Mitch Grainger (born 12 February 1974), is an Australian blues and roots rock musician, record producer, educator and inventor who started performing professionally at the age of 13 in Sydney and has since worked with a long list of iconic Australian musicians, such as Harry Vanda of The Easybeats, Malcolm Young of AC/DC and John Brewster of The Angels, as well as Tommy Emmanuel, Alex Lloyd, Kara Grainger, Rick Price, and the Bondi Cigars.
Australian music career
The Beefs
Mitch Grainger grew up in Balmain, Sydney, in the 70's and 80's and by age 13 was playing the Harmonica and Guitar professionally in local venues, emulating American blues artists Little Walter and Muddy Waters in 'The Beefs', a band he formed with fellow high school students, singer-songwriter Alex Lloyd and Declan Kelly.
Despite all members of the band being under 18 years of age, The Beefs performed in pubs and clubs across Sydney's inner west 5 nights a week for a period of 4 years, before disbanding in 1990 when Alex Lloyd left to form a new group called 'Mother Hubbard'. During this period The Beefs met Malcolm Young of AC/DC who took Mitch Grainger and the band into Albert's studios to record.
The Bondi Cigars
In 1993 Mitch Grainger (now 19 years old) was hired by the Bondi Cigars to play guitar and harmonica across Australia as a part of their touring show. The Bondi Cigars were on the road for 3 weeks out of every 5 during this period of their career. Mitch Grainger stayed with the band for 2 years in which time he recorded on The Bondi Cigars album "After Closing Time".
Papa Lips (Grainger)
After leaving The Bondi Cigars Mitch Grainger formed Papa Lips (a six-piece Blues & Roots band) with his sister Kara Grainger, Declan Kelly, Rowan Lane, Danny Guerrero and Clayton Doley. Through Mitch Grainger's connections with Malcolm Young and Albert Productions, the band was introduced to John Brewster of The Angels who managed the band.
Papa Lips recorded and released one EP (Harmony – 1996) and one album (High Time Now – 1998) distributed by Festival Records. They toured extensively on Australia's east coast, and played major Australian music festivals such as the Byron Bay Bluesfest and Woodford. In 1998 Papa Lips were awarded, "Best New Band" at the Australian Blues Music Awards.
In 1998 the band was introduced to producer Harry Vanda of The Easybeats and AC/DC fame and signed by Albert Productions. The band changed their name to "Grainger" and were in the studio for a period of two years recording an unreleased album, and an EP, Sky Is Falling. In September 2001 Mitch Grainger traveled along with his sister Kara Grainger to New York to meet with American record labels, Atlantic Records, Sony BMG, Virgin Records and Elektra Records. The pair arrived in Manhattan on 9 September and were witness to 11 September attacks.
Love & Demons
In 2004 Mitch Grainger was signed by Harry Vanda's new production company Flashpoint Music and Mitch began work during studio down time on his debut solo album, entitled "Love & Demons". In 2006 the first single "Insane" was released to Australian radio with the full-length album released in Australia the same year. The album was not a commercial success, however Harry Vanda was impressed with Mitch Grainger's production skills and Mitch started working as a recording engineer at Harry Vanda's Flashpoint studios. During this period Mitch Grainger worked as a recording engineer with established Australian acts such as The Wrights, Harry Vanda and John Paul Young.
2UP with Rick Price
Also during this period Mitch Grainger was introduced to Australian pop star Rick Price and the two quickly formed a strong working relationship that saw Mitch Grainger perform "Nobody Knows my Name" for the soundtrack of the feature film December Boys, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Jack Thompson. In 2007 Rick Price and Mitch Grainger recorded and album of acoustic duets named 2UP, borrowing from the Australian gambling game Two-up of the same name.
US music career
The Lovers
In 2011 Mitch Grainger relocated to Los Angeles and started collaborating with his sister Kara Grainger (who had relocated there a few years earlier), and a group of artists and musicians known as The Beachwood Rockers. This group of actors and musicians, all living around the Beachwood Canyon area of Hollywood consisted of people like James Michael Tyler of Friends, musician Lissie, John Hawkes and Rosa Pullman of The Lovers.