Gridiron

If you push hard enough, every boundary can be broken…

GRIDIRON will go to any extreme and then some. They follow quite possibly the most unpredictable playbook in the game. The band might flood the zone with a corpsepaint-smearing death metal barrage only to double back around for a victory lap narrated by blinged-out and braggadocios bars. Their hybridization of metal, hardcore, and hip-hop wouldn't be out of place at either OZZfest 1997 or Rolling Loud 2027. It's why the quintet — Matthew Karll [vocals], Will Kaelin [guitar, vocals], Xavier Wilson [guitar], Lennon Livesay [bass], and Tyler Mullen [drums] — have bulldozed their own path as a phenomenon with millions of streams and acclaim from Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, NO ECHO, and more.

Now, they continue to smash through walls on their second full-length offering and Blue Grape Music debut, Poetry From Pain.

"We're not in a box," Will states. "Our sound is an amalgamation of everything we love. We're putting death metal, rapping, huge breakdowns, and arena choruses in a blender, and it comes out like this. The record sounds like GRIDIRON from top-to-bottom, but it takes you down various winding roads."

"We never paint ourselves into a corner," adds Karll. "Instead, we're always asking, 'How far can we push the envelope?' These songs cover all of the bases of what we want GRIDIRON to be."

Taking time to define this vision, GRIDIRON was born out of a series of COVID-era marathon Call of Duty sessions. "We thought, 'Instead of just drinking beer and playing Call of Duty for twelve hours a day, we need to do something creative," Will recalls. "Karll texted me, 'Can you write some songs for me to rap over?' I said, 'Let's do it.'" Their musical pedigree spoke for itself with Will also in Never Ending Game, Xavier in Simulakra, and Tyler and Lennon in Scarab. Given their individual experiences, the guys instantly locked into a creative groove.

Following the Loyalty At All Costs EP [2020] and Worldwide Brotherhood EP [2021], they dropped their first full-length, No Good At Goodbyes [2022]. The title track reeled in over 851K Spotify streams followed by "25-8" with 560K Spotify streams. Stereogum applauded their "heavy, hard-stomping, rap-influenced hardcore." Along the way, they also shared stages with everyone from Missing Link to Trapped Under Ice. In late 2024, the group decamped to Chicago where they recorded Poetry From Pain with recording engineer Andy Nelson in less than ten days.

"Andy's a core piece of the puzzle," says Will. "I don't think there's a better hardcore-metal recorder out there for making everything sound crushing."

GRIDIRON teased this era with "Talk Real," which Brooklyn Vegan praised as "a tough-as-nails rap rock anthem." However, they blew the door off the hinges with the single "Mascot." Pinch harmonics squeal between a plodding heavier-than-hell riff scorched by schoolyard battle-rap burns like, "You employee of the month at the bitch store!" It climaxes on a catchy chorus, "You ain't even on the bench no more, no no, you just a mascot."

"It's about faking it but never actually making it," Karll reveals. "The song is a little more punchline-driven, which I wanted to emphasize on this record without overdoing it."

"When Karll sent the lyrics, I was laughing out loud about how it was going to flow," smiles Will. "It's a Slayer-type riff with all of these punchlines!"

"Tombstone" revolves around a thick beat and a head-bobbing distorted groove. Karll proclaims, "The road to hell, it ends at your tombstone."

"It tells a story about seeking revenge," Karll sets the scene. "At the end, it basically comes back around."

Then, there's "Still Playin' For Keeps (Big Umbrella Remix)" featuring Daniel Son, Pro Dillinger, and Jay Royale. This elite MC collective conducts a stone-cold rap masterclass over fluid fret-burning riffs. Icy verses and incisive guitars leave blood on the field.

"Growing up, I listened to a ton of hip-hop because of my older brothers," Karll recalls. "Limp Bizkit was my introduction to heavy music. I loved how they had a rock version and a rap version of 'Rollin'' on Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog Flavored Water. We got features from three of the best artists in underground rap today. The goal was to combine the underground cultures of hip-hop and hardcore. They all wrote their own verses, and it was exactly what I wanted."

Elsewhere, the title track "Poetry From Pain" sees the band join forces with nothing, nowhere. Emotion overflows on a hypnotic hook, "Hope you find something to gain in my poetry from pain."

"It stood out as a bigger anthem, and it felt right as the title track," Karll elaborates. "The basis of the song is the idea of Poetry From Pain; we're using music and lyrics to express emotions. It needed to have some form of singing, and we were glad nothing, nowhere. was down. It's our ode to Linkin Park and Hybrid Theory and how they went back and forth between singing and rapping."

"It's our version of a big 2000s jam," grins Will. "It could be playing on the menu of NHL 06 or something!"

The album closes out on a triumphant note with "Heavy Metal Money (Seen It All Before)" featuring Big Body Bes. Thundering riffs toss and turn beneath a wild cameo from Big Body Bes as shots pop and glass breaks. The MC admits, "I gotta pray for myself 'cuz I'm at war with myself."

"I reached out to Big Body Bes and said, 'Let's do a hard track where you talk your shit for two minutes,'" Karll goes on. "He's one of the coolest dudes ever, and he was on board. We went outside the box, but not too far. It's super fun."

By flipping the script, GRIDIRON usher heavy music forward.

"When you listen to this, I hope you feel like it's a natural evolution," Will leaves off. "We've progressed, but we've kept true to our core. It's definitely GRIDIRON. It's just another step up."

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SHORT BIO

Pushing every boundary to a breaking point, GRIDIRON will go to any extreme and then some. They follow quite possibly the most unpredictable playbook in the game. The band might flood the zone with a corpsepaint-smearing death metal barrage only to double back around for a victory lap narrated by blinged-out and braggadocios bars. Their hybridization of metal, hardcore, and hip-hop wouldn't be out of place at either OZZfest 1997 or Rolling Loud 2027. It's why the quintet — Matthew Karll [vocals], Will Kaelin [guitar, vocals], Xavier Wilson [guitar], Lennon Livesay [bass], and Tyler Mullen [drums] — have bulldozed their own path as a phenomenon with millions of streams and acclaim from Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, NO ECHO, and more. GRIDIRON was born out of a series of COVID-era marathon Call of Duty sessions, which led to writing and recording together. Their musical pedigree spoke for itself with Will also in Never Ending Game, Xavier in Simulakra, and Tyler and Lennon in Scarab. Given their individual experiences, the guys instantly locked into a creative groove. Following the Loyalty At All Costs EP [2020] and Worldwide Brotherhood EP [2021], they dropped their first full-length, No Good At Goodbyes [2022]. The title track reeled in over 851K Spotify streams followed by "25-8" with 560K Spotify streams. Along the way, they also shared stages with everyone from Missing Link to Trapped Under Ice. Now, GRIDIRON continue to smash through walls on their second full-length offering and Blue Grape Music debut, Poetry From Pain.