A little over a year since our special feature on Ukrainian dark screamo act ELEPHANT OPINIONS, we’re back with some more noteworthy tunes, this time brought to you by RAW GRIP, a relatively new screamy math punk / hardcore band, who are on the verge of the release of their sophomore EP dubbed “Kaleidoscope”. Today, the band joins us for an exclusive single premiere, EP artwork reveal and their special commentary below!
“Kaleidoscope” EP will be out on several small, but very cool DIY labels, with more details to be announced soon.
Asked about the backstory of their project and the new release, the band says: “We are all from Ternopil, a city in Western Ukraine. We started this band around 2015-2016, firtsly as a nameless project without any special plans for the future. After a certain amount of slowly written material with only two instruments – bass guitar and drums, we had the idea to develop it into something more than just recording on a dictaphone in rehearsal rooms. We invited our friend Andrew for vocalist duties. This added some emo vibe to our duo, and after hesitating a bit, we decided to continue without a guitarist, as all the material at that time was written only by the rhythm section. In this way, we formed a trio.”
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We recorded our debut album βImitationβ in 2017 at a local studio, which was recorded in the shortest time possible and without any studio tricks, after which the nameless project became βRaw Gripβ.
Since the release of the first album, the band managed to play dozens of shows all over Ukraine, with a bunch of great bands such as Π€Π Π, PuΕ‘Δa, White Ward, RenΓ© Maheu, Dogs have no Hell, Dreadnought in the Pond, and many many more. “We also managed to go on a European tour with our Kyiv friends no-jazz trio H.Soror.” – they say.
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“The recording of the next release was constantly delayed due to the participants being involved in other projects and bands, as well as work and just everyday routine.” – continue RAW GRIP.
“But last summer we started recording new songs and this time the approach was a bit different – everything was recorded in our rehearsal rooms, where we used to create our material. We were interested in making the most of the equipment we had and what we could borrow, at the same time trying to keep DIY aesthetics in sound.”
“πΎπππππππ ππππ” π€πππ ππ π πππ£π-π‘ππππ ππππππ π, πππ π‘πππ π ππ₯ πππ π βπππ ππππ’π‘ππ , ππ π€βππβ π€π βππ£π ππππ’π ππ ππ’π π£ππ πππ ππ ππ’ππ πππ ππ’π ππ ππ πππππππ.
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Asked about possible ties to their future debut album, they admit: “This is, to some extent, the next part of our debut full length album, but the lyrics have become more rigorous, and in the musical sense, we have changed a lot.”
Raw Grip – Kaleidoscope EP cover & tracklist:
1. Shell
2. Waiting
3. Creation
4. Survive
5. Timeliness
RAW GRIP live:
Video by Vitaly Kaluzhskyi.
Be sure tocheck out the newest groovy, wicked album from SLOPE! Out March 12th, 2021, on BDHW Records:
