Detroit‘s Diegrinder are officially listed as “on hiatus,” and with the rhythm section of bassist Henry Pardike and drummer John Lehl moved on to the decidedly angrier climes of Year of the Pig, I think it’s probably safe to say that Diegrinder‘s days are done. And though I didn’t find their 2002 Goin’ Down EP or 2005’s subsequent Detroit on Fire! full-length (between, the band suffered the loss of second guitarist Steve Kapo) in a used bin, they nonetheless seem ripe for a posthumous look. So here we are.

Detroit on Fire! is obviously the more developed of the two releases — the addition of guitarist Mike Elgert to the fold alongside Pardike, Lehl and guitarist/vocalist Adam Till went a long way — but Goin’ Down is not without a simplistic fuzzy charm. Diegrinder played a Roadsaw-style booze rock, showed a little punk on tracks like “Ballslide” and tapped the veins of familiar subject matter with “Motherfuckin’ Cocaine,” “We Ride,” “Bullets” and the even more blazing “Get Down Motherfucker.”

Nonetheless, what they lacked in revolutionary approach, they made up for with the aforementioned charm and a lack of pretense. In a state that has more rock bands than it has lakes — and Michigan, in case you didn’t know, has a lot of lakes — Diegrinder‘s time came and went quickly, but the documents they left behind are worth seeking out for aficionados of American stoner rock or the type of dude who simply has to have everything. Detroit on Fire! even has a secret track that’s a medley cover of Misfits‘ “Horror Hotel” and “Hybrid Moments.” Adorable.

Diegrinder don’t have any videos on the TuberYous, but their MySpace page is still up for anyone with a couple minutes and the will to hear something they haven’t already heard a thousand times. I know that’s asking a lot for a Monday, but sometimes you can pull it off. They didn’t change the world in their time together, but Diegrinder have echoes of a certain breed of local stoner rock type that’s rarely seen these days and so represent something larger than themselves. If you can dig it, dig it. If not, maybe they’ll come off “hiatus” and impress the next go around.

Tags: Diegrinder, Michigan, Unfortunate Miracle Records

This entry was posted on Monday, May 10th, 2010 at 4:34 pm and is filed under Buried Treasure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.