The Grip Weeds - Strange Change Machine (2010)

When I first heard The Grip Weeds they instantly reminded me of another New Jersey band, The Smithereens. Then, while doing research for this article, I found out that The Weeds' lead singer/drummer, Kurt Reil, has a history of working with the late Pat DiNinzio, so the similarities are probably not a coincidence.

The band's name is a cool bit of trivia. They're named after Private Gripweed, the character John Lennon portrayed in How I Won The War, the 1967 movie he made after The Beatles quit touring and before they became heavily involved with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Kurt is joined by his brother, Rick, on rhythm guitar and by the drummer's wife, Kristen Pinell Reil, on lead guitar. The three made their first CD together in 1994 after forming in the mid-80s.

Dave DeSantis was the last to join the band in 2012, stabilizing the lineup after a series of bassists came and went. He replaced Michael Kelly who held down that position from 2003 until DeSantis joined. It is Kelly who played on the band's 2010 release, Strange Change Machine.

Strange Change Machine is the band's fifth full-length release, and there have been at least a half dozen more since then, including a live disc and a Christmas album. SCM is a twenty-four track, double disc, LP/CD set that gives listeners over eighty minutes of music. As do most bands who love 60s and 70s rock, The Grip Weeds write melodic songs to go along with their loud guitars and crashing drums. Because the family band is heavily influenced by the psychedelic, late 60s you'll find they often get classified as a power pop outfit, but they believe that is too narrow of a label as they've also been compared to The Byrds.

I accidently discovered this modern throwback disc from a friend. It's time to dig deeper into their catalog.

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