Narrow Minded Social Club

So last night saw the opening of The Rifles very own club night at The Proud Galleries in Camden. This got me thinking about a couple of things - some good, some bad and some just very irritating.

First off, I am a little bemused as to the lack of appreciation that The Rifles receive. I understand the London boys have a little bit of a cult following, which I will get on to later, and both albums have been solid and seriously catchy efforts that reaped little reward - from both the music press and the blogging community.

Perhaps they are a little unadventurous, but there's nothing wrong with consistent, catchy and chirpy guitar music with, lets be honest, fantastic lyrics. People seem to frown at the fact that they're not pushing the experimental boundaries of music, but why should they? Not everyone wants to be Animal Collective. They've got a cocky air of swagger about them and a bit of understated attitude which is healthy for a band like The Rifles.

Maybe it's that reoccurring frivolous attitude from substance-less muso's who base a bands credentials on their clobber rather than their music (God I'm a cliche!) Or maybe I just like them and they're actually not very good at all and i'm just wasting my time writing this blog on a band that I'm deluded by. But hopefully it's not the latter.

But enough about that. More about last night. Three bands in total played the event. The ramshackle Strangeways, the-better-live-than-on-album Jersey Budd and an acoustic set from everyone's two favorite Rifles. The bands were good fun. Jersey Budd is going to be a massive sensation in no time at all. Bluesy, friendly rock 'n' roll fun with foot stompin' riffs and single potential anthems. The Rifles played a corking set showcasing songs from both albums, and a new track, which went down swimmingly. It really is reassuring when a band can play and acoustic set and receive such an involved response from an audience.

Now I don't want to dwell on the acts too much because I could write mindless blubber about them all day, but what i do want to discuss is this counterfeit so-called mod demeanor that regularly swells shows of a "lad-rock" (I hate that term) genre. These deluded punters in their fake Fred Perry's clearly have NO FUCKING IDEA about the mod scene. Apart from watching Quadrophenia too many times, that's where their education ends. The obligatory chants of "we are the mods" make me near sick to my stomach with discontent and vexation, i just don't get it.

Now I'm not too educated on the whole scene, but i know a little. The Mod scene originated from Northern Soul in clubs like Twisted Wheel and the Wigan Casino. Personally I wouldn't class Oasis as a Mod band but many seem insistent on it these days. Mods don't all have Liam Fray haircuts and they certainly don't run around chanting "we are the mods" over and over again in their Gio Goi track tops. And where did that analogy come from? Chuck on a parka and some Ordinary Boys and your now a Mod? piss off. It's misinformed bollocks from people who don't want to fall into the category of being a yob yet they don't want their mates on the building site to think they read Mojo over some discard-able tit rag.

When a scene is based around misleading factors such as this it fails to hold any sort of authenticity, It becomes a bit of a joke fueled by perverted evidence that soils the good name and nature of such an image.


But on the other side I could be wrong. Perhaps the whole Mod image has evolved and developed over the years that it's now transformed from what it used to be into something a lot more modern. I mean, things change, scenes change and people change - perhaps the whole Mod ethic has changed and these crazy drunkards are in fact the Mods of our generation. It just seems strange that the image (because that a primary principle of the scene) has no consistent characteristics. There's no guidelines any more, there's certainly very little passion and there's near-no originality.

I don't know the reasoning for this argument. Perhaps it's just annoyance. Perhaps it's ignorance and I'm an ill-informed scenster who thinks he knows too much and perhaps I'm just a big old fat hypocrite. I just got a little peeved with these chav-turned-mod individuals who used to mock those with a fashionable barnet and a quirky dress sense and now they're soldiers of the scene they once used to criticise.

RANT OVER.

Below is a funky little video from The Rifles with their mate (who's name I don't know) covering Neneh Cherry's 'Buffalo Stance'. Great cover. Proper cockney. Full of attitude - I think i've watched it about twelve times today.