Grenadiers
Find Something You Love and Let It Kill You
Green Room Records
Third LP from Radelaide rockers, Grenadiers, Find Something You Love and Let It Kill You, is 33 minutes of riff loaded Aussie rock that’ll throw you into the midst of a rowdy pub gig with tracks short, fast and loud. Their signature classic rock sound with elements of punk creates music that’s destined to be enjoyed by the ears and rocked out to by the body.
Find Something You Love and Let It Kill You is a rock’n’roll soundtrack to everyday Australian life, with tracks nearly everyone could relate to in some way or another. It’s loaded with sleazy guitar riffs, tender basslines and hoppy drummage, topped with catchy lyrics that will grab your ears and draw you in instantly. Drummers don’t usually get much attention but listen in on James ‘Jimmy’ Balderston’s drum skills, he gives you no reason not to take notice.
Album opener Drunk and Broke starts with a melodic rhythm and verse walkthrough, before jumping into the chaotic “Drunk and Broke” chorus. A great opener that sets the scene for the rest of the album pretty quick. Frontman, Jesse Coulter, slathers the tracks with his raspy vocals while building the songs foundation on guitar, along with bassist, Phil Meakin, and drummer, Jimmy.
Suburban Life takes on more of a punk approach with pleasant guitar riffs over a tidy rolling bassline, and one of the tracks you can really notice Meakin’s shiny drum work. Take away the vocals and you’d be forgiven thinking it was something from V by The Bronx, it’s got a great shredding sound. It’s a motivating track that’ll have you shouting out to the ‘woah-oh-oh-woah-oh’ of the chorus and eventually, the all-out Aussie verse lyrics like “He cops his Centrelink, is he gonna choose to pay the rent or drink” and “Mow lawns with Speedos on, wearing my favourite thongs”. To top it off, the track features a sample of a lawn mower at the end too.
The punk sound kicks in a little more on Glasses Up, Panic Attack and Midnight Man, they’re rapid-fire, high-energy, melodic punkish songs with some tidy harmonies that’ll see you thrashing about throughout most of the track.
Things are toned down a little for mid-tempo Long Way Down, different to their usual brash nature but they pull it off nicely. Definitely one of those tracks that’ll request a drunken sing along with your mates. Much like the national anthem, you don’t have to know all the words, just enjoy the moment and mumble the bits you don’t.
Short Memory sees a fluctuating tempo with the deeper rock sound kicking in before channelling a little grunge in Holding Pattern, with intro riffs drawing you in before your bombarded by a tit-for-tat between rapid fire and single shot thrashing. Live Fast Diabetes has more a classic rock sound, with a speedy instrumentals and bellowing chorus.
Final, and longest, track, Ramona, sees the tempo toned down again, but only slightly, that loud, fast rock is still imbedded in there and explodes out occasionally. It’s got a mixture of some mellow mid-tempo moments, which are often short lived before the thrashy rock kicks back in.
It’s worth noting, it’s not easy for independent acts to get off the ground and stay afloat these days, more so now than ever before. This album hasn’t been without struggle for the Adelaide trio, but for the lemons life gave Grenadiers, they made some bloody good lemonade.
Everything on Find Something You Love and Let It Kill You is destined to be a great live, especially the rawness of tracks like Suburban Life, Long Way Down, Panic Attach and Live Fast Diabetes. Listening to this album only makes me look forward to their upcoming national tour even more, which includes two WA shows, Mojo’s, Fremantle (March 9) and Prince of Whales Hotel, Bunbury (March 10).
A ripper Aussie rock album that’s likely to be heard at many pubs and barbeques into 2018 and beyond. Grab a six pack, sit back and rock out to this delicious ten tracker.
RYAN ELLIS
