click to enlarge - Courtesy
- River City Rebels, Pop Culture Baby
(Screaming Cow Records, digital, vinyl)
River City Rebels have dropped their first recording in a decade, Pop Culture Baby, a brisk yet powerful four-song EP that proves they've still got their fingers on the pulse of punk.
Between their 1999 formation in White River Junction and their 2014 separation, River City Rebels released seven albums and numerous singles, making Vermont proud by becoming one of the state's most successful rock bands of the early 2000s. Since their heartbreaking hiatus, founding member Dan "Bopper" O'Day has transformed the Rebels into a new entity with fresh members Marc Conti, Izzy DeSimone, Kody Sanborn and Adam Allard.
While the band's lineup is new, its sounds still encompass the influences of vintage New York City punk legends such as the New York Dolls. Sylvain Sylvain, that band's late guitarist, even produced the Rebels' 2004 album, Hate to Be Loved.
Sylvain's lasting impact is most obvious on the new EP's punchy title track. In the glitzy chorus, the melodious gang lyrics — "You don't fuck with art" — pack a wallop. They are followed by O'Day repeating, "You're a pop culture baby," a line as infectious as a pop song chorus but with more depth. He goes on to criticize people who present well but are empty shells, demanding "substance, not headlines." The song, which checks in at just under two minutes, breezes by with its manic guitar riffs.
"Rock a Cross," which lasts two minutes and change, is another high-powered blip of a song, this one equating organized religion with substance abuse. "Heroin to Jesus, both got you on your knees," O'Day sings before denouncing people for living in fear and banning books. While the lyrics of some aging punk groups feel like desperate attempts to maintain relevance, O'Day's come off as authentic as they do snappy, continuing the Rebels' legacy of combining political ideals and cutting social commentary.
Kicking off the EP's B-side is "Unless You're White," another ultra-catchy track that calls out "bigots from Georgia, bigots from Maine" and all the bigots in between.
"You say you're color-blind, but all you see is white," O'Day sings with lip-curling fury. "If you're looking for answers, let me be clear," he cautions, "it ain't here." That is, "unless you're white," the band counters in the commanding call-and-response earworm — with O'Day shouting "Xenophobe!" — that closes the song.
Barely more than a minute long, "Abuse Myself" is a nihilistic song about substance abuse that fittingly ends almost before it begins. Produced by Dave Minehan of punk and alternative rock pioneers the Replacements, the entire EP is less than eight minutes long. But in that brief time span, River City Rebels remind us that they possess decades of punk wisdom worth listening to.
Pop Culture Baby is available on all major streaming platforms and on vinyl at screamingcrow.com. River City Rebels perform at Main Street Museum in White River Junction on Saturday, June 1, to celebrate their 25th anniversary.