The Grates
Over the past 18 months, The Grates dug deep in their adopted home of the Big Apple. Establishing the routines, methods and procedures that would become their “Secret Rituals”, they set to work on their third album. It was a challenging but rewarding period for the band – facing change and embracing a different perspective and writing style. Ultimately, these battles became a rite of passage to create a body of work that delivers on The Grates’ long-awaited promise.
After five years of touring the world with their first two critically acclaimed albums, “Gravity Won’t Get You High” and “Teeth Lost, Hearts Won” The Grates decided to take a different approach to their new record. “Previously we’ve always gone away and written and recorded our albums in a concentrated burst,” says frontwoman Patience Hodgson. “But this time we really wanted to live our lives while we wrote and recorded over a longer period.” Listening to the finished product, you can understand what The Grates discovered making it. That it is the secret rituals of everyday that inspire us, the way we live our lives. The things that happen as we eat dinner, struggle home through a storm, what goes on behind bedroom doors, inside rehearsal studios; all of it feeds the soul. Whatever rites of passage The Grates invented, they worked. Secret Rituals is as worldly and cool as the town it was written in, while steeped in sweet nostalgia for the band’s hometown roots.
