Mesa Legend - ARCHIVES - Vol. 40, Issue 8


Volume 40, Issue 8. Today is .

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Volume 40, Issue 8.
January 21, 2003

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Grade 8 scores an incomplete
By Matt Mueller
Mesa Legend

With the ever rising popularity of hard core and rap/metal bands on the national music scene, it is no surprise that there is no shortage of mediocre groups jumping on the anger bandwagon. Grade 8 is one of these bands.


	PHOTO BY CARLY SCHORMAN/ MESA LEGEND Grade 8 take the stage at The Big Fish Pub.

Hailing originally from New Jersey, Ryan (vocals) and Dustin Tooker (guitar), add a New York hardcore influence to the bands music.

The band originally formed
when Dustin’s band fired their singer, and had then fourteen-year-old Ryan write and perform his own lyrics with the band, on his birthday. After struggling in New York for a few years the brothers moved out to California where the band took it’s current form, adding Guy Courtier for bass and Scott Carneghi on drums.

Together, the band failed to create their own style but successfully borrow from nearly all styles of metal. Double bass and heavily distorted guitars are present in some songs, while in others their hip hop influences become more prominent in their more Limp Bizkit-style songs. Electronic effects and prerecorded sounds contribute to an over all cheesy sound. Ever present in their music is the immaturity the young band has yet to shed.

“We didn’t want this album to be another young band whining about their childhood,” said Dustin. Unfortunately the band failed to reach this goal. Many of their songs including, “One Wish” which told tales of childhood trauma, illistrate this perfectly.

The bands only saving grace is their stage performance. The highly energetic music requires an active presentation and they deliver. Constant motion from the Tooker brothers make the band a joy to watch. A mix of stomping, jumping, spiting and spinning as well as in your face vocals complete the show. The only distraction was Courties’s mechanical movements that fell out of time with the music.

Sporting a mix of hard emo, metal-rap and a bit of immaturity the band continued to search for a label, and after pulling the rug out from another label, the boys found a home for their anger on Lava Records. Their first album is due out in February.

“We never tried to blow up on our own, we always knew we wanted to get a major label,” said Ryan.

The Big Fish Pub was the first stop on the bands tour to promote their upcoming album, which drops in the middle of their 40 stop tour, and spans the country and when they are not performing the boys engage in beer fueled mayhem which tends to include fistfights, and hanging out with the locals.

Their album is to be avoided by those who are firmly pitted against the unavoidable influx of cheesy metal. Those who like that sort of music will also want to avoid this band. Grade 8 is no different than the other bands cashing in on adolescent anger.