The Rebel Spell - Solemn Eyes

 

  Most of you will know about the tragic accidental death last year of Rebel Spell vocalist Todd Jenkins ( aka Todd Serious). He was one of modern day punk's best, and most passionate frontmen and he's greatly missed.

  I've no idea as to the plans of the rest of The Rebel Spell, how can you replace someone as integral to the band as Todd was or would you even want to try? Would the fans want a Rebel Spell without Todd? I don't have any answers to those questions but in my opinion, going off the evidence of the song posted below, if Rebel Spell are to continue, they certainly wouldn't shame his legacy. You can find the song here : https://therebelspell.bandcamp.com/

  Written by drummer Travis Challord (who steps in on lead vocals) and ably supported by guitarist Elliot and bassist Erin, Solemn Eyes is a song to honour Todd's memory and it's a fitting tribute.

  Also on the horizon and eagerly awaited is the forthcoming compilation album, Rebels Sing : A Tribute To Todd Serious And The Rebel Spell. A couple of songs (by The Fallout and REDS) have already featured on this blog and are both excellent.

  This is Solemn Eyes.....

You've got those darting eyes, a crooked spine, you will never grow old 
Counting crimes, suspicious times, your rhymes continue to un-fold 
Climbing high, just as time it flies, we will never grow old 
Memories, the only things, some stories just to go untold 

We'll be here and you'll be near 
Just like you always were 
And we won't forget what you said 
We will remember everything 
All we have to do is just push play 

The seasons change, life is re-arranged, but you will always be the same 
In our eyes, in the ground and sky, a reflection all to clear 
We will push to gain as the world cries, and carries on in pain 
We realize as the days go by, to see things through your eyes 

We'll be here and you'll be near 
Just like you always were 
And we won't forget what you said 
We will remember everything 
All we have to do is just push play 

We want to jump over board and swim as hard we can, away from it all
Oh our friend we're in a cold dark night 
Your existence has always been our fire and light 
What we do is all we are and we can probably do better than the pain we're causing 
(It can't be just you) 
They say love these walls cause without them we’'d fall but this thinking’'s so small we only live, despite them all. 
Their cages won’t save us, they'’re no help at all. 
We know they're fucking wrong. 
We are not leaving and we are your fault. 
We are all your fault 

We'll be here and you'll be near 
Just like you always were 
And we won't forget what you said 
We will remember everything 
All we have to do is just push play

The Fallout - Fight For The Sun

  You may remember that I recently posted an update featuring REDS covering a Rebel Spell song which they dedicated to the memory of Todd Serious (if you missed the song then you should check it out). Today's update also features a Rebel Spell song, a version of a song which will feature on a forthcoming compilation called Rebels Sing : A Tribute To Todd Serious And The Rebel Spell.

  The Fallout have featured previously with a killer track called Talkin' Punk Rock Civil War ( http://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/the-fallout-talkin-punk-rock-civil-war.html ) and I'm more than happy to have them back again today. From Toronto, they're one of Canada's greatest bands and you can check out their music here : http://thefalloutcanada.bandcamp.com/. According to their Bandcamp page, they're recording new material!

  I really like this one, it's called Fight For The Sun and it originally featured on The Rebel Spell's Last Run album (you can check out that version here : https://therebelspell.bandcamp.com/album/last-run).

  Enjoy.......

You might believe this is a real nice place where everyone is free and more or less safe
But did ya know around the world they’ve locked up about 10 million people?
You might not have known but that just changed don’t confuse this for justice just cruel and insane
But to those among us that know and are raising hell to free them

Fight for the sun my bold friends, fight for the sun this night will end. I promise...
Fight for the sun my bold friends, fight for the sun this night will end Fight for the sun fight for the sun fight for the sun it’s coming

We might look different but we’re all the same in that we all need to move and feel love to stay sane
But our cruel species withholds these rights from 25 Billion creatures
How many years cutting day and night would it take to sever that much chain?
You need to help what will it take to get you all to see this!?

I wait they wait when is it coming? Don’t wait, they wait you must bring the sun.

Let’s go bass man walk me home now
It’s only music but I’ve got you listening
Crank the volume bring the rage up
Harder drummer let them hear it
I need some voices a thousand voices
I need you all and one more thing
guitar guitar guitar guitar 

Propagandhi - I Am A Rifle (Rebel Spell Cover)

 






























  A while back I posted a song by East Vancouver's Rebel Spell and mentioned that singer Todd Jenkins had tragically passed away following a rock climbing accident (http://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/the-rebel-spell-last-run.html). Today I'm posting a Rebel Spell song that's been covered by Propagandhi which they did as a memorial to Todd and from which proceeds will go to the Wildlife Defence League and/or Unistoten Defence Fund.

  I doubt that there's many who haven't heard of Propagandhi so keeping the intro brief, they're from Winnipeg, Manitoba and have been together since 1986. A string of classic albums include How To Clean Everything; Less Talk, More Rock; Where Quality Is Job #1; Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes (which is my favourite of theirs); Potemkin City Limits; Supporting Caste and Failed States.

  The original version of the song that they've covered in memorial to Todd came out in 2007 on Rebel Spell's Four Songs About Freedom ep (which was released on G7 Welcoming Committee Records, a label which was founded by Propagandhi members Chris Hannah and Jordy Samolesky). You can find the original version here : https://therebelspell.bandcamp.com/album/four-songs-about-freedom. Whilst you're there, check out more great Rebel Spell music.

  Propagandhi's excellent version of the track can be found here : https://propagandhi.bandcamp.com/track/i-am-a-rifle

  This is I Am A Rifle......

Built like a dream out of the past. 
Crushing generations with a foggy mass 
of seething anger and unhealed wounds. 
I can’t make this right but don’t be confused. 

I am a rifle. I am this blockade. 
I’m banners and violence and car-bombs and riots. 
I am a rifle. I am this blockade. 
I am the fire of a thousand murdered sons. 

Don’t look to me to give the future back. 
Don’t look to me to rework the past. 
I’m only here to bring things to a head. 
You can cover your ears, it doesn’t change who I am. 

I am a rifle. I am this blockade. 
I’m banners and violence and car-bombs and riots. 
I am a rifle. I am this blockade. 
I am the fire of a thousand murdered sons. 

I haunt the Chilcotin. 
I stalk Palestine. 
I fueled Rwanda’s worst. 
I held Lasagna’s hand. 
I’m one hundred shades of hunger. 

I am a rifle. I am this blockade. 
I am the fire of a thousand murdered sons. 
I am resistance. I am your problem. 
I'm not leaving and I am your fault.

The Rebel Spell - Last Run

  Today's song is by East Vancouver's The Rebel Spell, a band who formed in 2002 and who play socially conscious punk rock with a d.i.y. attitude. They originally featured Toddserious (Todd Jenkins) on vocals, Wretchederin on guitar, Chris Rebel on bass and Stepha on drums though by the time of their latest release Elliot was on bass and Travis on drums.

  They've released four albums; Expression In Layman's Terms (2003), Days Of Rage (2005), Beautiful Future (2011) and Last Run (2014). There's was also 2007's Four Songs About Freedom ep. You can check them all out here :  http://therebelspell.bandcamp.com/album/last-run. If you like your punk music heartfelt, honest and with a coherent message, you're probably already familiar with them. If they've passed you by then now's the time to put that right.

  Tragically, Todd Jenkins passed away earlier this year. On Saturday, March 7th, he was in a fatal accident whilst rock climbing in Black Velvet Canyon.


  Today's song is one of the best I've posted thus far, it's the title track from their Last Run album......


Run run run run my gorgeous cousins to a beautiful place where the helis don’t fly 
Out of the reach of man and industry away from this scourge, the destroyer of all 
This doesn’t come from logic or ignorance you’ve been set up and sentenced to
die
 
You’ve been blamed but you won’t be tried just poisoned or shot for someone
else’s crimes 

Don’t blame the wolf, don’t blame the seal if it will help you can blame me 
Blame the tar sands and the fishing fleets, or forestry, blame industry
 

200,000 cattle trample the land, roads end wilderness for everything it has 
The tailing ponds kill the river that runs through and wolves get the blame for
missing Caribou 
Giant drag nets scrape the ocean dead and somehow seals are the new threat 
Double the humans in less than 50 years and it’s someone else’s fault when the
herds disappear
 

Don’t blame the wolf, don’t blame the seal, if it will help you can blame me, 
Blame the tar sands and the fishing fleets, or forestry blame industry 
Don’t blame the wolf, don’t blame the seal, if it will help you can blame me, 
How about the growing cities and the sprawling streets, blame agriculture, blame
industry
Blame me Blame me

Every witch hunt the same purpose, be it women, wolves, snakes or albatross 
How long will these games go on they do nothing to help and only deepen the loss 

Blame the war on nature, blame the fear of green, blame the lazy cowards in huge
machines, 
Blame us all together as we poison the sea, blame the way we consume and
breed and breed 
or pesticides and the GMO wheat, the water you waste for the taste of meat 
Blame acid rain, yes it’s still a thing, clear-cuts you can see from space 
reactor leaks, open pits, massive dams and their floods of death 
Blame our anthropocentric mind disease, science dragged out back and forced to
its knees 
Blame your own inaction while the world bleeds, blame that on the distractions of
your silly scene 
I know you need a sacrifice to your god of greed if it will help you can take me
blame me blame me blame me