Breath Grenades – 25 years of Blowing Minds and Bewildering Audiences


By Kent Davies

I wanna play this song but the radio just won’t play,
We’re going to play it now. Hell… we’re not gonna go away.
– Breath Grenades song “Blasting Pad” from CBC radio’s Brave New Waves in 1996.

No one sounds like the Breath Grenades. No one acts like the Breath Grenades. These legendary space rawkers are so far gone from anything resembling a conventional band that they often defy logic. Beginning with their uniquely destructive bass-snyth sound, they do things their own way. In their decades of playing they have only released one rare album. They don’t play out very often, having a sincere hatred for most venues. Few bands stay together for more than a few years let alone a band that has had staple members pass away. But despite the hardships this groundbreaking punk act has managed to stay a band for more than 25 years. Now with the inclusion of drummer/sound/visual arts genius Richard Altman a.k.a. Vinegar Rich, the Grenades: Don Bailey a.k.a. Vom Doom and Al Conroy (Not Half) a.k.a. Vortexo are coming out from the basement to play shows again. On the eve of the first Breath Grenades show of 2011, Vom and Vinegar gave Stylus a history lesson of the Breath Grenades past, present and future. Continue reading “Breath Grenades – 25 years of Blowing Minds and Bewildering Audiences”