Gramme

Gramme are a UK band from London who make stripped-down lo-fi disco with post-punk and disco-punk elements. The group forms in 1996 and is active from 1996 to the present. It begins as a five-piece and later appears as a streamlined four-piece, with members including Dave Bateman, Ian Girdlestone, Luke Hannam, Sam Lynham and Leo Taylor.

Style and influences

Their sound is shaped by a shared interest in the melancholy associated with Factory Records artists such as Joy Division, Section 25 and A Certain Ratio, along with the proto-punk-funk of New York’s 99 Records scene and bands such as Liquid Liquid and ESG. Their music is described as lo-fi, sparse and danceable, and they develop a cult reputation despite releasing material only intermittently. Their work influences artists including Hot Chip and James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem.

Early recordings and label work

In 1997 Gramme record two key EPs for Trevor Jackson’s Output label, Mine and Pre Release. Pre Release is produced by Jackson in a short studio session at Blackwing Studios in London and is not issued until 1999. The band later signs to Junior Boys Own in 2001 but is dropped, and the strain of a heavy schedule contributes to their eventual split around January 2002.

Later activity

After a period away, interest in the group grows again when bootlegs of Like U begin circulating in 2011, including edits by Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard. White labels with new material then follow, and these recordings form the basis of Fascination, their debut album, released on Tim ‘Love’ Lee’s Tummy Touch Records in 2013. At that time the group is a four-piece. They later issue the EP I Can’t Resist before another hiatus, then return with their second album, Discolovers, in 2019.