Brighton rockers Grymm can be a behemoth of growling intent – riling and shaking with aplomb – then again the next minute, they turn around in gentle surrender, and what results is a beautiful reflection of the bipolar nature of their music. Take new single ‘OCD’ as the prime example, romantic tugs of guitar simper and tussle around an uproar of thunderous voice and impassioned musicality. This is a band that know how to grab that attention and twist it until they have you right under their little thumbs.
We decided enough was enough. We had to learn more about this band and as fate would have it, today we bring you an in-depth one-on-one with the Brighton three-piece via Facebook video chat (Yes, welcome to the modern world).
Hi Grymm, how are you? Where do we find you as you answer this question?
Morgan: Yeah we’re decent. And we’re on a facebook video chat.
Zac: I’m currently cycling.
Andrew: I’m playing video games.
You state in your biography that Grymm was formed due to its members enjoying ‘similar favourite knitting patterns’. Can you tell us more about this?
Andrew: We all like a good grungey jumper and felt it was the eco-friendly thing to do, not feed into the consumerist culture, such as H&M, and knit our own jumpers.
The band is based in Brighton, the city is certainly a hotspot for new bands and fresh sounds right now. But what inspired you to start this band?
Andrew: Me and Mogs have known each other for like 6 years and have always been in bands together.
Morgan: I took a selfie with Ben Thatcher (Royal Blood drummer) at a Wytches gig and Zac was a mutual of someone on Facebook and started fangirling. I then met him at college through said friends and saw him drumming on his knees and thought yeah, this kid’s decent.
Zac: Pretty much.
Where are the places you frequent – your favourite spots to spend time in Brighton?
Andrew: My house with mario kart.
Morgan: I fuckin love the wooded areas around Withdean and Patcham.
Zac: Small Pond is our favourite place to rehearse as well. The people are really nice and the studios are pretty good.
Morgan: I do love a good trip to Sainsburys.
Andrew: ‘Love a bit o’ sains. Best thing to get is the walnut cake. Serves seven for a pound.
Grymm have just released a new song; ‘OCD’ is more nuanced than your previous tracks. What went into the writing process for this song? Did it feel different to when you worked on ‘Dream Of You’ and ‘Jurassic’?
Andrew: Do you wanna know what nuanced means?
Morgan: I did google it. ‘OCD’ is really one of our oldest songs and is mainly written by me, due to the fact that I wrote the structure lyrics and guitar alone in my room which didn’t leave much for anything else. Self-indulgent prick.
Andrew: ‘Jurassic’ and ‘Dream Of You’ were written more in the rehearsal studio, and as a group so there is much more group input when it comes to parts and structure.
Morgan: ‘OCD’ is more guitar led and the guitar parts are more part-like than the rest of our songs, where the guitar is more noise and soundscape.
Zac: It made me cry when I heard it, the others didn’t, I guess that means it’s different?
The releases so far have been quite sporadic; do you plan on remedying this in 2017?
Andrew: Yeah we hope so. We had a lot of trouble with acquiring the art work, so the releases were very un-evenly released. Next year we hope to be more prepared, productive and just generally on it.
Grymm come across as a band that must be seen live to really understand and relish what you’re about, do you think the live performances capture a different side to the band than the recordings?
Andrew: Definitely, definitely.
Morgan: We go a lot heavier live than portrayed in the recordings, and a lot of the newer songs are more dissonant.
Andrew: There’s a lot more noise and a lot more movement, and so much more energy than in the recordings that is really hard to get across.
Morgan: We did record the songs completely live, with an amazing sound engineer, Ali Gavan, but the movement is just so hard to get across on a non visual format.
Zac: When we play live, I get to beat the absolute living piss out of the drums and pull faces that I don’t get to on the records. Live is the way to hear Grymm!
Are you starting to consider the need to get out and tour the country?
Andrew: It’d be nice.
Morgan: I don’t think we’re at that level yet. We haven’t even considered it. We’d love to play places like London and Manchester, Birmingham etc. But it’s just so hard to break out of Brighton.
Zac: I would love too, it would be sick to see how different places’ audiences react to us. One day!
Who are the bands that you’re listening to right now?
Andrew: Louis Theroux podcasts. A lot of The Wytches and the Chilis, and a fair bit of Metz.
Morgan: I’ve been getting into a lot of Bjork, ‘Volta’ is a sick album. I really love Nick Cave’s new one as well. Also liking a bit of Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’.
Zac: Tigercub, particularly the song ‘Omen’ is fucking so sick. Ray LaMontange has some cool ones. Dinosaur Pile-up and anything with Dave Grohl!
Now for a quick-fire round…
Favourite venue?
Andrew: BYC. We started there and it’s fun to play there.
Morgan: Patterns. It was the first proper venue we played, with big front of house shit.
Zac: The one’s with people in.
Favourite love song?
Morgan: ‘I Walk The Line’ by Johnny Cash is a personal fave.
Andrew: ‘Me And My Friends’ by The Chillis. It’s not really a love song in the traditional sense but it’s just a really nice song about how much he loves his friends.
Zac: ‘To Build A Home’ by The Cinematic Orchestra.
Guilty pleasure?
Andrew: Reading essays on classical literature.
Morgan: Mumford and Sons first album, and I love a bit of Fifa.
Zac: The song ‘Toxic’. I will always, always sing.
Last thing before we go on-stage:
Zac: Drink while Morgan isn’t looking.
Morgan: Go for a several shits.
Andrew: Drink when Morgan isn’t looking. Usually while he’s going for shits.
Karaoke song of choice:
Zac: Even flow.
Morgan: ‘Dancing Queen’ by Abba.
Andrew: ‘Don’t Hurt Yourself’ by Beyonce.
First instrument I learned to play:
Zac: Clarinet, primary school made us. I sucked..
Andrew: Guitar, when I was about seven. I did it for a few weeks.
Morgan: Drums, I borrowed my brothers friend’s kit for a couple of months before he took it back.
Instrument I want to learn:
Zac: Cello would be rad as fuck, piano would be cool too.
Morgan: Violin and Piano. As well as learning to conduct.
Andrew: I’d probably learn guitar, and maybe cello, that’d be nice.
Band I want to see live:
Zac: Tigercub, or Pearl Jam (when they were good).
Morgan: If I could see any band, no exceptions, it would be Nirvana. Or Radiohead.
Andrew: Either The Wytches or Metz.
Grymm will support Idle Crooks & Englishmen at Bar Forty Two in Worthing on Thursday 8th December. It’s free entry, and more details can be found here.
