Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
With all of the recent buzz and hoopla about the long “lost” Gruntruck album (details here) finally seeing the light of day, I now get to utter (via typed text) words I never thought I’d be saying again: “We have a new video from Gruntruck.“
That new visualizer comes in the form of the Jack Anderson-animated video for “Noise Field“. The track itself hails from the just-released (Oct. 13) self-titled Gruntruck album. Both of which were basically delegated to the shelves of long-lost music history and never expected to be heard after the death of the band’s singer and guitarist Ben McMillan in 2008.
Gruntruck was riding a crest of surging popularity in the early ’90s when record label trouble brought their career to a grinding halt before they had a chance to release a follow-up to their breakthrough second album, ‘Push’.
Though the band continued on with an ever-changing rhythm section, McMillan and guitarist Tommy Niemeyer (The Accused) never obtained the major label success they sought. Additional material was recorded but never issued, and with McMillan’s passing in 2008, it seemed that Gruntruck’s legacy would end with its relatively meager ’90s output.
Thankfully, producer Jack Endino kept track of the band’s “lost” recordings and assisted in finding a label, Found Recordings, to release them as the band’s belated, 11 track self-titled swansong. It’s out now and available at this location.
