Get a Grip

Mitchell Community Media Newspapers (VT)

Rutland Herald (VT)

July 29, 2014
Local punks to open for their punk idols
Author: Gordon Dritschilo
Staff writer
Section: NEWS
Index Terms:
topstory
Estimated printed pages: 3
Article Text:
In middle school, Evan Kurant listened to The Offspring while skateboarding.
His band is opening for them — as well as Pennywise, Bad Religion and the Vandals — at the Burlington Waterfront on Aug. 8. All four bands have strong followings, though The Offspring had the most mainstream success with 1990s hits “Come out and Play” and “Self Esteem.”
Kurant, 25, of Rutland, is the lead singer for Get A Grip, a group of local musicians that has been featured in the Punk in the Park festival for the last two years and performed numerous smaller shows in the area.
Get A Grip is a punk hardcore band. Or a hardcore punk band. Kurant characterizes their music as very fast, very aggressive and very heavy.
“The kind of music that makes grandmothers say, ‘What’s that noise?’” Kurant said.
Kurant, guitarist Nich Grandchamp, 27, of West Rutland, and drummer Brit Davis, 22, of Rutland, all mention early U.S. punk band Minor Threat as an influence when they took some time Monday night to sit down and talk about their upcoming gig. Guitarist Steve Lattuca and bassist Dave Newton, the remainder of the band, had trouble getting their work schedules to line up with the other three.
They’re all tattooed. Davis sports a nose ring and a mop of long hair that she shifts into various positions as she speaks. Grandchamp wears glasses held together by electrical tape.
The Disco Biscuits also came up during the discussion of influences, and Grandchamp throws in the Descendents and Black Flag. Davis drops some positively frightening sounding names, like Suicide Silence and Impending Doom, but also speaks highly of Lana Del Rey.
“I listen to so many freaking bands, dude,” she said. “It’s hard to decide.”
The group formed in 2011. The members all knew each other from the local music scene, which they said definitely exists, even if it can be hard to see from the outside.
“It’s in a lot of basements, a lot of who you know,” Kurant said. “There’s a lot of postings on Facebook. You have to be friends with the right people or you won’t see it because they don’t want to put their addresses out there.”
Grandchamp said they prefer to do all-ages shows, which freezes them out of Rutland’s bars. Alcohol is typically prohibited at the shows in people’s homes — nobody wants to deal with an underage drinking charge if the cops show up — and they tend to be free or “crazy cheap.”
“If we have to rent somewhere out, usually it’s about $3 to get in,” Davis said. “We spend more money than we make.”
They travel up to Burlington — they have played several shows at 242 Main St. — and out of state as often as possible. They play almost every weekend, and some weekends twice
“We’re the kind of band that’ll play out as much as we can and do it because we love it,” Grandchamp said. “We all work full time. It’s definitely a lot harder than when we were 16.”
It was that hard work, they say, that brought them to the attention of the organizers of the Waterfront show.
“We didn’t win a contest,” Grandchamp said. “We didn’t sell any tickets to play this. ... That’s not what the scene is about up here. You have to pay dues.”
Their songs are all original. They all contribute to writing the music, while Kurant is largely responsible for the lyrics. He said he only writes songs with a subject, rather than just assembling lyrics that sound good over the music.
“It’s all meaningful,” he said. “I truly try to write stuff people will relate to, but I also write about stuff I’m going through.”
Topics range from the drug problem in Rutland to getting picked on in high school.
“It all means something,” Kurant said. “If the lyrics in the song don’t have heart, I don’t think it’s worth playing. I like to get up there and feel like I mean what I’m saying. I’m not just reciting what I remember. It’s like I’m still pissed off about it.”
Their ultimate goal as a band, they said, is to tour Europe, which they think they are on the verge of making happen. Meanwhile, they get to open for — and likely meet — some of their punk forebears.
“We feel like this is not just a victory for us, but a victory for the Vermont music scene,” Grandchamp said. “If you work hard, you can be part of something really cool. ... Playing 18 basement shows in front of 30 kids — that might not seem like a big deal, but somebody is seeing it online being promoted.”
gordon.dritschilo @rutlandherald.com
Copyright, 2014, Rutland Herald
Record Number: 707299897 - The Rutland Herald