AAA Gripper: We Invented Work For The Common Good
DL | Vinyl | Streaming
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AAA Gripper deliver a labyrinthine post-punk debut album, We Invented Work For The Common Good. Fans of The Fall and Fugazi should definitely pay attention.
Last year was chock-full of great live music but one of my undoubted highlights was being exposed to AAA Gripper. Playing as part of the Endless Spite all-dayer in Shipley, the four-piece delivered a set of lean post-punk thrills combined with strange, almost stream-of-consciousness lyrics. The words, akin to the amplified inner monologue of a man who simply can’t turn off his anxiety-ridden brain, come pouring out thick and fast on their debut album, We Invented Work For The Common Good.
The music was born of hours of drum and bass improvisation and a love for jazzy-structures and post-punk grooves. That thirst for experimentation has created something tense, explosive and pleasingly unpredictable. If you’re after simple, catchy choruses, then you may have to look elsewhere. The album is a labyrinth of rolling rhythms accompanied by bursts of bracing guitar and the distinctive lyrical vision of frontman M. Edward Cole. His style is semi-spoken word, but the performance is utterly electric: a genuinely thrilling balancing act between articulate anger and a near-tangible mania. It’s not everyone that can start a song by shouting: “New car showroom wax SHINE!!”
While the lyrics have a somewhat surreal quality, there’s a very relatable theme at their core. As the album’s title suggests, Cole’s words go about dissecting the exhausting – and all-consuming – world of work. The looming black and white image on the cover is of The Anglo-Bavarian Brewery in Somerset; a place bassist Joe Thompson would walk past every day on his way to work. It seems pretty fitting on numerous levels and conjures a potent image of the tipsy and tired masses. The words on the album’s press release sum up the tone rather succinctly: KEEP THEM BUSY, THEY WON’T RISE UP.
“We got a group rate on the kayaking/ It came with the cabins for the management awayday,” comes Cole’s mundane battle cry on excellent Lower Demons. It feels like a line pulled directly from a work WhatsApp. As unconventional opening lines go, you’ll be hard-pressed to find better this side of Mark E. Smith. The key line comes soon after as he drily regurgitates a very well-worn workplace trope: “This company is more like a family/ Bring your authentic self to the job.” The suggestion is then roundly dismissed with a defiant: “Fat chance!” I’d love to be a fly on the wall during his performance review.
While the compositions came from lengthy jams, the instrumentation remains impressively sharp, focused and flab-free. In fact, the whole thing clocks in at just over half an hour. Thomas House provides the snarling, feedback-laced guitar work while Thompson and drummer Lee Richardson ensure every song feels tight and propulsive. The band knows when to rein things in and when to explode, invoking the rhythmic punch of prime Fugazi and the teeth-baring intensity of The Jesus Lizard. Just listen to that bass line on Wasp Women. Exhilarating.
It’s no surprise when you learn that the band is made up of experienced underground musicians, including fellow Wrong Speed Records acts like Sweet Williams and Hey Colossus. This ain’t anyone’s first rodeo. Take a look at the labels roster and you’ll find that post-punk – and genuinely interesting post-punk at that – is in rude health. For those interested in the genres’ more experimental inclinations, AAA Gripper are an absolute must. The ideal soundtrack for that morning commute.
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You can find AAA Gripper on Bandcamp and Instagram.
All words by Andy Brown. You can visit his author profile and read more of his reviews for Louder Than War HERE.
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