Good Grief are debuting Metal Phase with us today. The first song on the Liverpool trio’s new album Shake Your Faith, which is out on 18th March via Everything Sucks Music (UK/Europe) and HHBTM (US). Its scorched riffing and skittering drums house a shot of urgent melodicism, riven with resilience which feels somehow prescient today as we watch scenes of the defiance shown by the besieged Ukrainian people. It’s warmly nostalgic of songs from the 90s by Husker Du or more recently the charged sounds of Superchunk, yet it’s infused with a bold heart on its sleeve, it offers promise for what their new album will offer.
Will Fitzpatrick from the band explains: “Metal Phase was consciously written with the album’s opening slot in mind – it’s a song of resilience, among other things, which is kind of appropriate as it evolved out of another, older Good Grief song of the same title. Lyrically it puts me in mind of Shellshag’s anthem Resilient Bastard; musically… well, I’ll let you make your own notes. It’s fun to play, in any case.”
Good things come to those who wait, and in the case of Liverpool’s Good Grief, the wait was worth it. The band first appeared back in 2013 via a series of split 7″s and an excellent EP on Odd Box Records. HHBTM loved them, excitedly pairing them up for a split single with like-minded band Eureka California, who then brought them over for an American tour. So you can believe us when we say we’re excited about the release of the band’s long-awaited debut album Shake Your Faith, which comes out February 22nd on HHBTM (US) and Everything Sucks Music (UK/Europe).
Formed in 2012 by Liverpudlian guitarist/vocalist Will Fitzpatrick, bassist/vocalist Paul Abbott and drummer Matiss Dale, Good Grief released a handful of singles before real life took precedence and the band took a back seat in 2015. They never officially broke up, though, regrouping to play the occasional date, sometimes with big names like Wussy and Superchunk. Good Grief fully reactivated in 2018 and spent 2019 working on and off on what would become Shake Your Faith. They were all set to finish and release the album in 2020, but then…well, you know what happened.
“It’s strange, recording in start-stop fashion,” Fitzpatrick states. “Your self-belief ebbs and flows at the best of times, and it’s not always easy to ride its waves, especially if you’re not sure when you’ll next be allowed into a confined space. In the end, I think the uncertainty in the air imbued our sessions with a tension that mirrors some of the record’s themes appropriately. The sense of release at being able to return to the studio certainly helped as well; you can hear that especially in the coda to [penultimate track] ‘Hatches’, I think.”
A little punk rock, a little indie rock, and a whole lot of fun. You’ll rock out to songs influenced by everything from mental health, the New York school of poetry, the films of Akira Kurosawa, Seinfeld, novelist David Grossman, and the end of The Empire Strikes Back. Mostly, though, you’ll hear heartfelt songs that revolve around questioning yourself and a general sense of dislocation. Shake Your Faith will rock your body while making you think about the bigger picture of life and everything in it.
“It’s been a long road for us to get to this album, with real life, health and even a pandemic getting in the way at various points,” Fitzpatrick says. “I’m just psyched people can finally wrap their ears around it.”
Photo credit: Andy VonPip
