Tucson duo GRIPES!—Dana from Chicago and Ryan from Arizona—pull from the jagged edges of punk and the grit of grunge, channeling bands like Minor Threat, Pinhead Gunpowder, and the Distillers.
There’s no pretense, no polish, just two people crafting raw, noisy, monochrome-drenched releases. And it’s irresistibly infectious.
‘Inch by Inch’ is one piece of a massive undertaking: a triple-album release, a flood of songs built from restless energy and an instinct for sharp, punchy melodies.
GRIPES! write, record, mix, and master everything themselves, squeezing the process into their already packed lives. It’s catharsis, an outlet, a way to beat back the grind, visually crafted through a stark, black-and-white aesthetic, heavy on themes of decay, occult symbolism, and the macabre.
The title track, ‘Inch by Inch,’ cuts straight to the core of the album’s message: persistence. Not in a motivational, empty-platitude kind of way—more in the way punk bands survive, clawing forward whether anyone’s watching or not. Every move forward matters, no matter how small.
‘Little Bit Better’ leans into the volatility of relationships, charting the rises and collapses, the pull between conflict and resolution. It’s messy, the way real life is. ‘Infinite’ stretches into something more existential—a reflection on memory, progress, and the way ideas outlive the people who first carried them. It’s part memorial, part torch-passing, a nod to the ones who refused to stay small-minded.
GRIPES! didn’t set out to be a band in any traditional sense. They started just jamming, seeing where things landed. That turned into something bigger—a sound, a shared rhythm, a common language between two people wired for punk’s cutthroat honesty.
Now, they’re riding that creative wave as far as it takes them, already deep into another triple-album’s worth of material. They don’t have time to be fixtures in a local scene. They don’t have the bandwidth to chase visibility. Right now, it’s about the work—until the next impulse kicks in, and they find themselves back onstage.
