Two
musical definitions come to mind listening to The Grates, "pop"
and "punk", but you can't hang them together the way you would for
Green Day and their contemporaries. The Grates are a two-girls (vocals
and drums) and boy (guitar) trio from Brisbane. Driving from out
from is singer Patience Hodgson, with a playful urgency, clever
with words, giving depth, fun and intelligence to something that
sounds on the surface raw and simple. Punk. These songs were invented
in a "garage" and sound like it. But guitarist John Patterson's
folks must have been either shocked or forgiving about the music
bursting from their shed. Not just the volume. The words, as Patience
pleads to go "higher" in 'Trampoline' in a way that tells you she's
not talking about just jumping up and down. She's got all the vocal
charisma that attracted us to Killing Heidi's Ella. Patience takes
every lyric by the throat, begging for attention or going for a
joyride with the melody. Musically The Grates keep things uncluttered
and direct, even though ultimately there's a lot of variety and
imagination at play. On the whole it's music to jump up and down
and wave hands to on stage and out in the audience. Fun. Serious
fun.
Two
musical definitions come to mind listening to The Grates, "pop"
and "punk", but you can't hang them together the way you would for
Green Day and their contemporaries. The Grates are a two-girls (vocals
and drums) and boy (guitar) trio from Brisbane. Driving from out
from is singer Patience Hodgson, with a playful urgency, clever
with words, giving depth, fun and intelligence to something that
sounds on the surface raw and simple. Punk. These songs were invented
in a "garage" and sound like it. But guitarist John Patterson's
folks must have been either shocked or forgiving about the music
bursting from their shed. Not just the volume. The words, as Patience
pleads to go "higher" in 'Trampoline' in a way that tells you she's
not talking about just jumping up and down. She's got all the vocal
charisma that attracted us to Killing Heidi's Ella. Patience takes
every lyric by the throat, begging for attention or going for a
joyride with the melody. Musically The Grates keep things uncluttered
and direct, even though ultimately there's a lot of variety and
imagination at play. On the whole it's music to jump up and down
and wave hands to on stage and out in the audience. Fun. Serious
fun.