20 years ago today (1/27/06), indie rock favorites Grandaddy announced they were calling it quits for the first time – yet the band would regroup again later in 2012. After a meeting the month prior, frontman Jason Lytle confirmed the split, noting that the band could no longer make a sustainable living.
Their fourth album, Just Like the Fambly Cat, arrived later that year as a de facto farewell, after which Lytle shifted his focus to a series of solo releases. The story didn’t quite end there, though: Grandaddy reunited for select shows in 2012 and, in 2017, returned with their fifth studio album, Last Place. Although bassist Kevin Garcia passed away in 2017, they would later play on and off again in the years to follow.
Watch Grandaddy perform “Laughing Stock” and “Now It’s On” at the Glastonbury Festival in 2003—a reminder of just how special they were at their peak.
