'RATTLEBUS'
'RATTLEBUS'
- Label: 'PINK MOON (www.netsoundsmusic.com/pinkmoon)'
- Genre: 'Rock' - Release Date: '28th April 2008'- Catalogue No: 'PMCD007'
Our Rating:
Formerly the house band at Liverpool's fantastic 'Hell's Ditch' Americana night, RATTLEBUS went on to prove they were very much their own entity when they released their potent 'Freak Heirs' single back in the mists of 2006 and have been beavering away perfecting their likeably gritty guitar pop sound ever since.
Released on Andy Jones' excellent Pink Moon label (responsible in the past for glorious Scouse pop excursions courtesy of the likes of Barbel, The Jactars and The Da Vincis), 'Rattlebus' features 12 slices of the kind of sardonic, idiosyncratic and largely brilliant rock'n'roll Merseyside has always done so well. Yes, it's often intuitive rather than hugely polished, but when it sounds this thrilling, who really cares.
Opener 'Riding In Circles' gives you some idea of what to expect. Pretty much the sound of ragged glory in excelsis, it finds the 'Bus swaggering around like a tanked-up Liverpudlian Crazy Horse or Replacements, but the snottiness, the gnarly guitar figures and the fact co-frontmen Tim Glover and Martin Ward's harmonies tend to be of the scuffed and lived-in variety merely add to the attraction.
Most of what follows is equally engaging too. Songs like 'Mercury', ' Don't Believe' and a revisited 'Freak Heirs' soon imprint themselves on your memory with their biting and snapping guitars, raspy hooks, raw-throated vocal attack and the rhythm section of Phil McHoul (bass) and drummer Steve Vasey pushing, prodding and keeping it fluid throughout. All the tunes are stuffed with scabrously witty observations, too, not least the leering 'Heavy Metal Girls' which opens with the immortal couplet "whatever happened to the heavy metal girls who used to fancy me?/ maybe they settled down, maybe I got ugly" before going on to refer to both tampons and 'Nutbush City Limits'. As you do.
All the above have an ability to seamlessly merge melting tenderness with an aggressive streak, but nowhere is this better displayed than on the kookily wonderful 'Jackie Leigh' - where the song's main character is an altruistic girl who chains herself to the Sellafield perimeter post but everyone else thinks is mad because "all she wanted to do was hug the world". It's beautifully observed and - along with the deceptively jaunty anti-pharmaceutical rant of 'Keeping The Chemist' and the REM-go-raga excitement of 'Coelacanth' - forges a truly fascinating middle section for the album to feed off.
They keep plenty of bitten-off genius in reserve as they head for the tape too. 'At The Bus Stop' has some great, blink-and-you-miss-'em lyrics ("you used double negatives/ there was nothing you wouldn't do") and a false ending that will wrong fool you for ages; 'Torchy & The Moonbeams' provides the record's nagging, gnarled ballad for you to dream on to and the closing 'Ricochet' is perhaps the best thing of all here with its' anthemic chorus and valedictory guitar overload, sending you home with a real shit-eating grin on your mug and sounding like a future classic-in-waiting into the bargain.
Devoid of obvious weakness, oozing ornery attitude and spewing manic guitar thrills all over the place, 'Rattlebus' is a great, take no prisoners debut from a band keen to do their own thing and damn the torpedoes. Listen up kids: this is still the way it should be done.
(www.rattlebus.co.uk)
author: Tim Peacock
Rattlebus, The Story So Far.
I think I first met Martin Ward at a house party somewhere in Oxton over ten years ago now. It was very late and I remember he was sitting against a wall, alone but cool with it. I’d have to admit to being slightly in awe of him as he was sort of a local hero. He’d been in bands that could have been big and I’d heard he’d done Peel sessions and stuff. He busked too and had, still has, an encyclopaedic knowledge of song words. He had all the confidence and belief I didn’t, don’t have. He encouraged me when I sang too quietly, got nervous or just freaked out and spoiled things. Martin is an actor too, a really proper one, one that actually becomes the person he’s playing.
Once I’d met him once I seemed to run into him everywhere I went. Following a chance encounter at a benefit gig [some one had died and their family needed money] at The Vale, Martin said, and I quote, ‘Let’s form a band.’ He turned up at my house later on with his guitar and we sang ‘Me and Bobby McGee’. I remember this very well because Martin told me I could sing. No one had ever said this before and I’m forever grateful for this. We went out as an acoustic duo with varying degrees of success. I’m glad we did, and glad for the hours and hours we spent playing and singing. He and I developed a priceless empathy, almost mind reading stuff. I know where he’s going, what he’s likely to do next and how it should all hang together. He’s the same with me. We’re like some old married couple.
Martin and I write the songs for the band, separately, but adding lots to each others tunes.
Even when we had a bass player and a drummer we remained strictly and fervently acoustic for a long time. When Chris Stevens joined us on bass this changed. I can’t recall why we started playing electric guitars again, but it was very exciting, a real release somehow. Martin had been in a band with Chris before. Chris was extremely enthusiastic and hard working, organising a monthly gig at the Pilgrim in Liverpool known as ‘Hell’s Ditch’. We got to play with some really fantastic bands here and Chris spent all his free time making fanzines and burning cds to give away.
We had a string of drummers, some good, some less so, but none really fitted. I met Steve Vasey by magic. We’d advertised and auditioned several people and I was drunkenly complaining about this to a girl I half knew and who wasn’t interested at the bar in The Crown. The bloke on the other side of her was Steve. When things like this happen, you don’t question it. It’s right. It’s fate, kismet or something. I called the others the next day to say I’d found us a drummer, 100% sure. Steve Vasey is the best drummer I have ever played with, or ever heard, by a mile. He changes his style when I play lead to complement it. He does amazing things that I can’t even begin to understand and would not believe could work, but they do, perfectly. I trust him and his creativity completely. He still insists that all he does is count to four.
Phil McHoul I met at a smallish festival Rattlebus were playing in Oxton. I knew him to nod to and accosted him in an attempt to drum up a larger audience for our gig. Martin knew him already, but I think they’d lost touch. Phil came to just about all our gigs after that, helping out carrying things and what have you. Phil would perform quirky, wordy acoustic songs at The Westbourne. When Chris sadly had to leave, Phil was the obvious choice. Despite a tendency to make tea for himself and no one else, he’s worked out really well, a steadying, solid complement to the rest of us. He also does the website and looks a lot better now he’s had his hair cut.
So here we are, Rattlebus. Tim Glover [me], Martin Ward, Steve Vasey and Phil McHoul.
LAST CHANCE TO GET YOUSELVES ON THE LINE UP FOR ROOM21 @ THE ZANZIBAR 26TH NOVEMBER..IF YOU WANNA PLAY THEN MESSAGE US ASAP AS ALL THE PROMO STUFF IS BEING DONE AS WE SPEAK...HOPE TO HEAR FROM YA SOON !!!!!!
Hi - Hope you are well - just to let you know I'm changing the songs on the player tomorrow. Thanks for letting me use your track - hope it helped a little and we'll do it again sometime next year - Tony
It wasn't till i got home last night that I remembered I had seen you before - Rattlebus played the Vines (The 'Big House') when I was a barman there, and I remember it was a really good night. Pretty packed. I think that must be about 4 or 5 years ago now! How time flies eh?
HEY HOPE ALL IS WELL YOUR END LOL JUST DROPPING BY TO INVITE YOU TO THE ROOM21 ALLDAYER @ THE ZANZIBAR. WE ARE SHOWCASING 21 BANDS ON TWO FLOORS AT ONE EXCELLENT VENUE FORM 3PM TILL LATE AND ITS ONLY £3 IN SO SEE YA THERE..COME "GET AMONGST IT" PS OUR LATEST BLOG HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH LOADS OF OTHER ROOM21 GIGS COMING UP!!!!!!!!!
JUST BRINGING TO YOUR ATTENTIONTHE FACT THAT ROOM21 HAVE POSTED A NEW BLOG WITH GIGS GALORE FOR BANDS TO COME PLAY AND TO REMIND YOU WE ARE PUTTING ON 21 BANDS FOR £3...TWO STAGES ONE VENUE COME AND "GET AMONGST IT" NOVEMBER 1ST THE ROOM21 ALLDAYER AT THE ZANZIBAR
As promised your song is on the player. Hope you and your friends come over and listen to it and the other artists - and befriend the ones you like - cheers - Tony
Hi, thanks for befriending Yorkshire Music Collective - we don't organize gigs but have a look through our Venues/Promoters category in the friends list - most have blogs about how to contact them for gigs.
Hi Guys - Gig listings up - and I'll look forward to having your track on the player in October. In the meantime hope you like the bands on the player now - Tony
Hi guys, thanks so much for the other night:-) Great night.... lovely people... in fact... we're there again on the 21st Feb. thanks to them (JO)!!! Hope to see you there if not before!!! As always, Kisses, em and bex xxx
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