Get A "Grip" On Miss Crazy!

In another of my random rock forays, I flipped through my digital media player housing my more than 3500 albums and by a twist of fate landed on Miss Crazy’s 2012 release Grip. Never heard of them you say? Well I’m with ya! I couldn’t even tell you where I acquired this recording, sometimes I bulk purchase anything that “looks good” from websites in digital or hard copy form, sometimes recommended by a friend or sometimes sent to me through record companies, so it gets hard to remember….I am getting old and all! It doesn’t matter where it came from, just that it’s here and why the hell hadn’t I checked this out when I first got it I don’t know.

I cued it up and delved into the first selection, “Make It Go Away”, from this Miss Crazy band that I had never heard of before and knew nothing about. Wow….it got my attention right off the bat with this lead song featuring a chorus that would be in my head for days to come. With a vocal sound like someone I can’t quite place and it drives me nuts, the second track, “Nothing Suits Me” blisters through it’s 2:06 minute runtime peppered with a catchy riff in the chorus. “True Blood” and “Higher” carry the album well continuing the same vein, just a little flatter or a step off the two openers, but still good solid rock tracks. I popped open an internet window and headed over to Miss Crazy’s Facebook page searching for information. The KISS style kabuki make-up wearing Miss Crazy formed in California with Markus Allen Christopher (who has also released an album under the band name Freakshow consisting of Tony Franklin on bass, drummer Frankie Banalli and guitarist Jeff Labar) helming the project. Christopher is the sole remaining member of Miss Crazy’s original line-up and today he’s joined by drummer Chris Jordan, guitarist Craig Launer and bassist Chris Stringari for Grip which comes after Miss Crazy (2006), Can’t Get Enough (2007) and II (2008). The fifth track is the deal sealer on the whole album if I even needed one after what I’d heard already and it absolutely blew me away. “Hail Bruce Lee” is a must hear, the longest song in the collection and the only one over four minutes shown in this fan-made video. I repeated the track three or four more times before moving on and
for several days while walking around work I would respond to co-workers greetings, questions and conversations by getting right in their face with the line “Don’t wanna fuck with me, don’t wanna take me on, I’m fucking Bruce Lee”! “All About You” is another rocker, that could even be seen as a radio friendly hit if rock radio would ever play something as cool as Miss Crazy! “Knowing Me” is up next with a great driving riff powering it along into “Straight Til The End” which like the rest of the songs sounds like a mash of Cinderella and KIX with some AC/DC and Motley Crue tossed in as well. The record shuts down on “Fear”, loaded with great guitar work and Christopher’s searing vocal prowess. Unfortunately these nine songs only clock in around 26 minutes collectively, but every second is awesome and I’m on the hunt for more Miss Crazy, you should be too!