Rebelmatic

Firmly rooted in New York's Punk and Hardcore ancestry, Rebelmatic has self-sworn hip-hop purists, moshing alongside skate punks. They've got the respect of the legion of hardcore kids stashed away in the wilds of Brooklyn and Long Island. They can cast a wide net, with successful results because their personal brand of Brooklyn rock has more NY hard-knocks authenticity than most. Despite their NY pedigree the band's sound is a trippy "what-if" game. More pointedly, imagine The Doors making a hardcore album...except Jim Morrison isn't a privileged college kid feigning otherwise, but an offspring of the Corona slums...the wild mane now dreadlocks, and the jazz organ abandoned in a vacant lot. Group frontman, Creature, is a virtual General on New York's alt-scene. His packed and sweaty Fire Your Boss and Coffee Grind showcases have acted as the true vanguard of alternative urban arts in recent years. A haven for those who are about the band...not the bandwagon. He's single handedly created a scene that thrives outside the scope of the hipster dreamland...yet manages to flirt relentlessly with it...sizing it up for a cheap date. This is raw music for real people. Its unrelenting, brutal and touching all at once.In 2012, the boys are poised to have the coveted break-out moment every band dreams of, with the release of their upcoming album "Elephant Amnesia" The band's attitude is that of the heady NY rock scene of the 80s and 90s when everyone had a 'zine, Williamsburg didn't matter, and Thompkins Square Park was littered with rocker kids who had either completely tuned out, or believed in something more tangible than the politics of a Facebook post. Rock bands cared about making records that mattered, not Youtube clips they prayed would go viral.The lead single "Native" is a paranoid-schizophrenic's romance tale about a city that both loathes and loves the inhabitants who waste themselves away just to say they might be alive. The track plugs along like an early 70s proto-metal tune. Its like a crew of derelict A train psychotics growling to the nervous delight and passive fear of those trapped inside the car...but curiously everyone stays on after the train screeches into the next station, and the doors open offering an easy out. Those learning about Rebelmatic now, come after folks like the late Ari Up of the Slits and Mike Patton both of whom have plucked Creature off stages of dingy dive bars to work with them on projects. They fall behind NY subculture gods like Ricky Powell who sing their praises. They marvel at the chops of group member Alkatraz after Eminem signee Joell Ortiz (of Slaugtherhouse) has already tapped him for production. The Press haven't been late to the party either. The Rebelmatic crew have earned kudos from Frank 151, Cool 'Eh, Globalgrind, and of course Afropunk among others. After consistently entertaining the growing throngs of alternative-urban music fans, decimating hipster loft parties, Afropunk festivals, and releasing self-produced CDs that get feverishly snapped up in the post i-tunes era, Rebelmatic is on a path towards the top of New York's sprawling music heap...right where they belong. RebelMatic is a Alternative/ Punk - Born and Raised in N.Y.C/ sounds like James Brown in a Mosh Pit