Grade 2

Ryde, Isle of Wight-based punk band Grade 2 stays true to punk’s roots, aligning with Oi! in style and approach. Emerging in 2013, the trio inked a deal with Hellcat Records ahead of the release of their acclaimed third LP, Graveyard Island, and three years later, they issued their eponymous fourth long-player.
The band, consisting of Jack Chatfield (guitar/vocals), Sid Ryan (bass/vocals), and Jacob Hull (drums) formed in 2013 when they were 15, originally playing covers of the Stranglers and the Jam in local pubs. They eventually graduated to writing original material and signed to Contra Records. It took them a while to write and record their debut album, Mainstream View, which appeared in 2016, but they quickly followed their initial release with 2017′s Break the Routine. After two albums, they toured steadily, meeting and befriending Lars Fredriksen (Rancid) along the way. He appreciated their sound enough to put them in touch with bandmate Tim Armstrong, who signed them to Hellcat Records and produced their third album, 2019′s Graveyard Island. The standalone single, “Only Ones I Trust,” arrived in 2020, followed by the stripped-back EP Acoustic Session of Graveyard Island in 2021. The trio kicked off 2022 with a string of hard-hitting tracks (“Brassic,” “Doing Time,” and “Under the Streetlight”), all of which appeared on their self-titled fourth LP in 2023. ~ Liam Martin & James Christopher Monger