Instruments
Bands
- As Wicked- Bass (one-off, 2005)
- Decline- Bass (~01)
- The Blasphemies- Bass (~03)
- Forever Dead!- Upright Bass (2005)
- Last Boss- Bass
Biography
George Gratz started learning the bass guitar at the age of thirteen, when his parent bought him is first amp and bass for his birthday. Not really knowing the proper way to finger pick or finger positioning, George immediately started to learn songs like “Journey to the Edge of East Bay” by Rancid and “Santo Monica” by Everclear. George didn’t take very many lessons when it came to playing bass, learning most of what he knows from listening to blues, jazz and bassists like Matt Freeman (Rancid), John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) , Les Claypool (Primus), Jay Bently (Bad Religion), Fat Mike (NOFX), Kim Nekroman (The Nekromantix), Jimbo Wallace (Reverend Horton Heat) and many more. At the age of fourteen, George Gratz joined his first band called The Blasphemies, a punk band influenced by dark subject matter and frantic playing. After a year the band broke up but was reformed two years later. The Blasphemies recorded one full length album tilted “Underground Primal Peoples”. Before the reformation of The Blasphemies, George Gratz was recruited as the bass player of Decline, a political punk band influenced by bands like The Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion, and Operation Ivy. After a few months Decline split up due to members moving away. Decline recorded one full length album with George which was never released. At the age of eighteen George was in a music store looking to buy a trumpet when he came across an upright bass. Having never played or handled one before George immediately picked it up, played it, and bought it in a matter of half an hour. After the purchase of the used and slightly battered upright bass, George began learning to play some jazz and psychobilly, which proved to be a learning experience all its own. After two years of fumbling with the upright bass George joined the punk/psychobilly/rock band Forever Dead to get some experience with playing psychobilly and rockabilly. For the past three years George Gratz and Forever Dead have been rocking the socks of their home town of Thunder Bay, Ontario and the surrounding area, gaining more fan base at every performance. Forever dead has recorded an EP Titled “Rev Up The Pinch Nipskies” and a full length “…Not Quite Dead Yet”.