Isle Of Wight punks Grade 2 wrestle with a whirlwind coming-of-age on rollercoaster fourth album Talk About it…
Grief. Growth. Grafting every step of the way. Twelve years since they first cranked amps as schoolkids rattling their music room out on the Isle of Wight, Grade 2 have plenty to talk about.
From seeing dreams dangling precariously during COVID to blasting back with 2023’s self-titled third LP, frontman Sid Ryan, guitarist Jack Chatfield and drummer Jacob Hull looked to have claimed their place on top of the world. But storming festivals like Rock am Ring and rubbing shoulders with heroes like Rancid and Guns N’ Roses was only half the story. Offstage, the trio were dealing with the quiet dissonance of island life back at their parents’ places, finding time for romantic relationships and plotting the path for-ward through a world increasingly going to shit.
Rollercoaster fourth album Talk About It is a chronicle of every tribulation and triumph.
“The title-track was initially called Communication, a song about how men don’t talk about the things that really matter to them,” explains Sid. “But it became Talk About It, which sums up the whole album, touching on every emotion that you feel while being in a band, from love to loss to personal turmoil to ambition. It’s a coming-of-age story about Grade 2 entering adulthood...”
From dealing with a dog-eat-dog music industry on Cut Throat and learning to live life at 100mph with Crash And Burn to confronting political toxicity on Rotten, paying tribute to their waterlocked home with Smugglers Haven and processing the pain of loss heartfelt closer Otherside, it’s a wild ride. And a compelling first step on the next chapter from one of modern punk’s brightest lights.
“This is everything we’ve been through,” Sid smiles, bittersweetly, “but we’re still here!”
