#674: I Am Here by Grapes Of Wrath
Peak Month: October 1991
13 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Charts
Peak Position ~ #9
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “I Am Here”
Lyrics: “I Am Here”
When they were eight years old Kevin Kane and Chris Hooper met. Four years later they became good friends and formed a band at the age of 13, enlisting Chris’ younger brother Tom to play bass. In the late 70’s they formed a punk band they called Kill Pigs. They eased of the harsh sound and reformed in 1983 as the Grapes Of Wrath. The band’s name came from the iconic 1939 novel by John Steinbeck about the dust bowl and the hopeless circumstances of tenant farmers trying to make a living during the Great Depression. The phrase comes from a line in “The Battle Hymn Of The Republic” from 1861, and references several verses from the Book of Revelation 14:18-19 about an angel pressing grapes into the wrath of God. Their debut album, September Bowl Of Green, was released in 1985. Their second album, Treehouse, featured backing vocals by Tom Cochrane, who also produced the 1987 album. In 1989, the band added Vincent Jones to their lineup and released Now And Then. In the fall of 1989, their single, “All The Things I Wasn’t”, made the Top 30 in Vancouver and Hamilton. That fall they toured as the opening act for the Canadian singer, Sarah McLauchlan.