Bob Vylan - We Live Here (Guest Review By Dave Decision)

  It's always good when I can rope in someone to do a guest review, especially when they make as good a go at it as Dave Decision has today. Dave's featured on here before as lead vocalist & guitarist with Falmouth punks Rash Decision (https://www.facebook.com/rashdecision/) and with his other band F. Emasculata (https://www.facebook.com/F.Emasculata/). He also runs Dead Invoices Records (https://www.facebook.com/Dead-Invoices-Records-108058390800098/).

  Dave wants to recommend you all check out Bob Vylan (https://www.facebook.com/BobVylan/), a London duo that are currently blowing up big....

And so it started like any other day, scrolling through my feed when a thumbnail of Bob Vylan’s singer appeared for their single ‘We Live Here’ on YouTube. Their singer is wearing a big fake fur animal patterned overcoat, bleached jeans, boots, sports long dreads and a Crass t-shirt, enough to peak my interest in looks alone. Then the song ‘We Live Here’ plays. Finally a band with something of actual, immediate and relevant substance to say. Something that screams honesty and arresting delivery. The song starts with a distorted and lo-fi guitar before a racist sample pauses the song, allowing the full chorus riff to kick in and pin your shoulders to the wall. Some distorted, rapped vocals pepper scenes of recognisable working class British hotspots including the pub, the corner shop, high rises, police cars, and chips. Sounding strongly autobiographical, the singer talks about elements of his life growing up in London as a mixed-race child with a white mum. The delivery of the chorus line ‘we didn’t appear out of thin air / we live here’ batters and bruises its way to its intended target. Racists, bigots and nationalists are placed squarely in the crosshairs. Sonically, the lo-fi recording is clear enough to make sure they lyrics are heard and their impact can be felt, with the instrumentation grotty enough to broadcast their allegiance to their DIY punk rock roots. And judging by the 6K additional views since I first saw the video a couple of days ago, it looks like Bob Vylan are hitting home. They could be the next Sleaford Mods, or the next Idles in terms of their impact on the modern musical and political landscape…they’ve perfected the acute lyrical snarl we’ve come to expect in punk rock, but it is incredibly rare to hear something so honest and to wear their personal identities and struggles on their sleeve. It’s easy to write about why you don’t like the government, or against animal abuse or climate change, or to reel off well-worn lines about death/war/destruction: there’s plenty of lines to lift from other bands that have trodden this lyrical path for you. Bob Vylan is for those who are a bit braver than that, and are inviting you into their own personal hell. Their live gigs showcase the live delivery of a hardcore band, and their tones display the type of filth and grot that you can’t manufacture in an expensive studio. They’re the real deal, and they’ve got bigger balls than everyone else. They sound…dangerous. How many bands have recently achieved that? Looks like they’ll be working with Venn Records soon, which is owned and managed by Lags from Gallows, so expect to see a lot more of these guys soon. Personally I’ll be shocked if I hear anything better by anyone else all year.

https://bobvylan.bandcamp.com/

  This is We Live Here...