Most bands that I hear from my
hometown of Phoenix, Arizona either make me recoil or their music goes totally
without notice. I don’t know which
is worse. However, every now and
again I hear one that makes me want to root for. One that gives me hope that all is not lost in an ocean of
second rate metal dinosaurs and uninspired blues copyists. One of those bands is The Rebel
Set. They glide at their audience
on a wave of reverberation that is wrapped up in classic noir and surf guitar
mystique in the midst of a garage punk assault. The band takes the better parts of Rock N Roll from times
ago and mixes it up with a dose of their own allure. Sounds easy enough, however you have to know which parts to
excavate and which parts to lend your soul to. That’s been the recipe for rock n roll since its conception
and the Rebel Set have become master chefs at this delicacy.
Interview by Jay
Castro
Who’s
answering the questions?
Joe is.
Who’s all in the band and what instruments do you play?
Joe - guitar,vocals
Katey - organ
Jeff- drums
Brandon - bass
Are you all originally from Arizona?
All but Jeff, he is from Arkansas.
What or who originally made you decide to pick up an instrument and start/join a band?
I hung out with these teenage metalheads when I was 12 and
they were constantly trying to start bands. My dad had a guitar so I decided to
give it a shot even though I hated metal.
What influenced The Rebel Set’s look and sound?
Probably growing up listening to my dads 60’s records along
with the 90’s garage rock I was into in my youth. As far as the way we look, we
all just dress the way we dress anyway so I guess we are influenced by our own
good taste in that regard.
You
guys just did a “mini” tour all around Southern California, how do you feel
that went?
It went great. We tend to go over a
lot better outside our hometown much to our dismay.
As populated as the Phoenix metropolitan area has gotten, culturally, it has a long way to go compared to other cities this size. How does the Phoenix/Tempe music audience take to the band as opposed to other parts of the country?
We tend to get a lot more support and go over a lot better
with audiences in other parts of the country. Therefore, we try to get out of
town as much as possible.
What is Silver Hornet Records?
It is a front for a criminal enterprise. They put out our
records so we don’t ask questions.
When you buy a record, you get cover art, liner notes, even pictures of the band. You get something tangible. With digital music, you have an album title and a band name. If you’re lucky, a tiny quarter sized picture of the album art. Do you think the MP3 has killed the romance for Rock n’ Roll?
In a way, yes. Having
a physical copy the sound quality is better and seeing the artwork that goes
along with the music definitely enhances whatever feeling the artist was
intending to convey.
Reading some of the press the band has gotten, people have said how dark your music is. Were you aware of this when you were writing the songs or did this come as a surprise after everything was laid out?
That was a total surprise. We never intended to be dark and
I really don’t think we are very dark. We have a lot of songs in minor keys
which I guess sounds darker but that was definitely not our intention.
People used to buy music and get their water free; now people pay for water and get their music free. How do you think this affects the industry and especially the artist who is just trying to make a living?
I think this is good news for water artists.
Where can people hear the band?
Well, they could go to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/therebelset to get links to our music online. If they happen to be in Arizona, or California or Nevada
they can check there for announcements on our upcoming tour dates.
What’s next for The Rebel Set?
We will be making
a new album, which should be out in the fall and rereleasing our last 7” this
summer. Keep your ears peeled.
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