REVIEW: Greye — Growing Pains (Single)
Whatever lies ahead and what the day brings, it’s nice to know that you can crank up the song “Growing Pains” and face the challenge with your shoulders proud and one foot forward. If that’s what it takes to push through the glum and nonsense, than you can thank the band Greye. The Florida-based rock group is not resting on their laurels and waiting for things to change, they are continuing their adamantly independent, fiery brand of rock one song at a time.
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/greyemusic/
Greye, who released their fifth studio album Under the Weather in 2019, are currently working on finishing the details for their 2021 release. “Growing Pains” is the first peak at the project and it’s an indicator that once again it’s going to rock. They don’t necessarily melt your faces, but the members of Greye sure know how to pile on the sounds and inject a whole lotta fun into the sonic atmosphere.
Greye is comprised of singer/songwriter Hannah Summer, Ray Grimard (drums), Jett Wolfe (guitar), Josh Reid (bass guitar) and Kenn-e Williams (keyboards). The band is based in Daytona Beach. They have a generous mix of the southern rock genre (think Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers) fused with The Pretenders and Suzi Quatro.
“Growing Pains” is not your run-of-the-mill rock song. It has many addictive blues guitar riffs and just as fine of percussion blasts. Summer, who sings with the same thrill as Janis Joplin and Grace Potter. While she has a very bluesy foundation, Summer can hit the falsetto notes just a well as any other. I like that she’s a female lead in a song like “Growing Pains” because it gives a bit more fodder to the idea that young women can, too, rock.
We need more female singers like Summer, rocking that mic like no tomorrow. She’s great at depicting the moments when the world seems to be closing in, or in her words, getting louder, getting louder. She wants to scream, but it’s Wolfe’s guitar that does the waling. The guitar sound escalates and rounds out with the full bass, drums and keys brigade not foo far behind. This band has their sound together and down pat. “Growing Pains” is not a pain at all, it’s a killer tune.
REVERBNATION: https://www.reverbnation.com/greye
Diving a bit deeper into the sound, I think their attempt to capture a whirlwind of emotions is successful. They don’t go overboard, which I think a lot of metal and rock bands tend to do. They really keep it tight and within the scope of what I imagine to be their sound. I like that “Growing Pains” isn’t a whole reinvention of their sound, and they stay true to themselves.
When the guys in the band sing the chorus, growing pains, growing pains, and it’s mixed under Summer’s vocals, I interpreted that as your gut reminding you that you have to go through the bad to get through the good. It’s not all a bed of roses and that gut instinct is what you need to follow.
Colin Jordan
