What do legendary guitar wizard Jimi Hendrix, jazz oracle Miles Davis, singer/poet Leonard Cohen and UK punk provisioners Grade 2 have in common? That would be the Isle of Wight of course. Hendrix, Davis, Cohen and many more played to a crowd of approximately 650,000 there during the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, while Grade 2 will perform at the island’s String’s Bar and Venue along their latest tour route (capacity 300) in support of their latest album, Talk About It, out now via Hellcat Records.
Grade 2 calls Isle of Wight, which shelters somewhere around 140,000 residents, home.
Bassist/vocalist Sid Ryan offers, “It’s remote. You’re away from everything. There’s no major chain shops or anything. You’re living the small-town life just trying to get the people there to notice what you’re doing. To get people on the mainland of England to pay attention is the next big hurdle. Then there are the logistical challenges.” Guitarist/vocalist Jack Chatfield interjects, “It’s the island tax, isn’t it? Getting anywhere is expensive and takes a long time.” Ryan adds, “It’s second nature at this point with the ferries and everything. If we tell any other band what we have to do just to leave home, they’re like ‘WHAT?!’ When we go to Europe, it’s a ferry to maintain England, then we have to drive a couple of hours, then another ferry. Day one is a minimum 14-hour travel day.”
So, how exactly does a punk trio from a waterlocked island in the south of England connect with Rancid’s Tim Armstrong and his Hellcat Records label to further their career? “Well, we pissed Lars Frederiksen off one night.,” laughs Ryan. “That’s really how it began. He blackballed us. We were backstage at his gig and raided the fridge, stole all his beers.” Chatfield adds, “I don’t even think we left there thinking we were that much of a nightmare. We thought we’d just had a great day.” Sid concludes, “We’d been pricks, actually. We eventually found out that we’d pissed Lars off with our behavior.”
With some assistance from Sebi from German street punks Stomper 98, of which Lars was a member, the Grade 2 lads ultimately fell into the good graces of Mr. Frederiksen and met Armstrong. “Lars was originally on board to produce our first Hellcat album, but wound up having a conflict” tells Ryan. Chatfield continues, “But then he told us Tim would do it. Pretty great alternative. Tim’s influence was crazy when we first started working with him. He brings this energy to everything he produces. He basically taught me how to sing like a punk vocalist. I was only about 20, 21. Sid and I were both still discovering ourselves with our vocal ability, and Tim just told me just stop thinking about it and just fucking let it go. I think it was a Circle Jerks album he used as an example. I was trying to sing with loads of melody, and my voice sounded a bit soft. He just got this fucking fire out of me that I didn’t know existed. That’s his area. He really excels at getting the best out of people vocally. I believe what he said was, ‘I may not have gone to school, but I’ve got a degree in punk.’”
Fast forward to Grade 2’s fourth album, Talk About It. It’s rare to hear the term “maturity” when it comes to street punk, or whatever you want to call it, but Grade 2 has heightened by leaps and bounds with their latest long-player to concoct a very special collection of memorable, yet no less up in your grill tunes. Sid expounds, “I think we’ve been like that kid band that sings about getting drunk and whatever. We’ve had that image for a little while now. You can’t just keep recycling that same sort of mentality. If we weren’t maturing and doing our own thing personally, then I think it would end up being boring.” He continues, “The new record covers a lot of different things. We’ve got our first proper love song, and when we were tapping into that territory, it was kind of like, ‘Ooh, is this a bit on the nose? Are people going to be like, what’s going on here?’” Jack contributes, “But then we get into different territories like talking about the music industry with songs like ‘Cut Throat.’ When you feel like you’re taking a couple of steps forward, you’re swiftly reminded to take 10 steps back. Talk About It is basically a summary of everything that we’ve been going through in the last couple of years.”
Talk About It is out now and you can order it from Hellcat Records. Follow Grade 2 on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for future updates.
Photo Credit: Christopher Bethell
