Rising Isle of Wight oi! band Grade 2 have today released a new single and details of a short UK tour.
Doing Time is a short but sharp thrasher about the mundanity of being stuck in a corporate 9 to 5 office job.
With lyrics like “I’m just a number in the system with a lifetime parole…” it compares the experience to spending a life behind bars.
It’s the band’s first new song since they released the excellent standalone track Only Ones I Trust in November 2020.
Grade 2 are childhood friends Sid Ryan (vocals, bass), Jacob Hull (drums) and Jack Chatfield (guitar, vocals) who formed the band at 14, united by a love of old-school punk, ska and oi.
They honed their craft playing Clash and Jam covers before refining their own sound and songs.
A European tour supporting Stomper 98 brought admiration and friendship from Rancid’s Lars Frederiksen, leading to introductions and the eventual signing to his bandmate Tim Armstrong’s legendary Hellcat Records in 2018.
Melding the musical heritage of their native Isle of Wight with the humdrum reality of growing up in a tired seaside town, Grade 2 spit out blistering punk music laced with passion, angst, humour and despair.
Wanting to be heard, yet constrained by an ethos unsuited to daytime radio, Grade 2 have toured with the likes of Dropkick Murphys, The Interrupters and Social Distortion, winning new fans wherever they go.
Their authenticity, thunderous live performances and exceptional musicianship have garnered praise from across the notoriously difficult-to-please punk scene.
They have three studio albums to their name, and get better with each one. Their most recent was 2019’s Graveyard Island (reviewed here), which was reimagined last year as the EP Graveyard Island: Acoustic Sessions (reviewed here).
Grade 2 will be playing a handful of UK shows in March 2023:
March 7 – The Lexington, London
March 10 – Louisiana, Bristol
March 18 – Classic Grand, Glasgow
March 19 – Star & Garter, Manchester
Tickets are available on band’s website HERE.
