Punk band Grade 2 is heading to Ramsgate for a gig at the town’s Elephant & Castle pub this weekend.
Melding the musical heritage of their native Isle of Wight with the humdrum reality of growing up in a tired seaside town, Grade 2 spit out blistering punk music laced with passion, angst, humour and despair.
Fuelled by a desire to be heard yet constrained by an ethos unsuited to daytime radio, Grade 2 ply their craft on the road, joining the likes of Dropkick Murphys, The Interrupters and Social Distortion.
United by a love of old-school punk, ska and oi, childhood friends Sid Ryan (vocals, bass), Jacob Hull (drums) and Jack Chatfield (guitar, vocals) formed the band in their early teens, honing their craft playing Clash and Jam covers before refining their own sound and songs.
A European tour supporting Stomper 98 brought admiration and friendship from Rancid’s Lars Frederiksen, leading to introductions and signing to Rancid cohort Tim Armstrong’s legendary Hellcat Records in 2018.
Following two accomplished albums on subculture label Contra Records — 2016’s Mainstream View and 2017’s Break the Routine — the trio decamped to Armstrong’s Shipwreck Studios in Los Angeles to record their first album – Graveyard Island- for Hellcat, under the Rancid frontman’s production tutelage.
See Grade 2 at the Elephant & Castle, Hereson Road, on December 18 from 8pm.