Defecting Grey "Circuits"
Defecting Grey is the convergence of long-time friends and members of central Jersey punk and power pop bands. CJ and Vince Grogan (The Phantom Five, The Grievous Angels/Gigantic/Buzzed Meg) and Mike Polilli (Buzzkill/Atom Driver) are a trio drawn together by the irresistible, gravitational force of playing music they love. Harnessing the melodic power and virtuosity of bands like Husker Du, The Minutemen, The Jam, and Mission of Burma, since coming together in late 2017, they’ve remained singularly focused on forging songs that are ascatchy as they are visceral.
Over seven years, the band has alternated between recording and serving up one blistering live set after another, all the while honing their mix of power and unmistakable hooks. A year after releasing their Rising Son EP in the summer of 2018, Defecting Grey entered beloved punk laboratory Exeter Studios to record six new songs with a particular focus on capturing the raw feel of their live shows. The resulting Run Silent EP was released on MVC Records in August of 2019 to rave reviews:
“Defecting Grey’s latest collection is a rabbit punch of a record, featuring well-crafted tunes delivered in a tastefully pulverizing manner… Defecting Grey achieves a perfect balance of meaning and malice on this collection from start to finish” -Neuse News
“You can imagine what a live band these three are. “Your Moonlight” ends proceedings and encapsulates all that the band are about. Pace, sweat and real shake your fist stuff, superbly played with an Eddie Clarke type solo. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is rock and you should just embrace it”- I Don’t Hear a Single
And then? Covid. BOO! With playing out and proper recording on ice, the band spent the next two years building on nearly 20 of CJ’s demos, finally returning to Exeter in June of 2021 to record their first long player ‘ARC’ tracking the evolution from a collection of rough sketches to their first fully realized album, released in May’ 22. The reception, was once again, roundly positive:
‘After several EP’s, Defecting Grey has delivered an album of psychedelic garage punk that recalls the similar fusion pioneered by Husker Du (C.J. even sustains his vowels like Bob Mould.) But there’s a lot more going here than mere Husker worship. Vince Grogan plays his bass like a lead guitar, Mike Polilli brings the thunder, “Post Modern Western” veers towards power pop, the 6 minute-plus “The Seven Hunters” emphasizes the band’s psychedelic side’-Jersey Beat
‘Grandiose, very spacious sound, wonderful guitars, enviable songwriting, partly polyphonic vocals with heavenly harmonies”-Ox Fanzine
And now, in late 2024, the boys emerge once again from Exeter with perhaps the truest record of their music to date. The 6-song EP, “Circuits”, released on NJ’s own Fake Chapter Recordsexplodes right out of the gate with the raucous, poppy garage-punk of “Gibraltar”, the first single off the record. Each song that follows shows off Defecting Grey’s deft skill at exploring the sounds and melodies of the music they love most. Whether it’s the driving power-pop of “Flat-Earth Theory” and “Circuits”, the country-tinged “Blind Country”, the super-charged “Backwards Ghost” or the haunting jangle of “Low Status Sound” this is a band showing off just what it’s capable of to glorious effect.
Look out for shows in support of the new EP in late ’24 early ’25.