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After conquering Wilmington, Grace Vonderkuhn headed to South By Southwest

Ryan Cormier
The News Journal
"Worry," the lead single from Grace Vonderkuhn's new album, "Reveries," has been aired on WXPN 88.5-FM.

When the owner of Virginia indie music label EggHunt Records first pressed play on Grace Vonderkuhn's debut album "Reveries," he was admittedly floored.

So much so that Adam Henceroth called Vonderkuhn the very next morning and within a week, the Newark native was headed to Richmond and a two-album deal was immediately inked.

Henceroth signed Vonderkuhn, a 26-year-old bartender who regularly performs in Wilmington, without ever seeing her perform live.

"I was blown away when I heard her and thought, 'I have to meet this girl,'" says Henceroth, whose label has found some success, especially with indie rock act Lucy Dacus, who has since been scooped by up the larger New York-based Matador Records. "It's not a matter of if she can be big. She can be big. It's just a matter of getting her in front of people because everyone who sees her likes her."

For several years, Vonderkuhn's melodic brand of '90s-influenced indie rock has dominated the upstate rock scene, already cementing her as Delaware indie music royalty. The bespectacled rocker is drawing bigger and bigger crowds now, especially since radio stations such as WXPN 88.5-FM have begun spinning the album's lead single, "Worry."

It's hard to find a concert booker, fellow musician or Vonderkuhn fan in Delaware who didn't see this moment coming, knowing the power of her addictive songs and explosive concerts.

With her angst-filled album set for release Friday, the second stop on her 17-date tour will be a hometown celebration Friday night at Wilmington's 1984 rock club (2511 W. Fourth St.) An all-female-fronted lineup includes Eyebawl, Vonderkuhn's sister Sarah Koon and Hoochi Coochi. There will be a $5 cover at the door with Vonderkuhn selling her new album on vinyl and cassette.

After that, the tour continues south toward Austin, Texas, where Vonderkuhn is one of an estimated 2,000 official acts performing at the 32nd annual South By Southwest. She's believed to be the only Delaware-based act, joined by the rest of her lean, mean trio including Newark-based bassist Brian Bartling and Wilmington drummer Dave Mcgrory.

With a label and marketing team suddenly behind the DIY rocker who used to hand-make her own album covers, Vonderkuhn's big break could be just around the corner.

"Of all the bands in the state right now, Grace has the best chance of breaking out," says Rob Matera, a concert organizer at Arden's Gild Hall, who has booked Vonderkuhn multiple times over the years. "She certainly has the talent and drive to do it."

Delaware rocker Grace Vonderkuhn, photographed earlier this week at Grain Craft Kitchen + Bar in Newark, will debut her new album at Wilmington's 1984 Friday night.

While Vonderkuhn's howls about worry, anger and pain pull in plenty of fans her age, especially female rock fans who find an intensely relatable ally in her and her music, you'll also see fans in their 40s and 50s who grew up listening to bands such as The Pixies and The Breeders.

There's usually no trace of nerves on stage with Vonderkuhn, but there may have been a few butterflies when she performed her song "Nowhere to Go" in front of her religious, church-going parents for the first time. An f-bomb is the song's second word and it's repeated throughout.

Not exactly what you'd expect from your home-schooled child reared with a Christ-centered education. 

"They are definitely not down with cursing," Vonderkuhn says with a smile over a drink at Newark's Grain Craft Bar + Kitchen earlier this week, adding that her parents have been supportive. "They probably didn't even hear it, but still..."

When she first started performing at rock clubs as a teen with her band A New Dakota around 2010, she used her older sister's identification to perform on 21-and-older stages in Newark, Philadelphia and elsewhere.

Grace Vonderkuhn (center) with her band, which features bassist Brian Bartling (left) and drummer Dave Mcgrory.

After that band died, she immediately formed garage rock four-piece Kind of Creatures, which inched closer to her current sound. They played larger events, such as the Dewey Beach Music Festival and the New Castle County Ice Cream Festival at Rockwood Park.

If you had already seen Vonderkuhn by then, it was fun to watch a crowd react to her songs and performances for the first time.

At first, they would see a small, seemingly soft-spoken woman fresh out of her teens take her position center stage with her pink guitar and matching pink "Hello Kitty" guitar strap.

But then the same person who may have awkwardly avoided eye contact with them during a chat only a few moments earlier was unleashing a non-stop wave of catchy, pop- and punk-inspired rock with plenty of heavy riffs. Vonderkuhn is on lead guitar, just shredding. And by the end, it feels like a musical bomb just went off, leaving a dazed, but grateful, audience in the band's wake.

"She has such a cool, calm confidence. She picks up her guitar, kind of slouches her hips a little bit and gets into it," Henceroth says. "Just being herself is kind of iconic in a way. She really stands out, which is so hard to do." 

Grace Vonderkuhn performs with her former band -- Wilmington garage rockers Kind of Creatures near New Castle in 2013.

While she doesn't give her stage show too much thought, she's learned that songwriting is her outlet.

"It's kind of like therapy for me and I don't even know what all of this stuff is about some of the time. But it's reaching a place in me that needs to be expressed," says the self-taught guitarist.

After Kind of Creatures disbanded, Vonderkuhn struck out on her own with the help of her boyfriend and musical collaborator Matt Morrissette, who also co-owns 1984.

Together, they co-produced her 2015 self-tilted EP before recording "Reveries" over 1-1/2 years in the living room of their Landenberg, Pennsylvania, home. Morrissette used a TASCAM multitrack cassette recorder to get its rough-around-the-edges sound.

"It was a very odd way to record a rock 'n' roll record these days," admits Morrissette, who has seen Vonderkuhn's following grow from his perch behind the bar at 1984 as fans sing along to "Worry." "But maybe at this point in time, that might not hurt. You listen to the radio today and it's hard to tell when one song ends and another starts. It can all sound the same." 

The result is an album that sounds like it was made in the heyday of '90s indie rock -- a perfectly homemade, gritty recording that EggHunt Records will release as is.

Grace Vonderkuhn opens for Pennsylvania rock act The Districts at The Queen in Wilmington last month.

In fact, it was Morrissette's Virginia connections that led to the EggHunt deal. Having grown up in the area, he knew Henceroth from his high school days and messaged him on Facebook after hearing he owned a label.

After a few messages came and went, Henceroth finally opened one and pressed play.

"Start to finish, every song was a banger -- really catchy and energized," says Henceroth, whose label is home to about a dozen acts. "Literally, I hadn't been that blown away in a long time. We put out a lot of albums and I love each release, but this one especially got me fired up."

While everything about Vonderkuhn's aesthetic is honest and untouched, you can't say that about her last name.

Born Grace Koon, she adopted the whimsical Vonderkuhn moniker about five years ago. She says Vonderkuhn represents the performer side of her personality, a move that could be seen as a nod to one of her favorites, David Bowie, who had his own alter ego in Ziggy Stardust.

In fact, the ploy may have already paid off for Vonderkuhn.

Influential National Public Radio broadcaster Bob Boilen -- creator of "All Songs Considered" and the "Tiny Desk Concert" series -- went to Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club earlier this month to check out a set by a performer who he thought was going to be Vonderkuhn.

In fact, he screwed up in the funniest of ways.

Grace Vonderkuhn's rock trio includes Brian Bartling on bass and drummer Dave Mcgrory.

"OMG. ‪The funniest thing is happening. I thought I was going to see Grace Vonderkuhn, but it’s Grace VanderWaal from 'America’s Got Talent' competition," he wrote on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to his 200,000-plus followers.

Whether it's due to her well-planned publicity attack or a humorous mistake, music fans outside of Delaware are starting to learn about our little rock 'n' roll secret.

The real question is this: How long will she remain a secret?

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).

IF YOU GO

What: Grace Vonderkuhn, Eyebawl, Sarah Koon, Hoochi Coochi and DJ Chris Haug

When: Friday, 8 p.m.

Where: 1984, 2511 W. Fourth St., Wilmington

Cost: $5

Information: facebook.com/1984Wilmington