to the University of Delaware and that's where I was able to start sharing my music to people and start playing house shows and basement shows where I was able to get my name out a little more so Delaware is musically my home.

What was it that first got you into music?

I remember listening to my dad play guitar a lot as a teenager and then a black keys record came out when I was 16 and I decided I wanted to play guitar and began to teach myself. I saved up for an electric guitar after baling hay at a stable near my house and then bought my guitar which was one of two left handed guitars in the shop so I didn't have much of a choice. I still use it!

Where in the world has been inspiring for you?

Currently for the music i've been writing, the tropical japanese pop from the 80’s has been really inspiring so maybe some tropical japanese place that I am unaware of right now. Maybe I should do some research

How would you describe your sound/vibe?

A lot of elements of my sound come from “indie rock” and i get labeled as such normally but I have tried to synthesize that with surf lap steel guitars and 80’s FM synthesizers and acoustic elements in places they wouldn’t normally be.

Who are some of your biggest musical influences?

I love to say Phil Collins for this question as I really admire him as an artist and his music in the early 80’s but in truth my influences change very often. Lately I’ve been listening to Anri, an artist from Japan in the 80’s also (her album COOOL is incredible), an Australian band Babe Rainbow, Mac Demarco, The Police for their middle to last albums, Men I Trust, and Michael Nau.

Where do you want to go from here?

I would love to be booked on a tour of a bigger band I like and build my career as a musician from there after I graduate college. I also plan to expand the record label me and a friend started together called Breadhouse Records. Right now, I’m playing local basement shows and little gigs here and there with my band which is such a blast, I love them and I love the Delaware DIY music scene very much! I’m also in the middle of recording an album I plan to call “Caprice” which I believe i’ll finish writing and recording before the summer comes along!