Grimple Up Your Ass LP reissue
A well-deserved and long overdue reissue for an essential piece of early 1990s East Bay (by way of New Mexico) punk. You hear the term “melodic hardcore” refer to drivel that is neither, but GRIMPLE is undoubtedly both. The riffs are hopelessly addictive, but they are delivered with relentless ferocity while you find yourself singing along with vocals that sound like they are coughing up razor blades. The lyrics are honest and often dark, but the whole record is bursting with hope, determination and youthful possibility—“Behind a locked door I’m not trapped, I don’t want out / To put things in their places, I put myself here,” followed immediately by “I don’t see it so it isn’t there, the real truth is that I don’t fucking care / I close my eyes it’s an easy choice, fuk that bullshit, I want a voice!” Songs like “Violent Fuk” and “Problem” are uncompromising and full of fire, while “Think” throws dark chords under the rest of the mix and makes you feel queasy (when you listen at the appropriate volume). “But If You Weren’t Here” is an anthem for literally any punk who grew up (mostly) alone and exemplifies how tight GRIMPLE was as a band and a unit. Drop the needle on Up Your Ass and you can just feel that it was them against the fucking world…my only complaint is that it’s weird to hear these songs with out the pops and scuffs and crackles I’ve been adding to my copy for the last 30 years. I can fix that, though.