They'll Do You Right Up

 I could never tell you why, but I was inspired to sit down and try to learn a RX Bandits songs on guitar yesterday. I was all the way in on the band between grade 12 and my second year of university, but they haven't really been a go-to of mine since then. Not that I think the band is bad, in fact I think the material that I liked (Progress, The Resignation, and ...And the Battle Begun)* holds up way better than most stuff I liked around that time.

*Is it dumb to title your record where you start experimenting and trying new things Progress? It feels pretty lazy.

Getting into the more experimental and proggy side of the RX Bandits hit me at the intersection of two important parts of growing up. First, I was just starting to be interested in playing guitar, as most of my focus had been on figuring out how to play bass before that. I had a cheap Hamer strat copy that I fooled around on while learning "Dammit" (the Slammer Hamer) and I was just starting to be able to play things beyond basic power chords. Playing RX Bandits songs on guitar was fun because there was lots of stuff going on and it was a nice introduction to that most hallowed role of lead guitar playing.

Second, this was also when I felt like I was starting to diverge from my friends and find things that only I was interested in. Maybe I always sort of did that, but when I look back now, I think of a lot of time in my room reading about and discovering new and different music that was important in shaping what I listen to now. The RX Bandits were an easy transition because they used to be a ska band, so I could cover my tracks if I needed to. Nobody else I knew was interested in them, and after a few initial failed efforts to get my friends into them, I started to like the feeling of having my own things, just for me.

I've always had time for music that had weird parts just for the sake of having weird parts and also stuff that sometimes favoured technicality over melody (though that has reversed since), but liking The Resignation raised some important identity-defining questions:

1. If RX Bandits were known for extensive live jams during their sets, did that mean I liked jam bands? (Still don't like the Grateful Dead, but liked them even less then.)

2. If RX Bandits had hippie-ish tendencies, did that mean I had hippie tendencies myself? (I will always land firmly on the "punk" side of the punk/hippie dichotomy.)

3. Is it okay to like non-punk, non-ska music?

Obvious the last question was an obvious yes, but I never got all the way there on the other two. RXB ultimately turned out to be the limit in how far I would get into both of those styles. I can get down with jamming (remember, Fugazi is bold-underlined GOOD), but it has to be firmly rooted in punk and rock. 

As always, I went into this post with no ending and then nothing came to me while I was writing it out, which is the only I know how to write conclusions, so I'll end with this song, which I had fun re-learning on guitar yesterday. It's funny to see this song starting with a really basic power chord progression, because it's almost like seeing the band's progression in real time. Homeboy's lyrics are always a little on the nose and sometimes play as a naïve, but I tend to agree with the base statement in them, which saves them.