Remembering Ryan Grahn

Fargo underground bids farewell to a prolific scenemaker

On Dec. 16, Ryan Nicholaus Grahn died in his Fargo home. A little piece of Fargo’s music history died as well. He was 41. Fargo’s underground music scene isn’t quite that old, but it’s getting there. When some guy passes on before his time, the question that inevitably crosses the mind is, “How did he die?” Can we talk about how he lived instead? Let’s suppress our morbidly curious lizard brains for a while and delve into why this guy was so important to our little music scene.

Grahn grew up in Karlstad, a small town in northwest Minnesota. There he started skateboarding, met some like-minded comrades and developed as a guitarist.

“It was all skating Hallock (Minnesota) and figuring out how to play Metallica, Slayer, DRI, Chili Peppers and Suicidal Tendencies songs in my dad’s locker plant,” said Anthony DeConcini, his longtime friend and occasional bandmate. “All the covers were not crowd-pleasing in the north… so we joined up with the best players in Hallock and created another band, Tree Flower. Then we played our songs and their songs and got paid, and got a following from the ladies.”

After high school, Grahn migrated to Fargo-Moorhead to attend Minnesota State University Moorhead. Here he got involved in the burgeoning punk rock scene of the early ‘90s. This was when godheadSilo and Hammerhead were first making waves, and Fargo, of all places, started to generate some serious momentum. The area gained a reputation as an energetic small-town scene. Zines were everywhere. Riot Grrrl was happening (Bikini Kill professed its love for North Dakota). Hundreds of kids were packing up all-ages venues and sneaking into the age-restricted ones. Venues were popping up (and disappearing just as fast). New record stores were popping up (and disappearing just as fast). It’s hard to describe the creative activity that sustained the town’s music scene at this time unless you were there. Grahn’s first well-known local band, Submarine, was in the thick of it.

“I think Submarine was that first band for us all that had this ... excitement to it,” said guitarist Jarod Swant. Submarine loomed large over the scene with its savage, intense noise, complex riffs and hundreds of navy blue t-shirts sold to kids all over the place. “We were all so crazy about that freakin' band. We all tuned our guitars low ... Ryan and I on guitar and Jason Christiansen on the bass. Ryan was organized, precise, tight in his playing. I remember being surprised at the guitar parts he would write. It was just this magical time.”

Ryan increased his involvement in bands, branching out and doing time with numerous other friends. Slouch played in the first half of the ‘90s. Grahn and Anthony Deconcini teamed up with John Peterson (also of Orange Seventeen) on drums.

“Ryan Grahn and JP were always always a solid base,” said DeConcini. “We all loved the Jesus Lizard, Melvins and Nation of Ulysses. We were shooting for that sound, methinks.” 

Ryan also played bass a band that cycled through three names: The Hateyous, Railed and ¡Against! The exclamation points in ¡Against! were his idea, “so people would know we were REALLY against stuff,” said vocalist Scott Garman, who later played with Grahn in the Mag 4.

“His rig was fuckin’ loud, I remember that,” recalled ¡Against! guitarist Jon Halverson. “My 50W Bassman couldn’t hardly keep up. I remember borrowing a super twin from the band we played with in Minot and turned the Bassman sideways as a drum monitor ... it was powerful.”

In the mid-90s, Grahn started a partnership with guitarist Troy Harris that spanned two different bands, John Smith (with Brooks Nagel on drums) and CTRL-D (with Jarod Swant on drums for much of its run). John Smith was noteworthy for releasing a couple of singles on one of the more prolific record labels in Fargo at the time, Meat Records. Meat started, according to one of its founders, Aaron Nygaard, in order to expose the world to John Smith. John Smith allegedly attracted some interest from Amphetamine Reptile records, though nothing happened. CTRL-D released a monster of a debut CD on another local label called Super Asbestos.

“I remember Ryan using unconventional ideas, like the wah-wah pedal on a John Smith song,” Swant recalled. “Who uses a wah on bass? It was great.”

“I remember Ryan coming up with all kinds of heavy bass lines in all kinds of time signatures,” noted Patrick Crary, who played drums for a time in CTRL-D. “He was definitely a blast to play along with. In practices we would just make stuff up all over.”

After CTRL-D, Ryan closed out the final years of the Ralph’s Corner years by playing in The Mag 4, which started out as yet another project with Scott Garman. Scott Reierson and Chuck Kesler rounded out the lineup on bass and drums, respectively. The Mag 4 allowed Grahn to switch from the dense, bludgeoning midwest dirges of John Smith and CTRL-D to a more classic-punk sound.“

Playing in the Mag 4 was like getting back to basics for Grahn,” Garman said. “We were playing the kind of music that he didn’t get a chance to play in these other bands. Grahn cast a very wide net when it came to music he liked to play, but at heart he was a punk and loved playing punk rock music.”

Soon after Mag 4 (and simultaneously for a while), Grahn tried his hand at doom metal, when he started Egypt. The band’s influence outlived its initial lifespan in the early-to-mid ‘00s.

“Ryan and Chad Heille (our drummer) started Egypt,” said Aaron Esterby, the bassist and vocalist of Egypt. “They both had been in contact with me to come jam with them. At first I wasn’t interested at all. After some coaxing from both of them I decided to go check out what they were doing. They were jamming in a small (very small) concrete shack. No bathroom and I’m pretty sure no heat. No anything except for loud. I asked them to play something and Ryan started busting out the riff that would become ‘Dirty Witch.’ As soon as I heard it I knew I was going to join the band.”

Egypt was well liked at the time, purveying their lumbering, Sabbath-infused, mountain-crumbling riffs at Ralph’s gigs. When they recorded their excellent demo disc, the band became a bit of a legend in worldwide stoner-rock circles. Egypt’s mythology snowballed across the world as their demo circulated into the hands of passionate metal fans, gaining notoriety as a lost gem from an obscure never-known that packed it in too soon. The demo refused to die, eventually getting a CD release and two deluxe vinyl releases: one with a gatefold cover and another edition with multiple vinyl colors and an amazing die-cut cover. Egypt reunited in recent years and released its first LP, “Become The Sun,” without Grahn. He was too busy with life and family to make Egypt a major part of his life again.

“He was proud of the songs we wrote. He was excited for Egypt’s future and was stoked that we’re heading to Europe in 2015,” said Esterby. “Ryan was truly an amazing and talented person. I’m going to miss him more than words can say.”

Ryan was back at work with Mag 4 before he died last week. “Grahn was really into playing shows again and writing new music,” said Garman. Their next practice was scheduled for early January. Sadly, Mag 4 is sidelined once again. 

“I will never have the type of creative relationship that Ryan and I had,” said Garman. “I have decided to finally learn how to play the guitar for real, and I’m gonna learn all our songs so we can play a memorial show for Grahn, like a long way down the road. I guess even in death Grahn is keeping me honest and creative.”

Ryan Grahn is unique from most of the musicians who played in Fargo during the ‘90s and the ‘00s. While many people who played in bands during this time can boast a crappy demo tape, and maybe, if they’re lucky, a lone single or a compilation appearance, Ryan had a fair amount of his musical efforts properly released by independent record labels, on vinyl, cassette and/or CD. Most releases are out of print, though several releases are pretty easy to find. Thankfully, anyone can take a chance on a John Smith single at Orange Records, or dig up an Egypt EP online and get to know him a little bit. Even among the people who knew Ryan well, many knew him best through his music.

With Submarine
“Shallow,” included on the 2x7" vinyl compilation of Fargo bands “Top Sluggers” (Big Block Records)

With John Smith
An appearance on the cassette compilation “Bob” (Meat Records)
Self-Titled 7-inch (Meat Records)John Smith split with Bossk (Meat Records)An appearance on the CD compilation “Draggin' Tracks” (Meat Records)

With CTRL-D
Self-Titled full-length CD (Super Asbestos Records)

With Egypt
Self-Titled EP (CD released on Meteor City, separate vinyl releases on Lyderhorn & Doomentia labels)

Also of interest is a smattering of YouTube videos. Check out ¡Against! and John Smith live footage by looking up Andrew Charon's YouTube page (username kingvidor666777). Though if you’re at all interested in Fargo music history, you should start digging for a record or two, and soon. Not everyone bought a 7” from those smoky, sweaty stages in 1996, and Ryan had a lot of friends. Those people are probably looking for something, anything, they can hold onto.