Gratis

Gratis was birthed in reaction to what they felt was becoming cliche, conservative, and boring music from the punk, hardcore and metal scenes. Striving to break the shackles of the restrictions punk and hardcore world they grew up in imposed, Gratis desired to push the art into new territory or even move beyond it! While still having roots firmly planted in underground DIY culture; they began writing music that pushed their physical and creative limits! The result was an intense, complex, often experimental, weird, humorous, and deadly serious set of compositions. Tempo and time signatures change drastically and the drop of a hat. Mixing in and jump-cutting between math rock, grindcore, black metal, punk, jazz, surf, movie scores, cartoons; it was all fair game! Wild improvs that go anywhere between beautiful ambience, harsh noise, and splattered free jazz. Their live shows were very loud, very physical, exciting and euphoric. Often leaving the members with broken instruments and bruised bodies. This band shaped Brett Siler, Scott Siler, Jesse Gallamore, Kelsey Cain, and Brint Powell, not just as musicians but as people as well. Gratis would go on to befriend, play shows and tour with other weird bands such as Lords, Coliseum,Child Bite, Ayin, Spizm, Breather Resist,The End, Horse The Band, Metatron, Melk the G6-49 and labels such as Joyful Noise. The band dissolved in 2009 playing their final show a day after the death of Micheal Jackson. 10 years after the band's demise an album has been constructed from archived recordings of unreleased material, live demos, and experimental improvs. While the performances and recordings captured here are raw and gritty the album encapsulates the spirit of what Gratis was attempting to achieve.