EP REVIEW: Grade 2 – Graveyard Island: Acoustic Sessions (Pirates Press Records)
Grade 2, the rising streetpunk trio from the Isle of Wight, have revisited some choice cuts from their last album – and they sound like we’ve never heard them before.
The band released third album Graveyard Island (reviewed here) on Epitaph/Hellcat Records in 2019, and it was one of our top 20 releases of the year (full list here).
The pandemic meant they had to slam the brakes on promoting the record, and they’ve only just starting touring again, though whether they’ll get to fulfil the early 2022 dates is anyone’s guess.
In the meantime, Sid, Jack and Jacob have revisited the record, playing some of its songs acoustically, and the six-track EP still has plenty of the passion and grit we’ve come to expect from them.
It kicks off with Only Ones I Trust, a new song released in November 2020 as a standalone download, and it’s a perfect appetiser.
Co-written with Tim Timebomb (Tim Armstrong from Rancid) and Jesse Michaels, it’s one of the strongest songs in their excellent back catalogue. You can’t help joining in as they sing: “I don’t trust pigs/I don’t trust prigs/I don’t trust society’s cliques/The only ones I trust are the damned.”
Next up is Tired Of It, one of the highlights of Graveyard Island, and it loses none of its impact performed acoustically. Completing side one is the band’s own composition Don’t Look Back, reimagined as a country-tinged shuffle.
Side two begins with Bowling Green Lane, “a place you don’t wanna be alone” in Newport, IoW, and it’s followed by Murder Town, another of Graveyard Island’s standout tracks, with Sid and Jack trading call and response vocals.
Rounding off the set is the Tim Timebomb co-write Look Up, which ends things on an upbeat, positive note, and leaves you wanting more from this most special of bands. 8/10.
