Music This Week 007: All About Grade

It's funny how some bands just could not exist without others, yet those other bands popularity never seems to be what it should compared to bands that use them as a direct influence. Think of The Velvet Underground for example. The Velvets continue to be cited by many bands of the last 20 years in alternative rock (even in mainstream rock) as a very influential group by many, like the Killers for example. Take the Velvets popularity into account though, and what you're left with is a handful of hipsters, appreciators and musicians alike (I disclude myself from this category, not because I don't recognize their valuable contribution to art and music in the post modern age, but because I don't really like their music all that much - keep in mind it's just a personal preference, I totally thank them for what they've done for so many artists and musicians in general).

Grade is one such band. To know that Grade started in 1993 is one of those things that when you find out, it's like finding out there is an entire album from Slayer of early 80's punk covers. It really brings you back to the roots of it all.

Grade hails from Burlington, ON, like such other bands as Jersey (now defunct) and Silverstein - who copied their sound so precisely in their debut How Broken Is Easily Fixed (2001) that Kyle Bishop himself, one of the founders and lead vocalist of Grade actually guested on the album. But there could be no Silverstein, or perhaps Jersey without Grade. I would also argue that there could be no bands from nearby New Brunswick, New Jersey like Thursday without Grade (Thursday's debut came out in 2000), or even most of the stuff Thrice got away with wouldn't have been possible without them.

The first recordings came in a split with band Believe in 1994, with the landmark And Such Is Progress coming in 1997. A lot of the early stuff is simply 'hardcore' and couldn't be classified as much else. Most of this styling can be heard on The Embarrasing Beginning (2000) which Grade has publicly said on many occaisons was a mistake to release in the first place. Atypical Grade would be probably classified as the majority of stuff from Under The Radar in 2000 from Victory Records. It's around this time that things started to change. What I felt was the golden child on Victory's roster; I was wrong about. Thursday got the big winnings going off to Island (where later they were released from, and went back to Victory before getting signed with Epitaph) and bands like Taking Back Sunday struck gold with Tell All Your Friends - which has now been rereleased 3 times (ridiculous). The Screamo moniker came out of this music...the problem was that Grade was maybe a little too hardcore. The emo part of screamo wasn't there. It was just a lot of Kyle Bishop screaming, and I guess what's considered punk rock (of course there are so many facets, for example, I keep getting confused as to why I'm finding It Dies Today in that section).

Grade was plagued by a problem that surrounds a lot of Canadian touring bands. Long tours, far between stops and day jobs and being on an indie label meant they never found more than home market success, and certainly not on the radio (being a screaming band and all). This meant that most of the guys were in more than one project. After Headfirst Straight To Hell (2001) was released, what I believe is their crowning achievement and probably one of the best albums of the decade, Greg Taylor, the original guitarist, left to play in Jersey full time (he was playing in both projects). Charles Moniz replaced their original bass player Chris Danner right after the release as well. Moniz was so new, in fact, that I remember seeing Grade for the first time live in '01, and Kyle saying that they couldn't do any more encore because Charlie was new, and he didn't know any more songs. The Casarin brothers from Somehow Hollow joined Grade for their final tours and the band brokeup thereafter. If you watch the video for Termites Hollow you can see the Casarin's in the background wearing S-H shirts to promote their own band. It was pretty terrible. Then they broke up.

Somehow Hollow was a terrible disappointment. It was no follow up, and the songs were just too poppy and without substance for Grade loyals. Jersey eventually broke up. Kyle Bishop was playing guitar on a horrible punk outfit called the Black Maria. It had all gone to shit.

Then there was a light. Greg Taylor had formed a new band called Saint Alvia Cartel. A cool, and distinctly Canadian sort of reggae-greaser punk rock band had a few incarnations of what sounded like Grade tracks on it. All in all, the self titled release from Stomp in 2007 was at least a worthy replacement to maybe fill 25% of that hole. They were touted as a 'Canadian Punk-Indie supergroup) with members of Bane, Jersey and Grade, and even got radioplay. The singles Don't Wanna Wait Forever, and Time To Go actually got radio play. Then their follow up hit, and it sucked so bad...I don't even want to go there. It was just really bad.

Then something even more miraculous. On July 1st, 2009, the original members stated on their Myspace site that they were actually playing together again. By fall of that year, two tracks were finished, and in winter of 2010, two split EP 7" pressings were released by At Both Ends magazine for their final issue. Now rumors surrounding a new Grade album, considering how well they got together and the hype around the release of just two songs continue to float around.

Those songs can be heard here:

http://www.myspace.com/gradeundertheradar

There was also a reunion show in 2008 at the Opera House in Toronto. I never heard about it, because unlike Americans, I don't follow Myspace. It was just never friendly to Canadians I guess. I would have easily dropped the money to fly down there and see them live. I'm guessing it was fairly impromptu.

Anyway, I wanted to give you a little sampling of Grade music for this week's playlist. This sort of goes through a little bit of the other groups I mentioned as well.

Optical Portions - Grade - At Both Ends Split - 2010
Dirty Dent - Saint Alvia Cartel - Self Titled - 2007
Somehow Hollow - The Witch Of Glen Cedar Gate - Self Titled - 2003
Little Satisfactions - Grade - Headfirst Straight To Hell 2001
Seamless - Grade - Under The Radar - 2000

And there's a little Grade-ology for you. I had them on while I was cleaning the house today. Hardcore really gets your house spotless. Until next time, keep listening to music.