Ok, so I may have a bit of a thing for Australian bands, what can I say, I am a fully converted Pom, and here comes another one for you!
I heard The Grates for the first time when driving back from work, “Turn Me On” was part of a bunch of new tracks I was listening to at the time, most of which were pretty standard, but then this little diamond in the rough came on. My ears pricked up like a freshly startled Gazelle on the Serengeti, and I had to risk a crash to find out who it was.
The best word to describe “Turn Me On” is “Thumping”, the track has so much energy, it could stur even the most heavily hungover partygoer. It does have a bit of a “Girl Band With Guitars” sound about it though, but is that really a bad thing? 100% no, perhaps some of my best guilty pleasure tracks are girl band related (I know, my credability has just dropped to 0). The Grates do have a bit of a manufactured sound, but they write some supremely catchy tunes, and this one is made for driving, you may as well have Doc Brown riding shot gun, just make sure you leave your diginity at the door with this one.
The Grates are definately not a new band, but like Delta Spirit I am glad they have filled another little peice of my musical puzzle, and here I am hoping they have a few more peices to add. The Grates have been jamming since 2002, and now 10 years on they are still making great tunes, look em up if you can, Bonza!
This post is written by Joel Fabian. Joel hails from Lymington on the South coast and has an ear for all things eclectic. Notoriously quirky, Joel often can be found drinking red wine whilst reading the latest edition of The Guardian - he's that kind of guy.
