River City Rebels – No Good, No Time, No Pride – Review

River City Rebels

No Good, No Time, No Pride (Victory)
by Grady Gadbow

This is Oi! type punk with horns, right here in River City, but it’s not as bad as it sounds. For one thing, the horns are of the medium-low pitched variety, namely a trombone and a tenor sax. They tend to back the guitar line and beef it up like the bologna in a Philly cheese steak, which is a cool effect even if you don’t give a damn about no trumpet-playing band.

The second song, “Aborted,” is a pretty darn good one. The rollicking upbeat chorus of “I should have been aborted!” is a welcome piece of black humor in a musical genre too often super serious. The song is a mid-tempo, four chord, one verse and a breakdown type of thing which is what the ‘Rebels do best. Actually, it’s about all they do. None of the songs is especially fast and the drummer is either showing tasteful restraint like the guy from AC/DC, or he only knows one beat.

At their worst, the ‘Rebels sound like a terrible ska band whose singer has just returned from the dentist with his face all puffed up. At their best moments they play solid, original rock ‘n’ roll.
(346 N. Justine Street, Suite 504 Chicago, IL 60607)