Grade Reunite For One-Off Show Four Years After Splitting

07/20/06 6:00pm

by Shawn Despres (CHARTattack)

After being name-dropped as a major influence by a ton of young emo, hardcore and punk acts over the last few years, Grade have decided to reunite to show the kiddies how it's done.

"The Official Grade Reunion" will see the original Grade lineup of vocalist Kyle Bishop, guitarists Greg Taylor and Shawn Magill, bassist Matt Jones and drummer Chris Danner come together for a concert at Toronto's Opera House on Friday.

According to Jones, everyone has fond memories of their time in Grade and they've been collectively contemplating a reunion gig for some time now.

"Doing a reunion is something we've talked about a few times over the last couple of years, but everybody has been busy with other bands and just everyday life. Whenever we get together we always end up talking about Grade, so it wasn't that hard to get everyone to agree to it after a little prodding."

The Burlington, Ont. quintet began playing together in the mid-'90s. A pair of excellent recordings, And Such Is Progress and the Separate The Magnets EP, combined with their high-energy performances to attract the attention of Victory Records.

The label released the epic Under The Radar in 1999. That disc — along with numerous tours of North America and trips to Europe, Japan and New Zealand — helped solidify the group as one of the more innovative bands in the aggressive music scene.

Their swan song, Headfirst Straight To Hell, came out in 2001. Grade disbanded in July 2002, when Bishop was the only original member left.

"Things kind of ended badly," explains Jones. "Not in a big blowout way, but it sort of fizzled out.

"People slowly started getting tired of touring and wanted to do other things, so all the original guys left the band one by one until, at the end for the last six months or so, it was just Kyle and the guys from Somehow Hollow."

The set list on Friday night will draw from all of the band's albums, but the focus will primarily be on Separate The Magnets and Under The Radar. The guys have been practising feverishly, and Jones estimates that they've probably spent more than 30 hours getting everything down tight so that both old and new fans won't leave disappointed.

To help test their progress and gauge audience reaction, they made a surprise appearance at Hamilton's The Underground in mid-June.

"We did a short surprise set with Misery Signals and The Gorgeous a few weeks ago," says Jones.

"We only played five songs, but it went really well. We didn't even know if any of those kids would know who we were. The punk world moves on and forgets really quickly, but there were a lot of kids singing along and having a great time, so it was cool."

Since Grade broke up, Jones and Danner have been together in a hardcore band called To The Lions. Taylor played in Jersey and now is in The Saint Alvia Cartel. Bishop was in The Black Maria, but parted ways with the act several months ago.

According to Jones, the Opera House concert is intended to be a unique occurrence, with everyone returning to their own projects afterwards.

"Right now it's a one-time thing. We had our time, and things have totally changed since we broke up. I don't really know where a band like us would fit into today's music. People call us 'screamo,' but I don't really want anything to do with the whole screamo scene.

"We started out as a hardcore band, and we always played and toured with hardcore bands. We definitely got more melodic over the years as we learned how to write songs a little better, but I still always thought of us as a melodic hardcore band. If we did ever get back together, I don't know if anybody would get it now."