The Griswolds are an Australian two-piece

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band from

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia. The band have cited influences such as

Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chris Tomson, ...

MGMT MGMT () is an American indie rock band formed in 2002 in Middletown, Connecticut. It was founded by multi-instrumentalists Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser. Alongside VanWyngarden and Goldwasser, MGMT's live lineup currently consists of ...

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

, Devendra Banhart, Of Montreal, and

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

. The Griswolds signed with

Wind-up Records Wind-up Entertainment was an American independent record label founded by Alan and Diana Meltzer in 1997. It was based in New York City and was distributed by BMG Distribution. Wind-up's best-selling artists worldwide were Creed and Evanescence ...

in May 2013 and began recording their debut album shortly after with producer

Tony Hoffer Tony Hoffer is an American record producer, songwriter, and music mixer. Career Hoffer is credited for his work on multiple platinum-selling albums including The Kooks, The Thrills, Beck, Supergrass, Turin Brakes and Air. His records have been ...

. They are named after the fictional family from the ''Vacation'' film series. On 16 March 2017, Tim John, their bass player, left the band. Lead singer Chris Whitehall was accused of sexual misconduct by several fans in September 2020.

Background

The Griswolds formed in February 2012. The band's single "Heart of a Lion", reached #12 on the We Are Hunted emerging artists list. The Griswolds became a

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

Unearthed feature artist after winning a slot on the 2012 Parklife Festival line-up alongside Passion Pit and

The Presets The Presets are an Australian electronic music duo of Julian Hamilton (vocals, keyboards) and Kim Moyes (drums, keyboards). Formed in 2003 and signed to Modular Recordings, Modular Records, The Presets released two EPs (''Blow Up (EP), Blow Up ...

. Their ''Heart of a Lion'' EP, released in 2012, received positive reviews, and helped start their touring career. After success touring in their native Australia, the band made their first live appearance in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on 11 May 2013 at the Brooklyn Bowl. The band began recording their debut album with producer

in January 2014. The official music video for "Red Tuxedo" premiered on the VICE Noisey website on Valentine's Day (14 February), 2014. The band's song "Beware the Dog" is the first song vocalist Chris Whitehall and lead guitarist Daniel Duque-Perez wrote together. Whitehall described it as being "about losing someone we were really close with to heavy drug use. .. It'sabout that journey – the good and the bad times." In March 2015, the band confirmed that once they return to Australia, following their tour alongside Passion Pit, they were going to commence work on their second album. The first single off their second album, ''Out of My Head'', was released on 12 August 2016. ''High Times for Low Lives'', was released on 11 November 2016. In September 2016, the band was picked as

Elvis Duran Elvis Duran (born Barry Brian Cope; August 5, 1964) is an American radio personality. He is the host of the daily morning radio program ''Elvis Duran and the Morning Show'' in New York on Z100 and in syndication on Premiere Networks. Before h ...

's Artist of the Month in the United States and was featured on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

's ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

'' show hosted by

Kathie Lee Gifford Kathryn Lee Gifford (née Epstein; born August 16, 1953) is an American television presenter, singer, songwriter, actress and author. From 1985 to 2000, she and Regis Philbin hosted the talk show ''Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee''. Gifford is a ...

and

Hoda Kotb Hoda Kotb ( ; arz, هدى قطب, ''Hudā Quṭb''; ; born August 9, 1964) is an American broadcast journalist, television personality, and author. She is a main co-anchor of the NBC News morning show ''Today'' and co-host of its entertainment ...

and broadcast nationally where they performed live the single "Out of My Head". On 30 August 2019, the band released ''Nice To Meet Ya!'', the lead single off of their second EP and first release since 2016. In September 2020, lead singer Chris Whitehall was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple underage fans. Whitehall apologized and admitted to the allegations, saying "It is with a heavy heart that I am confirming that the statements I have read are true and I am here to take full responsibility and ownership of my actions."

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

*2014: ''Heart of a Lion'' *2020: ''All My Friends''

Singles

Awards and accolades

*"Beware the Dog" was voted #28 on the

Triple J Hottest 100, 2014 The 2014 Triple J Hottest 100 was announced on Australia Day, 26 January 2015. It was the 22nd countdown of the most popular songs of the year, as chosen by the listeners of Australian radio station Triple J. It was won by "Talk Is Cheap", one ...

*"Beware the Dog" was voted #4 on the Sirius XM Alt Nation Alt 36 annual countdown *"Beware the Dog" was nominated by Rolling Stone as Best Video Clip and Single of the year for 2014 *"Beware the Dog" Spent 4 weeks at #1 and a total of 16 weeks on the Sirius XM Alt Nation Alt 18 Countdown in 2014 *"Beware the Dog" Was chosen as the 4th best Alternative Rock Single of 2014 by Billboard *"If You Wanna Stay" Debuted at #18 on the Sirius XM Alt Nation Alt 18 countdown the day after the single was released on US radio climbing to #17 the following week *Debut album "Be Impressive" Charted at #5 on the USA iTunes Charts *"Heart of a Lion" was voted #141 on the

Triple J Hottest 100, 2012 The 2012 Triple J Hottest 100 was announced on Australia Day 26 January 2013. It was the 20th countdown of the most popular songs of the year, as chosen by the listeners of Australian radio station Triple J. Voting commenced on 19 December 2012 ...

*"Heart of a Lion" charted at #12 on the We Are Hunted Emerging Artists chart *"Mississippi" charted at #8 on US college radio's (

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

) indie chart *Featured on festival line-ups across the globe