Groop Dogdrill - Gracelands

I have absolutely no idea why i've never posted about Groop Dogdrill before, considering they were one of my favourite acts of the early 2000s, and are the sort of quickly forgotten but great band that I really like to talk about.

How to describe them? Well they pushed out a sort of angry Nuggets like popped up grunge ala Mudhoney, all rumbling basslines and vicious lyrical asides (or perhaps even Supersuckers, sharing some of the same Elvis and Americana based obsessions), but put through a Northern working mens club filter; all boxing clubs, las vegas and fighting whippets. Another comparison could be the Jesus Lizard, check out that nasty creeping guitar and bass attack on bside Spoiler (get it below!). Here's a list of why they never made it:

• Unwieldy name
• Not very young
• Not very pretty
• Crappy labels
• Onstage violence
• Songs about sex, cigarettes and the ugliest of failed relationships.

Perhaps the only great band ever to come out of Doncaster, they formed around the early 90s but gained no recognition until they won a local Battle Of The Bands. Soon after that they recorded a limited debut 7" and went on tour with also missed brit rockers Cable. Gracelands was their first proper single, coming out on the EXP label, but when EXP folded they had to wait another 2 years for Mantra to release their debut album Half Nelson, a thrilling battering ram of pissed off working class violence that gets me going EVERY DARN TIME. Tours of the UK and Europe with Carter USM, A and Therapy? followed, and critical support came from both the NME/Melody Maker and the Kerrang camps of the UK press. After tours of America and more singles, the band completed their second album Every Six Seconds and released it in 2000. Despite it being a far more mature and interesting album, it was a financial bomb and the band were dropped from Mantra a week before it came out. Ouch! Despite some more tours, one of which I saw them on and was HUGELY impressed, they split.

The band did get together briefly towards the end of 2001 to play a few more gigs with a new drummer, but really things weren't the same, and since then it's all been quiet in the Groop camp, with all band members doing their own thing or joining other bands. It's really a shame, as they had a sort of vicious anger that McClusky were able to do with more longevity and slightly more success around the same time. It's notable that the band had planned on recording their second album with Steve Albini, and the inter band tensions that arose from the decision not to apparently had a lot of influence on their demise. Anyway, hope you like the songs!

Groop Dogdrill - Gracelands
Groop Dogdrill - Spoiler
Groop Dogdrill - Eyelash Trauma