The Rabble
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The Rabble

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"The Rabble - Rebellion Fest 09"

They came, they saw and they fucking blasted our ears out!
The Rabble returned most triumphantly to the stage at the Rebellion Festival in Blackpool just short of midnight, to a massive crowd. The impact they made last year at the festival was more than evident by the sheer numbers wearing their merch. A short tour of the UK followed last year with Goldblade, but this time they're jet-setting off to Europe, for a series of dates over on the continent.
Tonight though, the band are fired up and ready to show off some new songs too. The earlier bands seem light years away from these guys in terms of pure energy.

The set starts off with a couple of numbers from their amazing 'The Battles Almost Over' album from last year [ reviewed elsewhere on this site ] and the guys down the font are loving this. They also have a new look to them tonight, gone are the massive mohawks, in favour of a slightly more pleasing 'mohawk-down' look. They don't have anything to prove, unlike last time, so they are well relaxed and ready to deliver possibly one of the best shows all week-end.
There's something about The Rabble's songwriting that makes you pay attention. These ain't throw away, supermarket, MTV tunes, they are heartfelt, meaningful and delicious lyrics. Ok, so I'm a girl, I can say that, but believe me, these guys are more than intelligent when it comes to writing classy songs. How they haven't been picked up by the big labels is beyond belief!

Their show tonight has attracted a massive crowd in the Arena, and boy, are they loving this? Each three minute classic is just washed down by another and another, it's a pure delight everytime I go to see them play. No sooner have they started, it's time to finish. This is almost like watching a Ramones set, where you have just been so wrapped up in the band's performance that you lose track of time and, well, everything! I don't want them to stop playing, I want this to go on for ever!!
Well, that's it for another year at the Festival. Catch them on tour across Europe and hopefully back here in the UK, but definately, definately check out their album. - Soundcheck Magazine


Discography

No clue, No Future - album
This Is Our Lives - E.P
The Battle's Almost Over - album

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Bio

Storming out of their hometown of Auckland, The Rabble are exploding out of New Zealand and into the hearts of punks worldwide. Harnessing the advantages of both experience and youth, this powerful and passionate band have been a band for over seven years but they're still only just out of their teenage years and are truly unstoppable. One listen to the gravelly vocals and infectious soulful punk anthems on their 16-track second album ‘The Battle's Almost Over' and you'll be hooked.

Formed in 2001 by brothers Chazz and Rupe at the young ages of 14 and 15 respectively, the first six years saw them honing their gritty yet catchy sound and seeing several bassists come and go, before settling on recent addition Jamie Douglass. Their DIY ethos has seen them independently release debut album ‘No Clue, No Future', the ‘This Is Our Lives' EP and the mighty sophomore full-length ‘The Battle's Almost Over'. Relentlessly touring all over New Zealand, the UK and Europe over the last few years alongside Agnostic Front, The Unseen and The Living End, to name just a few, they're also no strangers to festival stages, playing to over 1500 people at Auckland's Big Day Out and, more recently, to a crowd of over 2000 on the main stage at the Blackpool Rebellion Festival. Having given away a compilation of their best songs, titled ‘New Generation', with issue 102 of Big Cheese Magazine, their huge accompanying UK headline tour of the same name has recently won them many more fans up and down the country and spread the fire of The Rabble burning bright into the Northern hemisphere. So what inspired their several month-long mission to the other side of the globe at this time?

“We decided we were strong enough to take our music to the world now after all these years, starting with the UK and Europe. We have a new generation of punk rock music at hand. The UK deserves another round of real, honest and soulful music and we want to kick off that march!” vocalist/drummer Rupe confidently declares.

It's surely fate that The Rabble charge into England, as they meld the sounds of '77 legends The Clash with more recent American heroes Rancid, while adding inspired flavours of hardcore (‘This World Is Dead'), rock n' roll (‘Seeking'), rockabilly (‘Devil's Highway'), Celtic sounds (‘The Battle') and an irrepressible spirit all of their own. The album spawned four hit singles in New Zealand, with their songs and videos appearing on radio and TV, and, having conquering their homeland, they've now set their sights on the rest of the world. ‘The Battle's Almost Over' was again recorded by vocalist/guitarist Chazz in his own Number 8 Wire Recording Studio and mixed by Jim Siegel (Dropkick Murphys) in Boston, their latest record was a suitably international affair. The ambitious rabble-rousers even secured guest vocals by their new friend Mark Unseen, frontman Boston hardcore-infused punks The Unseen (who they have shared stages with), on the raging ‘This World Is Dead'!

“Chazz and I have been big fans for a lot of years,” Rupe explains. “We really got on with Mark and kept in touch over the internet and eventually thought why not ask him to sing guest vocals on a track we had coming up that was fast and hardcore?” Laying down his part in the US, Mark was flown over by The Rabble to appear in the video for the song too. “The whole experience was mind-blowing and we've made a lifelong friend!”

On ‘The Battle's Almost Over' the three-piece have a clear message. “The theme for the record is generally that freedom's battle is almost over, but the war is just beginning,” declares Rupe. The album is full of songs stressing positivity through perserverance and hope through struggle. “We have a soulful message that doesn't only concentrate on hatred. I think the world needs that. We don't ignore the negative, we embrace it and turn it around! We wanted to make an album that makes people take notice of their surroundings and help The Rabble put punk rock back on the map!”

The Rabble are doing just that, stamping their mark from country to country. With a deep belief in their songs and a dedication and determination to relentlessly tour and spread their music and message, it's no wonder that Rupe confirms, “the sky's the fuckin' limit!”

“The Rabble is my life, The Rabble is my hope, mine and my brother's creation that is as beautiful as a red rose and as stand out as a black sheep in a field of white.”

Battling on and winning fans and friends worldwide, the war may be just beginning but The Rabble's awesome arsenal will see their punk rock army grow and grow. Raise your voice and rise up.