Texas punk band Rules Of Enragement are back with a snarky, tongue-in-cheek skate punk track “Underground Guy”, featuring SLC Punk writer and director James Merendino’s commentary at the top of the song.
We had a chance to chat with Robbie of Rules Of Enragement about the new single as part of our Refrain Interview Series:
Refrain Music Blog: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. You have a new single out now. Tell us about it?
Robbie: It’s called Underground Guy, featuring James Merendino, he does a guest cameo at the beginning of the song.
RMB: What’s the single about?
R: We wrote it in the early 2000’s, round about the time it looked at the time like punk was on its way out. We had just discovered it and seen SLC Punk for the first time so we were really disappointed to learn we had found it apparently right when it was about to end. Everybody was eating up the pop-punk and commercial-punk stuff (not naming names). So we wrote a long angry rant about posers and the death of punk rock.
RMB: What’s the story on how it was recorded?
R: Recording went pretty quickly, it was just me and Chris working in his home studio. The hardest part was reconstructing the lyrics, it had been years since we first wrote the song and I could only remember maybe half of the words. But Brandon Lewis at Punkerton Records was an old friend of ours and had luckily made a recording of him and a friend playing their own version of the song. We used that to fill in the blanks and added some of the lyrics from his version, and slapped the outro on it to bring it more up to date. Brandon had befriended James and asked if he would like to do the “Anarchy in the USA” line since it was directly inspired by SLC Punk, and for whatever reason, he agreed. Great guy, I’m honored to have his voice on the track.
RMB: Is it part of a larger album? If so, tell us about that.
R: Yep, it’s going to be part of our first album, Kill the Masters.
RMB: When is that album out?
R: It’s looking like Summer of this year.
RMB: How many songs on the album?
R: 10 for sure, we’re going to try to include 1 extra if time allows.
RMB: Is this your first album?
R: It is our first album as a band, yes. I had an EP out with a previous band, and Courtney has put out some stuff with his other band, The P-Town Skanks.
RMB: Tell us a little about the band. Who are the members and what do you each play?
Robbie Cox – Vocals
Chris Lindsey – Lead Guitar
Courtney Johnson – Rhythm Guitar
RMB: How long have you been together?
R: We originally formed in high school around 2002 or so. In 2020 we decided to record our old songs and work with a few new ideas we had. It kind of snowballed into a full album, we plan to have it out this summer then look into playing live starting in the DFW area.
RMB: Have you had any significant lineup changes recently?
R: Well Chris used to be the drummer when we first played, but he’s more about guitar so we are looking for a drummer once the album is recorded and done. We’ve always had hell keeping a bass player, so that is another hole we’re looking to fill.
RMB: What’s the one thing you are most proud of in your career so far?
R: Honestly just getting these songs done, I never thought I’d hear the things I’ve heard in my head come out the way they were supposed to. Chris is like a wizard, I give him some messy, noisy idea to work with and he turns it into freakin’ gold.
RMB: If you had to pitch your music to a potential fan in less than 10 seconds, what would you say?
R: I’d say we are something like the fall of modern civilization set to music.
RMB: What’s one piece of advice you’ve gotten that you think everyone needs to hear or that has meant the most to you?
R: If you’re making music you don’t enjoy, burn it down and start again.
RMB: If you could go back in time, what’s a piece of advice you would give to a younger you?
R: Learn how to sing… and invest in Google
RMB: What’s coming up next for your musical project?
R: We’re gonna stay the course and complete this album, then look into filling the gaps in the band and venues to play. Past that, we’ve got at least another album worth of raw ideas, so we’ll see where it goes.
RMB: Anything we haven’t thought of that you want to talk about? Now is the time!
R: We’ve got a lyric video out for the song at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaMk8JX-ZZw,
and you can buy the track at https://punkertonrecords.bandcamp.com/track/underground-guy . Thanks for having us, I appreciate the questions!
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