Alkaline Trio's Derek Grant Breaks Down His Punk Sound

By Katie Karpowicz in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 20, 2015 7:00PM

Derek Grant (Photo courtesy of Red Scare Industries)

Chicago-born rockers Alkaline Trio seem tighter than ever these days as they enter the elder punk statesmen term of their career. That doesn't mean the members aren't allowed to branch out on their own from time to time. We've seen plenty of solo material from guitarist Matt Skiba and bassist Dan Andriano in the past but today drummer Derek Grant steps into the spotlight with his new LP Breakdown backed by local label Red Scare Industries.

Last we heard from Grant on the solo front, he was covering Prince songs and making music that wouldn't sound of out place at your favorite bar's '80s theme night. Breakdown is nothing like that. Instead, Grant takes up the acoustic guitar and a style similar to Bloodshot Record's trademark "country punk" or Grant's fellow Red Scare-associated artist Sundowner.

These eight new tracks of somber romanticism aren't a huge departure for Trio fans but they certainly offer further insight into the band's softest spoken member. Songs like "Got A Feeling" and "Lucy" in particular give a surprisingly tender and vulnerable voice to a musician we're used to seeing seated wordlessly behind the kit.

Grant celebrates the release of Break Down tonight with a free in-store performance at Reckless Records in Wicker Park (1532 N. Milwaukee Ave.) at 6 p.m. You can also catch him Jan. 24 at Beat Kitchen with backing from Neil Hennessy and Eli Caterer (of The Lawrence Arms and Smoking Popes glory) in his live band.

Buy Breakdown on iTunes, order a physical copy of the album here or give it a test drive first and stream it on Brooklyn Vegan.