| With
a name borrowed from John Lennon’s character in How I Won The War
and a sound that has its fair share of Brit influences, it may come
as surprise to discover The Grip Weeds hail from New Jersey in the
grand ol’ US of A. .
Yep, no Springsteen for this Jersey four-piece:
it’s more The Byrds meets The Who with dashes of the Smithereens
and Matthew Sweet and slices of power pop and modern rock keeping
them present.
Revolving around the songwriting team of brothers
Rick and Kurt Reil – together with Kurt’s guitarist wife Kristin
Pinell and bassist Mike Nattboy – there’s some pretty infectious
hooks to be had.
On this, their third album, the likes of ‘Love That
Never Ends’, ‘Save My Life’, ‘Don’t Look Over Your Shoulder’ and
‘She Surrounds Me’ demonstrate the Reil’s knack for penning a catchy
tune and it’s these hooks that save us from retro hell.
If you’ve got a hankerin’ for some classic pop with
a rockin’ sound, you could do a lot worse.
**** (Ged Langley)
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