About 45 Grave
Deathrock did not yet exist when Rob Grave, Paul Cutler, Dinah Cancer and Don Bolles played a horror punk in the Hollywood club Le Masque during the seventies under the name Vox Pop. In fact, they all come from Californian punk: The Gun Club, The Bags, The Consumers, The Germs or The Screamers. They quickly got bored. When they swap for 45 Grave, it's to establish their taste for funny, the blood dripping from gore movies and the glamour of B movies.45 Grave was an American rock band from Los Angeles formed in 1979. The original group broke up in 1985, but vocalist Dinah Cancer subsequently revived the band. In 1980, 45 Grave recorded their first released song, “Riboflavin”, included on the Los Angeles Free Music Society compilation album Darker Skratcher. In 1983, they produced their debut album and sole studio release, Sleep in Safety. Another signature 45 Grave track, “Evil”, was featured on MTV, and band members appeared as extras in Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner.
Despite never achieving major success, these punk roots can be felt when listening to “Bad Love” with abrasive guitars or “Evil”, an association between furious rage and rockabilly groove. The influence of 45 Grave on American gothic is undeniable, although we realized it after the fact, the movement remaining underground and limited to California. “45 Grave” is a demonstration of keyboards / organs, against a background of bass and crawling guitars, while Dinah laments. The latter takes her ease and revels in the effect she causes. After chanting enthusiastically “It's party time! / “Long live the party!”, she laughs like a witch. In the video clip for the single, she lies down in a wedding dress, surrounded by her companions in circus attire. 45 Grave lives only for spectacle and fun.
When keyboards and funeral atmospheres are invoked, it is with lightness, even with a certain nostalgia for the garage / psychedelic rock of yesteryear. This is the case for “Phantoms” or “Riboflavin”, a funny parody with a funfair atmosphere. After twitching riffs, performed by rough and sizzling guitars, on “Slice O'Life” (it sounds like The Wire), the organ associated with choirs brings welcome freshness. Out of context, interludes like “Surf Bat”, kitsch and funky, straight out of the sixties, could almost pass for innocent. Dinah Cancer symbolizes the charm of black to perfection. We listen to “Insurance From God”, its slowness, its organ, its declamatory voice that alternates with a punk riff, and we remain amazed by its furious singing, ten years ahead of the Riot Grrrl movement. Courtney Love dedicates her album Pretty On The Inside to Rob Grave following his death by overdose, proof of the band's impact on an entire generation.
Browse all Songs and Lyrics published on 45 Grave