The Grates - The Ouch.The Touch.

Thu 17th Feb, 2005 in Music Reviews

Dear The Grates,

I’ve got something to say to you. I didn’t want to say anything earlier because, well, our relationship’s only a few months old and I didn’t want to scare you off. But it seems that other people are after you. The radio’s flogging your songs, you’re in magazines and street press. So, I’ve got to say, The Grates..

I love you. Not in a schmaltzy “I want to walk on the beach” way. But when I first saw you supporting TISM in Melbourne late last year, I knew you were something special. I told all my friends about you and they wanted to see you. And then I saw you support Regurgitator a few weeks later and you were fantastic. Up until now, the only recorded Grates output I’ve had has been some demos in mp3 form, so as soon as your debut EP The Ouch. The Touch. was released, I went out and got it.

It’s only 4 tracks long, but it’s a perfect taster for your debut album, whenever that may be. It opens with Message – a current Triple J favourite, I believe – 1 minute 57 of pure perfect spiky pop, all “ba-ba-ba”s from guitarist John and powerhouse drumming from Alana. It sounds kind of like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, only more energetic. If that’s possible. And then there’s Sukkafish, a live favourite. It’s slower than a lot of your other songs, and as a recording it sounds great (mind the pun). The pace picks up again with Wash Me. It’s a home recording, but it fits in with the band’s DIY ethos perfectly, and Patience’s vocals sound like they were recorded in a tin shed, but it works. Finally, there’s another home recording, of Trampoline, familiar to many after appearing on a jeans commercial last year. There’s no real way to explain how the line “use your bed like a trampoline.. I said higher! Higher! should stay planted in your head for days, but it does.

And then that’s it. As a first EP, an introduction to The Grates, you couldn’t ask for a stronger selection of tracks. It gives an indication of how good you’d be live, and it leaves me hanging out for an album.

I think 2005 is going to be a big year for you, The Grates.