I'm pretty sure the first time I saw THE GRUMPIES was in 1996 when we dropped a drive shaft on tour and got towed to a house show in Columbus, Mississippi (possibly on Christmas eve?) and the show was wasted and absolutely wild. I think we played with them in New Orleans on the same tour (because there are pictures). I definitely saw them in St. Louis in 1998 when they rolled up to a SUBHUMANS show unannounced and I schemed them on the bill. I must have seen them in San Francisco at some point and they must have been touring in a car, because I remember helping them struggle force their roof rack up the stairs of our place on 24th Street. But no matter how many times I did or didn't see them play..I loved THE GRUMPIES...and I still do. Their brand of amped up high speed four track pop punk is truly and completely their own - sometimes they play so fast that it seems like they are racing (each other) and the dual vocals (one high pitched, the other higher pitched) absolutely should not work (they definitely do). The way Jayson's guitars are layered defies all recording logic, and he forces the songs forward with constant leads. Amy's vocals on "Punk Rock Boy" and "No One Knows Why" (the two awkward ballads) are so sweet and damaged, and it's all just so fast. You can't call THE GRUMPIES pop punk because there's no pop punk that sounds like this, which is unfortunate because this is what pop punk should feel like. Earnest, pissed, messy, catchy, simple....real. I fucking loved this band.
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