1. Some kind of hero
2. Running from the thinker
3. This is the future

Here’s a couple of reviews from the GRASP archives! GRASP - ‘Espurios’ (EP) It’s time to own up. Despite reviewing GRASP on two separate occasions, I still don’t quite know how to categorise their all too unique style. I’ve compared them to everyone from The Eurythmics to Fairground Attraction, but in all honesty, I can’t get the right angle on them. Perhaps it’s because I’m not well aquatinted enough with the likes of Throwing Muses, with whom they’ve been compared to elsewhere, or perhaps they are a true one off. However, if this is the case they’ve certainly succeeded in immersing me in their engrossing musical offerings. I don’t know if it’s the voice that’s part ‘little girl lost’, part seductress which Katrina weaves so beautifully, or if it’s Gary’s Johnny Marr guitar strokes that move through empathy rather than volume. All I know is that GRASP make superb guitar pop, and obviously someone else agrees as they have just signed to Addiction Records. So why have they sent us a three year old release? To reflect? To give us a full offering of where their work is up to at this point? The reasons don’t matter, for this EP is just as finely executed as everything that the band has offered since. Front runner ‘You’re So Young’ carries a curious sixties flavour, to an appropriately swinging beat. The pedal really hits the metal with the all out rocker that is ‘Running From The Thinker’. Katrina’s usually sensual voice takes on a cockier, taunting tone. As a total contrast ‘So Many People’ is a touching intricate ballad, and already a firm live favourite. “So many people on their own, so many people going nowhere” mourns Katrina. Is this Smiths bedsit misery I’m hearing or has ‘The Queen Is Dead’ made too many appearances on my hi-fi of late? There’s even a certain U2 quality about Gary’s guitar strokes; ‘Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me’? Perhaps. It’s taken them a while, but GRASP are finally at the pedestal that they always deserved to stand upon. To quote dear old Yazz; ‘The Only Way Is Up’. DAVE GILL OF VISION MAGAZINE GRASP CELEBRATE ANOTHER RUNG ON THE LADDER Bowness band GRASP have grabbed the attention of two indie labels with their 80’s-edged jangles. The group have signed with Addiction, who are paying for them to produce an album of original green-minded songs. In a double hit, their single ‘Celebrate The Earth’, the one that starts with a guitar melody akin to The Smiths, is about to be released on 25 Records compilation ‘Olive’s Army’. The CD features various artists from around the UK, and is distributed to radio stations as a sample of the talent on offer. The band clinched the first round of the Battle Of The Bands at the Queens Arms in Barrow with a top notch performance. Glamorous Katrina Rainbow showered her fellow group members with glitter, and popped off members of the audience with a plastic laser gun. A cross between Toyah and Kate from Hollyoaks, she was the focus of the four piece. THE WESTMORLAND GAZETTE 18/06/99 Visit GRASP at their web-site: http://www.25records.com/grasp.htm