The Mob 47 gigs in February are shaping up nicely not only to be a celebration of legendary hardcore but an opportunity for DIEHARD fans to check out some of the raw talent that is cutting a path for itself through the patch covered, pyramid studded woodwork of the hardcore underground. Over the coming months I'll be taking the time to catch up with some of these groups and hopefully give you all a flavour of whats in store during the Northern Noise Mangel 2018 tour. First up we have a new group who's members hail from many corners of our fair country, Grieve. An impressive demo from earlier this year meant that when the band approached me about joining Mob 47 and The Wankys for their Scottish dates the decision was a no-brainier. Anyway, as Mr Dibergi himself would say 'enough of my yakin' - I'll let vocalist/guitarist David fill you in on the rest - enjoy!
Can you give us a brief history of the band? What was the initial inspiration? Me and Stevie (Bass) had been talking about forming a d-beat band for about 2 years but could never find a drummer. I eventually got my act together and started coming up with some riffs. Then slowly but surely got round to recording the first demo, Atrocities. I played everything on the demo, just to save time and get it done as quick as possible. I actually recorded the drums while at a recording session with another band. Inspiration was the usual suspects; Discharge, Doom, Extinction Of Mankind...
You released a demo 'Atrocities' back in April with a sound very reminiscent of 90's groups such as State of Fear and Disfear - what sort of sound were you aiming for with the demo and how will you be developing on this with your next release? We were definitely aiming for a really noisy Disfear kind of sound without going to the extent of completely ripping them off. When it came time to lay the vocals down I had no plan, they just came out the way they are on the demo. Our next release is a 5 track EP and it will be more of the same but with the full band playing this time. At this point all the music is down, I'll be laying the vocals down before the end of the year and it SHOULD be out by the time February rolls around.
Grieve is now of course a fully formed group ready to rip it up with Mob 47 in February. How did the band come together, was it difficult to find members who shared your vision as I know this has been a problem for you in the past Vuil and the revolving door of drummers. The idea to get the demo recorded as quick as we did was so we could show the people we had in mind and see if they'd be into it. Luckily the 2 people I had in mind were. There was only one person that I wanted to play drums in Grieve, so if Sned didn't say yes we wouldn't be doing gigs and the 1st demo is all that would exist. Grieve is not going to be a crazy active band on the live circuit, we will maybe only see each other and play a couple times a year and maybe get together for the occasional recording session. I can't imagine there will ever be a Grieve tour, that's just the way it is.
How excited are you to be playing with Mob 47 then? Do you have any favourite songs or tales connected to the band you would like to share? We are all quite exited to be playing with Mob 47! It's good that a punk band of that caliber is playing 2 shows in Scotland, we can't wait. Obviously the 84’ EP is a classic in Swedish hardcore, It’s solid from start to finish. No tales as yet, wait until February!
Are there any other d-beat bands locally or nationally you'd like to give a shout out to at the moment? Which groups are currently crushing your eardrums? Mainly the return of G.A.T.E.S!!!! Nightwolf from Malaysia and International metal punk steel Indian Nightmare! Finally, whats next for Grieve and where can we check your stuff out? Who knows what will be next after the EP and the Mob 47 gigs? there's been talk of some split releases, maybe one of them will materialise but no future plans have been made as of yet. Check out the demo while it's still up on bandcamp, it will probably come down once the EP is ready. www.grievepunk.bandcamp.com
Mob 47 and The Wankys - Northern Noise Mangel February 2018
Friday 16th Feb - the Lughole - Sheffield
w/tbc
Saturday 17th Feb - Pop Records - Sunderland (12-2pm Matinee)
w/Prolefeed
Saturday 17th Feb - Nice N Sleazy - Glasgow
w/Grieve + Droves
Sunday 18th Feb - Bansee Labyrinth - Edinburgh
w/Grieve + Iron System
