Rebel Yell

Live From My Parent's Basement (2011)

Rich Cocksedge

This is one odd release to try and convey to the folks who regularly tune into the Org for their weekly doses of all that is old, new and somewhere in between within this world of punk rock. Reading the band's bio really confused the hell out of me with statements such as "riffin, rappin, drums beats, booze," "the punkster-hip hop party sound known as Rebel Yell" and "energy of a punk show with the dancebility of a hip hop style" all creating a bit of a headache as I tried to imagine what this duo would actually sound like across the five tracks on this release. This isn't the band's first release, yet all those that came before were not clearly heavily influenced by rap more than punk rock and this is where statements such as those above obviously came from, but for some reason the duo decided to rework five of their songs in a hardcore style, and in doing so bring them to another audience.

If I were to say my initial impressions of the lead track, "Vulgar Male Roaring," were of the Beastie Boys' "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)," then I would expect many readers might decide to stop reading here and go to something that has more credibility in the grand world of punk. However, that would not really reflect all that Rebel Yell is actually doing. Yes, there is a musical similarity to the snotty trio who were reviled by the U.K. press back in the '80s for their outrageous behavior when the Licensed to Ill album came out, but that's not a constant theme across the five songs. There is no doubt that this has some elements that bring to mind the Beastie Boys, mainly through the vocals, but equally on "Boogedy Boo," there is an undoubted nod at times towards the Bad Brains, coming via the vocal delivery of the lyrics, which are spat out at a rate of knots which is almost impossible to register. The one other band that I think of when listening to this is Adrenalin OD, not through any particular sound or song here, just that ability they had to knock out crazy moments of magic that were short yet catchy and memorable, laced with a massive dose of humor and delivered at a breakneck pace.

I am intrigued from start to finish with Live From My Parent's Basement, as at times it comes across as a little too deliberate an attempt to be something different, albeit in a small way, whereas other times I just really enjoy the manic, frazzled, catchy sound that hits the spot nicely in supplying a getaway from the crap we so frequently encounter in our day to day lives.

I've subsequently listened to the original rap versions of these songs and although they're not bad (I'm not a particularly big fan of much rap music so this stuff could actually be the bees knees or a crock of shit, I don't know), I would urge the members of Rebel Yell to concentrate their efforts towards more punk rock tuneage, as they do have quite a knack for delivering some decent songs. Hats off to them for trying to step outside any musical comfort zone they might have previously resided in and for displaying some much needed humor that has certainly put a smile on my face.