Manchester’s Big Problem dropped “The Grip” on March 1st – a single that came together after the band landed a support slot with Higher Power in their hometown and hit it off with frontman Jimmy Wizard backstage. That connection ended up on tape.
“We’ve always been big fans of Higher Power; they’re a great band and real good guys,” says guitarist Jake Hardie. “We luckily got to support them in Manchester and got talking to Jimmy at the show. We all thought he would work perfect on the track so we asked the question. Amazingly he was up for it!”
The result sits somewhere between punk teeth and post-hardcore weight – Phil Bowman on bass and vocals, Hardie on guitar, and drummer John Hinde holding things down, with Wizard’s guest vocals adding a different edge to the track. Hinde also handled recording, mixing, and production duties at Smoke Stack Studios, with Louis Hardy tracking the guest vocal parts separately. Mastering came via Grant Berry at Fader Mastering.
Lyrically, “The Grip” circles around feeling stuck and losing sight — missed deadlines, going nowhere, the kind of loop that feeds on itself. Lines like “defeating the purpose, not trying to move sidewards, repeating the process” read less like a breakdown and more like a diary entry from someone who knows the pattern but can’t quite shake it.
For Big Problem, the track marks a turning point in how they’re approaching their sound. “The Grip is one of the newest in a new batch of songs we’ve been working on, it’s a taste of what’s to come next,” Hardie explains. “It feels like we’re falling into our sound, and we hope The Grip is a good representation of this.”
As for the Higher Power collab, there’s no mixed feelings: “Jimmy smashed it out the park, we couldn’t be happier with how the song has turned out. The guy is solid gold geezer.”
The single comes with a music video directed by Hinde, with additional filming from James Hinde and artwork by Dan Shearer. Photos were shot by Luke Allan at The Doghouse record store in Manchester — a shout-out to Jason Davies for letting the guys use the space.
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What’s next? Hardie says the band is heading back to the studio soon, with a Manchester show alongside Middleman already locked in (big ups to the crew at MCHC), a festival appearance to be announced, and plans for dates in Scotland and Ireland.
“Things are looking good for Big Problem this year. A lot of cool things are happening,” he says. “We have some things in the pipeline that we are buzzed about.”
Stream “The Grip” on all major platforms or grab it on Bandcamp.
