The Hard Feelings
Rebels Against the Future (Dropkick/Beerland) Since the Hard Feelings smoke, the only thing missing from 2001’s You Won’t Like It … ‘Cuz It’s Rock n’ Roll were fire-retardant earplugs. The 32-minute backdraft was tearaway Austin punk torqued to the absolute max – supershitty to the max as Sweden’s Hellacopters might grin, only there was nuthin’ shitty about it. Their rumble in the jungle blues, meanwhile, swung like an 800-pound gorilla. An A-town meltdown. The cover of its much-delayed successor, Rebels Against the Future, depicts another meltdown, and with 10 songs in 27:51, only a firewall could stem its spread. Chief John Schooley and his tag team two, bassist Mike Poppitt and drummer Trey Robles, shovel a heavier, intentionally cruder sound, bulking up Delta style from previously streamlined punk tempos, while bolstering the songwriting. The shotgun riding “Coalmine” is an obvious stomper giving way to the slide/harp shoot-out of the title track, which hoots “we got no plan, we’re just tearing shit up.” Axcellent! The piano-kissed machismo of “Not Just Anybody” recalls Dan Baird’s Yayhoos, but the chugging bravado of “Turn Her Down” is all Schooley. Ditto the instro rave-up “Beerland Breakdown.” Sandwiched between the demonic deconstruction of Joe Tex’s “You Said a Bad Word” and the distorted, slide-switched blurt of Little Richard’s “Directly From My Heart” is the Dee Dee-ish “Held Back,” which no one did here. Rebels Against the Future, and how.
This article appears in February 27 • 2004.
