BIO

BIO

The Grip Weeds are a critically acclaimed psychedelic rock/power pop quartet hailing from Highland Park, New Jersey and consisting of brothers Kurt and Rick Reil on vocals, drums and guitar respectively, lead guitarist/ vocalist Kristin Pinell Reil (married to Kurt) and bassist Dave DeSantis. Taking their name from "Musketeer Gripweed", John Lennon's character in Richard Lester's 1967 film How I Won The War, The Grip Weeds have spent over three decades perfecting a sound that Billboard and Little Steven?s Underground Garage have championed as the gold standard of modern psychedelic pop, specializing in a high-octane blend of British Invasion melodies, West Coast jangle, and powerhouse drumming that echoes the explosive energy of The Who.

Known for their "sparkling, insanely catchy" songwriting and shimmering four-part harmonies, their live shows are legendary for their precision and "manic" energy. Their reputation as a top-shelf live band has brought them to venues across the United States and internationally, including multiple SXSW showcases in Austin, TX to Liverpool's legendary Cavern Club, as well as several tours of Europe and Canada. In addition to performing their own music, they served as backing group to the legendary Mark Lindsay (former lead singer of Paul Revere And The Raiders).

For decades, The Grip Weeds have received regular exposure on commercial, college, public and internet radio outlets around the world, as well as consistent and sustained airplay on Sirius/XM's The Beatles Channel and The Underground Garage Channel, where Steven Van Zandt has awarded many of their songs "The Coolest Song In The World" status. Their music has appeared in numerous film and TV soundtracks.

Pioneers of the DIY recording movement, they built a commercial recording studio in the band's house, called The House Of Vibes for its unique atmosphere and the good 'vibes' it engenders. The Grip Weeds have recorded all of their subsequent albums there, and it serves as a successful and respected professional recording studio for other artists including New Jersey's favorite sons The Smithereens, legendary vocalist Mark Lindsay and sessions with South African choral singers Ladysmith Black Mambazo and pop maestro Marshall Crenshaw.

HISTORY

After self-releasing their first EP See You Through, they got signed to TWANG! Records in Germany, who issued a couple of singles and their debut album House Of Vibes, originally released in 1994 and named after their studio. It was the beginning of an ongoing series of albums spanning the end of the 20th century and continuing well into the 21st. The Sound Is In You followed in 1998, which got them signed to Rainbow Quartz International (who later reissued it). Rainbow Quartz released Summer Of A Thousand Years in 2001 and Giant On The Beach in 2004, and The Grip Weeds undertook multiple tours of the US, Canada and Europe while on the label.

Little Steven's Underground Garage SiriusXM channel and terrestrial radio shows began to feature Grip Weeds songs, which led to a 2008 compilation release Infinite Soul: The Best Of The Grip Weeds on their Wicked Cool record label. The band released their soaring double album Strange Change Machine in 2010, and the holiday-themed project Under The Influence of Christmas came at the close of 2011. Speed Of Live: In Concert In New Jersey CD and its companion DVD, Live Vibes, videotaped live in the studio at the House Of Vibes followed in 2012, and rounding out two decades of recordings is the 2013 rarities collection Inner Grooves (Rare And Under-Released Tracks).

The Grip Weeds signed with veteran label Jem Records and in 2015 released the ambitious concept album How I Won The War. A shimmering performance at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center in New York City was filmed, resulting in the 2016 concert DVD Force Of Nature Live In NYC. The band's catalog of stellar studio releases was joined in 2018 by Trip Around The Sun.

The vinyl revival resulted in an ongoing series of remixed and expanded archival editions, spanning their entire catalog and available through the band's web page. These deluxe editions feature bonus live, studio and radio performances, and offer fans an inside view of The Grip Weeds' creative process and evolution of their recordings. Sugarbush Records in the UK issued vinyl versions of House Of Vibes in 2018 and Giant On The Beach in 2019, which was bolstered by a digital Expanded Anniversary Edition on Ground Up Records.

2020's COVID pandemic was a brick wall to most of the world. The Grip Weeds retreated to their underground studio, reconnected with the artists and sounds that inspired them and released a sprawling multi-disc collection of cover songs, aptly titled DiG. Revisiting the songs of The Byrds, Thunderclap Newman, The Knickerbockers, Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Velvet Underground and many others coincided with The Grip Weeds participating in the popular Jem Records Celebrates... series of tribute albums, which so far has included salutes to the songs of John Lennon, Brian Wilson, Pete Townshend, Ray Davies, the team of Mick Jagger/ Keith Richards, and David Bowie.

The Grip Weeds finally re-emerged from the pandemic and resumed live performances. The House Of Vibes got loud again: In 2024 they released the Strange Bird EP (new recordings of fan favorites ?Strange Bird? and ?She Brings The Rain?) and followed in early 2025 with an EP of all-new songs Early Clues. It was only a small taste of the full-length album Soul Bender which followed in June 2025 and stunned even seasoned Grip Weeds fans.

At the end of the year, The Grip Weeds were honored with an extensive chapter in author Karl Sharicz?s book Rock 'N' Roll Underdogs. The book's title might also be an apt description of the three-decades-and-counting journey of The Grip Weeds!

"The Grip Weeds are, quite simply, the epitome of the sixties' psychedelic brilliance, reimagined for a modern age." -Karl Sharicz, Rock N Roll Underdogs