Featured Bands

Featured artist: Graveltrap

Graveltrap

Graveltrap were born out of the cultural wastelend of Milton Keynes in 1999, an age when rock music was for the un-cool and punk chains were nicked from your dog, not sewn in to trendy jeans!

Initially influenced by Therapy, Nirvana and Greenday they promptly rose up the local ranks of the Milton Keynes scene to regularly sell out the Pitz becoming one of the cities most popular bands through their energetic live show and strong melodic songs about alienation and the problems of being a teenage misfit in MK.

In 2003 they got associated with the Ska scene (despite never having played ska), signing to Moonska Europe and have since been at the the forefront of the UK punk rock scene, with one album distributed internationally through Moonska and many more releases through other underground UK punk labels.

Graveltrap in action

Debut album "Concrete & Udder Chaos" produced by Iain Wetherell (Goober Patrol, Capdown, Vanilla Pod) brought together a collection of their teenaged anthems, spawning the pop-punk video stomper S.R.J. which topped the Scuzz charts in 2003 beating off Metallica and Less Than Jake for three weeks!

Other tracks off the album have been included on various compilations, most notibly Metal Hammers cover CD 'Sounds of the Underground' in Dec '03 and
Compunktion 1 & 2 released on Sucka-Punch.

2003-2004 saw them on a heavy touring schedule with numerous Moonska package tour appearances out on the road with the likes of Spunge, Never Heard Of It,
Whitmore and Mixtwitch and large shows with Bowling for Soup, Lars Fredricksen, Capdown and Therapy at the National Adventure Sports Show.

Graveltrap

2005 saw them concentrate on new material yet still consistently building up a loyal fan base across the UK through their shows.

Their early blink-esque pop-punk sound matured to a show a band capable of much more than the standard formula, getting back in touch with their rocky roots. The riffs and the breakdowns were in the vein of Rise Against and Alkaline Trio but still displayed the big choruses and keen ear for a catchy song evident through out all of Graveltrap's music.

Ever determined to prove the UK punk rock scene can once again be every bit as vital as the US scene, Graveltrap follow in the footsteps of the bands that have re-carved the scene - King Prawn (rip) Capdown & [spunge].

With a new EP on their own label New City Noise causing a stir in the underground and street teams spreading the word, Graveltrap's live show has been described as 'blistering, energetic, passionate and powerful' and they will be smashing their way around the country near you soon....

You can here more about Graveltrap on Big George's Business of Sound on Sunday 2 July 2006 between 3.00pm and 5.00pm and afterwards on the Web site. Meanwhile, find out more about them below from band member Daniel Gibling.

How would you describe Graveltrap’s style of music?

Graveltrap

Dan: We’ve been described as ‘passionate & powerful melodic punkrock’ which sums it up well I think. For years we got labelled as pop-punk because of the
melodies and structure of our old songs but it's never been about the ‘pop’ for us, we’ve always been rockers. One thing that definitely drives us is good,
passionate songwriting - there are too many bands out there today with a style-over-content attitude that breeds bad lyrics and throwaway melodies.

What bands have you been influenced by?

Dan: I think we all come from the clichéd camp of ‘Nirvana changed my life’ but so many of our initial influences stemmed from that. At 15 we used to listen to and cover a lot of Therapy?, Symposium, Foos and Rancid but I guess the band that our sound still resembles the most is Greenday.

If you're into writing fast melodic songs about growing up and getting angry there are not many better songwriters than Billie Joe to look up to. Since we’ve grown up a bit more we’ve looked for bands that rejuvenate the four chord punk formula (which can become a little stale) and are more into melodic hardcore bands such as Rise Against and Hot Water Music. Alkaline Trio are another big influence from the punk camp and local rockers Phema are have always been and continue to be guiding light in how to rock!

Of the songs you have written, what’s your favourite at the moment?

Dan: It's always the one we last wrote! We’ve just recorded five new tracks with UK punk legend Iain Wetherell who did our album and they're all my favourite at the moment - I keep changing the order around on the CD we’re planning to release but keep coming to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter as they're all so good! People can check four of them out at www.myspace.com/graveltrap

Dan jumps on stage

It's weird because the songs are like snapshots of your mind set at that point in your life, and like old clothes and diaries they just start to feel a bit dated after a while as they become less relevant. It's great playing old favourites every now and then and to re-live what you were thinking about at 16 but I find it becomes hard to get excited about any song unless its currently relevant. It's nice to get mails from kids though who are finding an old song meaningful to what they're going through now, it kind of keeps the songs alive.

Give us a high point in your career?

Dan: Our first ever tour with Moonska. Having been signed and just recorded and album and video and playing a 35 date tour with one show on the Thames it was all a bit of a dream really. But really it’s the shows when you're at your highest; Playing at the LA2 with King Prawn and again with Spunge were both amazing as well as big shows with Capdown @ the Pitz MK, Bowling for Soup in Oxford and Therapy? at NASS 04.

Now tell us about a low point, and how it affected the band?

Dan: The highs and lows come hand in hand I’ve found. The tour we did with Spunge and Never Heard Of It holds some of the best memories for me but also the darkest. Towards the end of the tour I was pretty much burnt out and we’d all been doing far to much drinking and other stuff. It lead to a period of depression for me personally and the band in general as when we weren’t playing we were on the dole and living at home, just scraping a living.

Looking back there were some rehearsals where we just turned up, played and left without ever looking each other in the eye. The intense touring and pressure to push the band forward almost took the fun out of it. Nowadays we’re not under that pressure and it feels like we’re 16 again!

Dan shouts!

You choose to do music so you can live life free of authority and pressures but sometimes the drive to succeed can ruin a band's vibe and that's why so many split up. I feel lucky that we recognised that and knew when to relax it and yet still feel like we‘re progressing, both musically and in the industry. I can't ever see a reason why Graveltrap would cease to be in the future.

What type of gig do you most like to play?

Dan: It's real exciting when you know you’re about to play a big show with big name bands and a real buzz to have 1000 odd people moshing around and a large stage to jump around on.

But at the same time the buzz is off the grandeur of it all rather than the intensity of the crowd and often the most rewarding shows are the headliners in small pubs and clubs where you can really get a vibe going and are on the same level as the crowd, singing with them, moshing with them, stage invasions etc… that’s the kinda show where you get to hang out with the fans and meet people, share your beers etc - those are the shows I like.

To be honest every show is a buzz as long as the audience don’t just stand there! All Pitz shows are classic - a mix of the two vibes above.

What’s your fan base like?

The fans enjoy a gig

Dan: We’ve got a few hardcore Graveltrappers who make up our street team and travel to see us when we’re not close by. It's always nice to see them and to know there are some people who didn’t just hop on the moonska/p-rock bandwagon when the ska scene was big back in 2003 and that genuinely like us. The majority of our fans are usually kids who like loud songs to mosh to and that’s great. After a debauched teenaged stint of cheap vodka, cheap weed and copying our discs they often grow up, move to uni, become more sensible and come to the shows less but then we attract their younger siblings and so it continues! I think it's cool to like Graveltrap up until the age of 18! Hopefully our latest songs will get some of the mature crowd back into us though.

What’s the weirdest thing a fan has ever done / sent to you?

Dan: I got an essay once from a fan (who will probably read this) all about me!! That was bizarre - she’d handed it for her assignment at school and it was basically about how amazing and great I am! Kinda cool but a little freaky - I think that sums up our fans best!

Name one unusual fact about you.

Dan: Only one - that’s hard - ok well I used to be a Catholic altar boy. That’s fairly unusual in the punk scene I guess?!

Apart from music, what else do you do, like, excel at?

Dan: If I excelled at anything this would be an interview on primetime MTV! Apart from being highly skilled at lifting boxes, data entry and making tea I'm also getting into film/tv production and assembling Ikea flat packs (when the correct bits are there...)

If you could choose out of anyone, who would you have produce your next album, and why?

Graveltrap partying

Dan: Jerry Finn or Rob Cavello would be our dream producers. Finn has done everyone from Rancid, Greenday and Alkaline trio and just gets a big fat chunk-punk sound that other punk producers don’t get. Cavallo is Mr Greenday and has produced all Greenday’s major albums. I love the guitar sounds he gets and I know either one would make us sound unbelievable.

But then again there’s not much Iain Wetherell at Premier Studios (Corby) can’t do and I think if we were to play a little tighter and have two months to work on an album with him we’d kick Greendays ar*e!

What do you think of people downloading music for free?

Dan: I’m on the fence really. On one hand it's cool, everyone like free music and it beats having to go buy 40 track crappy punk compilations to find out which two you like, plus anything that takes the power away from the record companies and the retailers to price CDs at over a tenner is good by me.

Graveltrap

But then if you’re like my girlfriend you never buy a record, just download them all and being in a band were every sale counts towards your next recording or petrol for the next gig, (or even for food when times are desperate) I find it frustrating when kids copy small band CDs when they should support them. I reckon the rule should be if it's released on a major, nick it and copy it but if it's an independent release from a reputable label or band then please for god's sake BUY IT!

What’s your ultimate ambition or dream?

Dan: We’ve ticked a lot of boxes that I never thought we would ever tick but one thing that we haven’t done that is a personal dream is play at the Reading Festival, even in a tiny tent somewhere, that would make my life complete!

Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?!

Dan: Checkout www.myspace.com/graveltrap for our new tracks that we will probably release when we’ve raised some money and also regular gig updates including our summer tour 2006… and help us out by emailing Mike Davies from the Radio One Lock Up and telling him to play our tracks - thelockup@bbc.co.uk !!