Gruntruck are what happens when you take part of Skin Yard, throw in a guy from the Accüsed, and turn everything up a couple notches.
I first heard Inside Yours back in Queens around ’91.
By then I already knew Ben McMillan from Skin Yard, so seeing his name on another record was enough to get me interested.
It didn’t sound like Skin Yard.
Not really.
Gruntruck were heavier. More direct. There was a lot more metal in there, but not the stupid kind. Big riffs, weird grooves, Ben howling over everything. “Not a Lot to Save,” “Paint,” “Move in Silence” — that record had some serious weight to it.
Then I started figuring out who everybody was.
Ben and drummer Norman Scott had both been in Skin Yard. Tom Niemeyer came from the Accüsed. Tim Paul had played with Final Warning.
Another Seattle family tree.
Of course.
Inside Yours originally came out on Empty in 1990 and Roadrunner picked it up afterward. That was right around the time every label in America suddenly seemed to have somebody wandering around Seattle with a checkbook.
Gruntruck actually made sense for Roadrunner, though.
They were probably one of the heavier bands getting lumped into this whole thing, and they could play to a metal crowd without changing what they were doing.
Push came out in ’92, right around the time I moved here.
That’s still the Gruntruck record for me.
“Tribe.” “Machine Action.” “Crazy Love.” “Above Me.” “Slow Scorch.”
Jack Endino and Gary King produced it, and the thing sounds enormous.
They went out with Alice in Chains that fall, then ended up touring Europe with Pantera the following year.
Think about that lineup for a second.
Gruntruck opening for Pantera in 1993 actually makes a ridiculous amount of sense.
For a while it looked like they might really break through. “Tribe” was getting played, they had Roadrunner behind them, they were touring outside Seattle.
And then the record-company bullshit started.
I’m not even going to pretend I understand all the legal details, but Gruntruck and Roadrunner ended up in a nasty contract fight that dragged on and cost the band years.
That kind of thing can kill a band faster than a bad record.
They eventually came back with Shot in ’96 — only three songs, different lineup — and there have been various versions of the band around since then.
Ben, Tom, Tim and Norman have played together again, too.
Apparently they’ve recorded more stuff.
Whether any of it ever comes out is another question.
That’s what frustrates me about Gruntruck.
There are basically two proper records sitting on my shelf.
Inside Yours.
Push.
That’s it.
And Push doesn’t sound like the work of a band that had run out of places to go.
Quite the opposite.
People sometimes talk about Gruntruck like they were one of the second-tier Seattle bands, which is bullshit. They just got caught in one of those situations where timing, labels and money mattered almost as much as the music.
Put Push on loud and tell me that band didn’t have another great record in them.
I’m still waiting to hear it.
