LUCIDMEDIA

Break in case of Rebel Emergency

Written by Lisa M. Knapp Thursday, 30 July 2009 09:36

Rebel Emergency has seen its ups and downs, but as with any band with a dream, they have managed to overcome those downs and have had many more ups in the process. They have lived in New York and Jamaica and have gained some valuable tools in the process and learning from different cultures. This Lucid Writer had the opportunity to have a chat with two of the guys from the band. I got a phone call at 4 pm on the dot from two of Rebel’s musicians, vocalist Roddy Soul and guitarist Geoff Star.

Lucid Forge: Tell me a bit about the band… how did you guys come together? How do you guys know each other?

Roddy: Me and Geoff actually go back awhile ‘cause his mom taught me music from grade 4 until grade 8, so he was always around. Then we went to the same high school, we were not the greatest friends in high school but we knew each other. I started the band with two other dudes, all untrained musicians just jamming and playing for songs for fun and then I invited Geoff out after seeing him playing guitar in a high school recital I guess!? And he just came in and turned our world upside down, which is amazing.

Geoff: Well put!

Roddy: Ha, ha… Yeah, he kinda solidified the musical part of our band he taught us a lot about how to actually play and how to put chords together and stuff. It was good chemistry from the start, was kind of meant to be.

Geoff: I was actually drawn to the creativity, I was playing in a bunch of bands at that point and they were writing songs unlike anyone else but they were terrible on the technical end and I knew I could fix that.

LF: People always describe your music for you generally, but you never actually get the description from the band, so how would you guys describe what you play?

Roddy: I kinda like not being able to describe it actually, which is what I think gives our band our uniqueness. We have so many different influences that give our music its sound from rock to pop to reggae and dance hall. It’s not really straight ahead anything, but it’s very concentrated on melody I think.

Geoff: It’s difficult to categorize our music. The way we look at it, I think is that we kinda make sure we try to have really dancy parts, a drum and bass kinda feel continuously throughout most of the songs, but we also try to stand out with the guitar on top and take that and put the envelope that way sonically… That differentiates us from being a straight reggae band or straight rock, it’s kind of a smash of all of them together.

LF: How long did you live in Jamaica for?

Roddy: A couple months was the longest time. We were down there a few times playing festivals, but we lived in Kingston for about a month then Montego; we were kind of all over the place. When we were in the city of Kingston we weren’t on a resort or anything so it was kinda cool being around locals and getting into the culture. It was a good experience everyone was down there was really cool to us.

LF: They are pretty laid back people.

Roddy: They kind of keep it to themselves. It’s a pretty decent area; you can’t help but feel good there.

LF: Have you always had the same band members or has anyone had to leave the band?

Geoff: We have had like 8 drummers…we actually had a Jamaican guy in the band named Panic for about a year and a half or two years who we met in New York. He was a dance hall DJ, and he ended up getting arrested and he left the band. We had another guitar player named Adam who was one of the original members, but he also left.

Roddy: The four of us as we are have been together for about three years now, I think.

Geoff: Yeah, so me and Neil and Geoff are like the main core of the band and Jeremy is the drummer.

LF: Has there been any specific memorable moment that you always seem to reminisce?

Roddy: We actually drove from New York to LA straight without stopping I think it was like 50 hours. It was suppose to be a battle of the bands and the winner was going to get to play with Lenny Kravitz and we got there and found out we were playing after the Battle of the Bands was over, and they announced the winner right before we went on stage…and then everyone left and we got to play for like 5 of our friends in LA.

Geoff: I had a good time.

Roddy: Yeah, it was…

LF: Who is your musical inspiration?

Roddy: We are all pretty big Pearl Jam fans. I’m a huge Pearl Jam fan and still listen to them all the time. I have a huge respect in the way that they treat their fans and the way that they have shaped their career and insured their longevity. With those kinds of bands you have to kind of study how they did it and how they made it. Me and Geoff are pretty big classic rock fans. New artists, I really like Kings of Leon album and I listen to Amy Winehouse a lot.

Geoff: I just bought the new Billy Talent album, it’s pretty good. We are have pretty expansive music collections as do the other guys in the band, so it’s tough to kind of pinpoint, but I guess the Bible would be The Beatles, Hendrix, Zepplin, Pearl Jam, Bob Marley, that sorta thing.

LF: Are there any bands that you look forward to seeing at the Cutting Edge Music Festival?

Geoff: The Roots, huge Roots fan, I love ‘em. We played with Ill Scarlet it was awesome and I can’t wait to see those guys again.