August 2025
Jem Records—PSL-1044
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
I’ve reviewed a few Grip Weeds albums over the years, beginning with the 2007 release House of Vibes Revisited, a remixed and expanded version of the band’s 1994 debut album. It was the first time I’d heard them, and I’ve been a fan ever since. The Grip Weeds make melodic rock’n’roll in the tradition of the great bands of the 1960s, but they cast a wide net stylistically. They’re such strong songwriters and musicians that their albums carry on in the tradition of the bands that inspired them while standing firmly on their own.
Soul Bender is the group’s ninth long-player, and the title tune pulls you into the album with exhilarating, catchy guitar riffs, richly layered vocal harmonies, and an ear-grabbing melody. Dave DeSantis’s bass anchors the song, and Kristin Pinell Reil and Rick Reil provide the slashing guitars. Kurt Reil keeps the song rolling with the fierce conviction of his drumming.
“Flowers for Cynthia” is also built on a great guitar line, but guitars are only one element in this well-arranged and carefully constructed track. A subtle, sweet keyboard line helps buoy the vocals during the verses, with shimmering guitar chords joining in to fill things out in the chorus. More layers of guitars, keys, and vocals are added as the song develops, and Kristin Pinell Reil fires off a very cool multitracked solo during the final chorus and continues to embellish the remaining moments of the song with ringing arpeggios.
Kurt and Kristin duet on “Promise (of the Real),” which has a touch of Tom Petty in it and sounds to me like a heartfelt homage. Rick Reil’s sharp rhythm-guitar playing gives the track its color and backbone, and Kristin ties things together with a strongly delivered slide-guitar solo. “If You Were Here” features Kristin’s lovely voice in a slice of ’60s-style sunshine pop, but Kurt’s drums and a cutting guitar solo give the track a slightly darker hue. A tagline at the end of each chorus elevates an already-good tune into something inspired. It’s the kind of small touch that keeps you coming back to a song, and Soul Bender is full of them.
“Gene Clark (Broken Wing),” a tribute to the great, underrated songwriter and singer from the Byrds, captures the spirit of his stint with them and evokes the experimentalism of his later solo recordings. The Grip Weeds embrace the essence of Clark’s peak years with the Byrds in the song’s complex harmony vocals and reinforce it with a witty backwards guitar line from Rick.
“Conquer and Divide” proudly displays its garage-rock roots with a Farfisa-style organ line and stinging wah-wah guitar. The song’s mix of pop accessibility and psychedelic rock’n’roll anarchy reminded me of the glory days of mid-to-late-’60s AM radio. Rick Reil’s guitar solo is a model of brief, burning energy. “Fragmented” and “Wake Up Time” are energetic slices of hard rock, but even the toughest Grip Weeds songs have delightfully unexpected chord changes and great hooks.
“Love Comes in Different Ways” contains the strongest Beatles strain of any tune on Soul Bender, but I also caught a hint of early Led Zep in the intro. “Wake Up Time” wouldn’t sound out of place on The Who Sell Out, my favorite Who album. In both cases, however, the Grip Weeds have taken elements from bands they love and used them as affectionate references while fashioning something of their own.
Kurt Reil has been one of my favorite drummers since I first heard the Grip Weeds, and his brother Rick proves repeatedly that a rhythm guitarist drives a rock band. His occasional solos demonstrate his range as a player. Kristin Pinell Reil is a guitar heroine, but her solos are smart, well developed, and firmly based in their songs. Dave DeSantis is a relative newcomer—he joined in 2012—but he’s been a good fit from the beginning, giving songs a solid rhythmic foundation while reinforcing their melodic lines.
The Grip Weeds established House of Vibes Productions as a recording studio in 1993, and its clients have included the Smithereens, Richard X. Heyman, Mark Lindsay, and Susan Cowsill. Kurt Reil engineered Soul Bender, Rick helped with the mixing, and the band produced. The album has a bright, lively sound, and it’s full of great touches—a guitar or keyboard line, a percussion accent, or a slightly buried background vocal—that reward careful listening.
My copy of Soul Bender, pressed on green vinyl, was flat and played with a quiet sonic background. The music’s dynamics came through, and instruments were impressively detailed. DeSantis’s bass lines had snap and force, and the crack of Kurt Reil’s snare cut through cleanly. Harmony vocals sounded luxurious and beautifully detailed.
Soul Bender is stylistically daring and varied, but the songs are intelligently sequenced, and the album flows easily. The Grip Weeds have a firm grasp of rock’n’roll history, but they’re not just retracing its steps; they make it sound viable and fresh. Soul Bender is a good example of rock’s continued possibilities.
. . . Joseph Taylor
josepht@soundstagenetwork.com
