Grumpster: More Than Just Another Band From The East Bay

GRUMPSTER is a very interesting band name. Luckily, bassist and vocalist Donnie Walsh is more than happy to explain the meaning behind the name. “When [our guitarist] Lalo [Gonzalez Deetz] was being a brat as a kid, his mom would always call him ‘grumpster’. After toying around with a few band names and nothing really stood out, we had a version of the grumpster name. A friend suggested we stick to the single word GRUMPSTER as the band’s name and we loved it immediately.”

The trio from the Bay Area are completed by drummer Noel Agtane. GREEN DAY are a big inspiration for GRUMPSTER. Walsh grew up in Salem, Massachusetts listening to Dookie, and fell in love with the Easy Bay punk area. He spent some time in San Francesco with a friend in 2015, and then loved the area so much, he moved there permanently. He soon crossed paths with Deetz, who was from Albany, and the two bonded over music. They soon got in touch with Agtane, who drummed for local punk bands in the Bay Area. After getting a sample of his music, they asked him to slow it down so that it fit the image of their sound that they were imagining. He soon joined the band, and the rest – as the saying goes – is history.

Distorted Sound sat down with Walsh and Deetz to discuss their new album, Fever Dream, which is their debut album on their new record label, Pure Noise Records. “We chose the name Fever Dream for the record because it has a lot of themes tying to being out of it and delusional,” Walsh explains when asked what the meaning of the album name is. “When you think of having a Fever Dream, you’d imagine it would be crazy and not make much sense, and those are feelings that are talked about throughout a lot of the record.”

Fever Dream has ten songs on the album. Was it hard to decide what songs made the cut? “The three of us and Chris #2 of ANTI-FLAG who produced the album would sit in our Airbnb and throw out different track listings that we would try listening to and see if we liked them. That continued after everyone was back home till we finally felt like we had it in the place we wanted it. The hardest part is usually the first / last songs and where we want the mood to shift throughout the album.”

Of course, whilst it might be their new record label debut, Fever Dream is their second record. “The sound of the album was a bit of a continuation of a few songs on out debut album Underwhelmed, specifically the tracks Nausea and Roots.” However, if fans were worried that they’re going to end up with a rehash of Underwhelmed, fear not. “We wanted to capture parts of those songs that we really liked but elevate the song writing and develop our tones further. We wanted to stick with what we were doing before, only apply everything we’ve learned since then to make it bigger and better.”

So, the sound has been developed. However, what is Fever Dream even about? Is there a concept to it? The answer is yes. Deetz explains: “Fever Dream has a dark undertone and had a similar feel to me and Donnie as Insomniac by GREEN DAY does.”

Walsh agrees and elaborates, “when writing Fever Dream, I reflected inwards a lot for inspiration. I wrote about what I was feeling at the time, experiences I’d had, and experiences I wanted to have. It was during the pandemic so there wasn’t a whole lot going on or outside influences to write about or new experiences to write about, so I took inspiration from whatever was going on in my own brain.”

The cover artwork for Fever Dream is glitchy and surreal. Luckily, Deetz is more than happy to explain the concept behind it. “We have always been a fan of the artwork for that album so we thought it would be cool to do a collage style cover. Chris #2 introduced us to Doug Dean who specialises in that style and we sent him some art that we liked and he came up with all the art for the album. All of the art gives off strange hypnotic vibes and we thought it matched perfectly with the themes of the album.”

However, with only ten songs on the album, would GRUMPSTER ever consider releasing an extended album? “I would release an extended version of an album if the extra tracks were live tracks. If we had a bunch of B-sides, I’d rather just make a whole album of B-sides instead of stick them into another version of a record that’s already done. But if we had to include them on an already released album I’d probably want them all at the end.”

GRUMPSTER‘s plans on the horizon are “tour, tour, tour! We’ll be on tour for the next few months with a plan to play an album release show (or a few!) at the end of those tours. Ideally we’ll continue that trend till it’s time to write the next album.”

Touring is one of the best ways that a band can spread the word about their music. With everything being in lockdown the past couple of years, GRUMPSTER could not promote their debut album. Now, they have two albums to promote. It definitely looks like it’s going to be a busy summer for them. And this is only just the start.

Fever Dream is out now via Pure Noise Records.

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