The Rumblers
“Hold On Tight”
(Switchblade Records)
I’ve been getting a lot of this greaser punk stuff lately. What’s the deal, they all ran out of Meatloaf albums to listen to? The Iron Butterfly eight-track got stuck in the player again? This latest installment of asphalt-flavored punk comes from The Rumblers. They’ve got a little Horten Heat in them, some Tiger Army, and believe it or not, a little Bad Religion to boot. As far as Harley-punk goes, this one is fairly original. Rather than just harp on the same old imagery (beers, bad luck, bikes, etc.) employed by so many other acts, The Rumblers do their best to keep things fresh with a much tighter-than-anticipated sound.
While no one is going to mistake lead vocalist Donnie Switchblade for Greg Graffin, his reedy baritone bares enough of a resemblance to make “Hold On Tight” stand apart from its long list of contemporaries. Now don’t get me wrong-there’s not a world of difference between each of the thirteen tracks here, it’s just that compared to all of the other greaser-punk LPs filling the sale racks of record stores around the nation, this thing is a notch above when it comes to variety. But unless you’ve got a gob of Dapper Dan crusting in your hair, you probably aren’t even reading this. Read one of Kelli Skye’s reviews-she’s way hotter and gets better music.
