The Grip Weeds' name tells you a lot about the New Jersey band, which got that name from John Lennon's Private Gripweed character in the 1967 comedy How I Won the War. Consistently mindful of 1960s rock, the Grip Weeds are a retro-psychedelic outfit whose influences range from the British Invasion power pop of the Who, the Kinks, and Revolver-era Beatles to the Southern California jangle pop of the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield. The rockin' yet highly melodic quartet has often been compared to another New Jersey band, the Smithereens, and in fact, Grip Weeds singer/drummer Kurt Reil played alongside Smithereens members Dennis Diken (drums) and Jim Babjak (guitar) in the 1990s side band Jim Babjak's Buzzed Meg. But while the Grip Weeds and the Smithereens have a mutual appreciation of British Invasion rock, no one would have a problem telling them apart -- the Grip Weeds are too psychedelic to be mistaken for the tougher, grittier, more forceful Smithereens.