Rock group Paloalto is led by singer/songwriter/guitarist James Grundler, a Los Angeles native who named the band not after the northern California city, but after his preschool. Grundler began writing songs as a grade school student, and by 1994, was coming up with compositions he felt good about. In the late '90s, he saw a band featuring lead guitarist Jason Johnson and recruited him for his group. The next to join was bassist Alex Parnell. With drummer Steve Clark, the newly formed band began playing at the Mint club in Los Angeles and cut a demo tape that they shopped to r...