Grimple “Remember…” CD

I mentioned this one was coming last week, and I really do often forget how great this band was, but every time I pull out this disc (the "Remember..." collection) I'm quickly reminded of their supreme awesomeness. So anyway, Grimple started up in New Mexico way back in 1990 and relocated to Oakland, CA within a year, where they fell in with the whole "East Bay" punk sound and whatnot. But somehow this band managed to perfectly balance being pissed yet fun while also fusing pop-punk styled melodies and energetic catchiness with aggressive speeds and a raw punch. The result? Everything they did was great, especially the LP, which totally rules.

This disc is basically a discography of the band's three proper releases (which don't even total an hour): The "Get Me Out of My Van, I Have No Key Phil" 7" (recorded shortly after the band moved to Oakland), 1992's "Up Your Ass" LP, and 1993's split with Logical Nonsense—the latter of which featured Grimple's take on "Dethroned Emperor" by Celtic Frost. That cover song, combined with a couple of crunchier metal-tinged riffs on the split material, was a sure sign of things to come, because I remember catching these guys live during their late-90's reunion (I can't remember who the hell they were touring with for some reason) and I was absolutely floored by how insanely brutal some of the material was. Seriously, having seen that show made it much less of a surprise when the band's former vocalist Pat Vigil, drummer Ira Harris, and guitarist Greg Valencia turned up in Watch Them Die a few years later. You won't really be hearing any of that wicked thrash in the tracks below, though they still kick ass...

Grimple "Grimple Up Your Ass"
Grimple "Walls of Shit"
Grimple "Please Come In"
Grimple "Crucified"

I've owned various forms of all of this stuff over the years, but despite its (somewhat significant) flaws this out of print collection on Liberation Records is the handiest edition of the bunch. Prank Records has reissued both the LP and the 7", and their much better looking CD version of "Up Your Ass" does have the four 7" songs on it, as well as three bonus tracks from the "Stoned" demo, but I think they should've made it a complete discography and tossed those split tracks into the mix. They'll finally be reissuing the Grimple/Logical Nonsense split in full this year, but still... This Liberation Records pressing only contains 23 Grimple tracks out of a 28-title tracklist, which is all fucked up. The last chunk of the tracklist has some songs out of order, and a bunch of the tunes don't even appear on the CD (despite having lyrics included), as it seems they included Logical Nonsense's tracks from the split as well!? Go figure.

Edit: I checked when I got home and figured out what they did. The original CD pressing of the split has an incorrect tracklist as well, with a couple of songs out of order and Grimple's tracks listed last when they're actually first. So apparently the geniuses at Liberation Records took the last nine tracks off the original disc and missed five Grimple tracks in the process. Ridiculous. Who the hell has that poor of an attention to detail to press up a disc without catching that shit!?

So, yeah, if you dig it, pick up the Prank version and look out for the split to be back in print soon.

Interpunk
RevHQ