Rattail Grenadier

Rattail Grenadier was founded in 1984 by Mass Giorgini (bassist) and Flav Giorgini (guitarist). They began as a three-piece, with drummer Steve Best filling out the line-up, and Flav and Mass sharing lead vocal duties. They soon added second guitarist Kevin Galbraith, and by the end of their first month of active existence had added drummer Dan Lumley, with Steve Best moving to the role of lead vocalist.

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By 1986, the band had returned to being a trio, with Flav and Mass sharing lead vocals, and Dan Lumley retaining the drumming position. In May of 1996, Rattail Grenadier released a self-produced full-length album entitled Three Blind, featuring cover art by Kevin Neireiter (interestingly, Squirtgun's Fade to Bright album of 2003 featured Mass, Flav, and Dan as band members, with cover art by Kevin Neireiter).

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Coinciding with this release, Rattail Grenadier began performing more shows outside of their home region, performing with internationally recognized punk acts such as Toxic Reasons, Dag Nasty, the Zero Boys, Naked Raygun, Material Issue, and many more. In late 1988, Roadkill Records released the self-titled Rattail Grenadier, and exposed the band -- again a quartet with Steve Best on lead vocals -- to an international punk audience.

Related Topics:
Dag Nasty - Material Issue

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Simultaneous label releases of albums by the Bhopal Stiffs and Screeching Weasel turned the label into an immediate phenomenon in the punk scene, and were followed by several more by bands such as No Empathy, Sludgeworth, the Effigies, and Sloppy Seconds. Several tours followed, including one that included a headlining spot at seminal punk venue CBGB's in 1989.

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In 1990, Steve Best was replaced by singer Rick Harris and the melodic hardcore sound of the band began to lean a bit closer to its hardcore element, leading many critics to consider it a "crossover" band -- a name applied frequently during that period to bands combining the frantic pace of hardcore punk with the heavier breakdowns and drum beats typical of the recently developed speed metal genre.

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