Jack Chatfield, Jacob Hull and Sid Ryan have been flying the banner for Grade 2 for a decade now and since their inception that they played live right across Europe with performances in countries including Germany, Switzerland, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Greece, Italy, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Serbia, the UK, and the Isle of Man. In 2018 onwards the band have also toured in the US and Canada.
They formed in Ryde on the Isle of Wight and have dropped various releases ever since, with their latest being their 15 track self-titled long player which dropped back in February. You can check it out on their Bandcamp page HERE.
The Brighton & Hove News caught up with the lads at last year’s Rebellion punk festival in Blackpool when they played in the Pavilion on 6th August, we reported thus:
GRADE 2 – PAVILION (6:35pm – 7:15pm)
I move back indoors for the evening, forfeiting the chance to see Peter Hook And The Light. Some may say I’m crazy, but there was some not to be missed hardcore punk on tonight’s itinerary. The one and only time I saw Grade 2 previously was supporting Maid Of Ace at The Palace (now The Pig) in Hastings back in April 2018. Now it seems like a lifetime ago, but I was suitably impressed by their performance that night to take up the opportunity to see them play in the Pavilion. The word had obviously gotten out about these three lads from Ryde on the Isle of Wight as the venue was packed and I paid the price for arriving late and annoyingly missing close to half of their set. A mistake that I will not be making again in future. What I did see though was classic, fast paced, guitar punk with a hint of Oi!
The energy of Sid Ryan on bass and Jack Chatfield on guitar, both on vocal duties, bounding over the stage and regularly swapping microphones is very refreshing to see. Jacob Hull on drums looks remarkably cool considering the unrelenting pace of the music. From hearing ‘Dover Street’ and ‘The Only Ones I Trust’ it is plainly obvious to the Punk aficionado that they have some cracking live songs. They’ve certainly come a long way in nine years from when they started off by playing covers of songs by the likes of The Stranglers and The Jam This band gives full value for money, and I only wish I had caught the full set and been in the mosh pit.
Grade 2 have announced a dozen UK gigs for their November tour next month. The first of these will be here in Brighton at the popular Patterns venue. This will take place on Wednesday 1st November and tickets can be purchased HERE.
Support on the tour will come courtesy of Harry Jarvis and Macey Sherman who collectively become two piece trash punk outfit Slobheads. They hail from South-West London.
Find out more about the two bands by visiting grade2official.co.uk and linktr.ee/Slobheads.
