Welsh Rock band Scarlet Rebels are about to unleash their third album Where Colours Meet, the quartet have been working at Backstage Studios; Belper, Derbyshire with the help of Chris Clancy and Colin Richardson on production/engineering. After years of hard work propelling their momentum, the band are in a position to release what is being touted as their magnum opus. The twelve track shows that the band have totally pulled out all the stops to create something quite special. There is a duet with label mate Elles Bailey and a song co-written with Black Star Rider/The Almighty frontman Ricky Warwick. From the singles “Grace” and “Secret Drug”, along with the preview that the band have done with tracks from their live performances there’s a huge amount of positivity surrounding this album and one that will take the band onto a much bigger level.
The album kicks off with the lead single “Secret Drug”, featuring an old school classic Rock riff and features an instant hit chorus that gets straight into the sweet spot in your brain. The clever lyrics can be seen as connotative with vocalist Wayne delivering them in a powerful emotive way. “Let Me In” is a track that the band have performed live for sometime now and is just one of those uplifting songs brings the whole audience together. A stadium-ready tune that has lyrics that have the ability to move you, like Bono or Jon Bon Jovi; who play on the emotions of their audiences. It has a rousing ability that is created with Chris’s wonderous bright and melodic guitar, with punchy solo’s coupled with sparkling rhythms. Wayne explains that the song “it’s about asking for someone’s trust, for them to give you the keys to their heart and let you into their lives”.
In stark contrast “It Was Beautiful” is a much slower song that smoulders with it’s glistening piano and just builds with various instrumental layers added. The song was originally written after seeing a scene from “The Office US”, which is a mockumentary sitcom about a working paper sales office. In one scene towards the end of the whole series, a character says to the film crew ‘I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you left them’. It’s such a powerful and thought-provoking statement, one that everyone can relate to. Another of the earlier singles is “Grace”, another anthem that works equally well live as it does on record. It’s a song that shows how far the band have come with their songwriting and musical creativity. The sentiment within the lyrics just makes you smile, it’s positive with scene-setting lyrics that tells a story of someone who’s had a tough past, who’s trying to break free from the shackles. The anthemic chorus along with the soaring vocal and the perfectly brought together instrumentation, makes for a lasting radio friendly tune that people will want to request again and again.
“Declining” was one of the first tracks written for the record, it’s a song that is a bit of a double edged sword. It sounds positive and upbeat, masking something much darker. Wayne explains that “it’s an autobiographical song. I get these phases where I’m riddled with self-doubt and feel imposter syndrome, being convinced that I’m not good enough as a singer; a songwriter, a person. I will only ever focus on the negatives about the way I look, sing, walk, talk, or that I’m not enough, so I wrote about it. Or, as I’ve put it in the song, I wrote about ‘my hidden scars’. That’s the thing about mental health, no-one can see it or what is behind someone’s smile”. The honesty of the song is a testament to the writer who bares his soul with powerful relatable lyrics that radiate convincingly through to the listener.
One of the many joyous moments of this record is a modern Rock ballad “Out Of Time”, that tells the story of love and loss. Here Wayne duets with Americana Blue Roots singer Elles Bailey who co-wrote the track. The absolute tower of a tune with Wayne’s warm dependable vocal, coupled with Elle’s heavenly performance is just a perfect match. It’s like one of those huge emotive tunes you used to hear on MTV from Aerosmith or Bon Jovi. There is of course a huge atmospheric guitar solo from Chris, which further breathes aesthetic life into the song. The raw lyrics come from a personal place how dreams and ambitions to be a songwriter have consumed the writer to the point of them ruining, sabotaging relationships and someone else’s hopes and dreams.
“How Much is Enough” is a song that asks questions about how the crash in the country’s economy affects different people. It’s not so much from a political point of view, but human point of view. Why people have to make a choice about whether they eat a meal a day or heat their homes for a few hours, all whilst the energy companies make record profits and their bosses get literal multi-million pound bonuses. How is it OK for one person to crash a country’s economy which leads to that country’s citizens paying more day-to-day, to the point where people have lost their houses – yet the person who caused it walks away with a guaranteed 100K a year for the rest of their lives? A track featuring eloquent songwriting that features conscience pricking lyrics and dynamic musical arrangement to match.
“Practice Run” is an older song that the band revamped, switched around and brought up to date, it was originally a piano ballad. The song morphed into something different altogether, it is still a slower tune; put together with delicate rhythms and subtle understated guitar, along with emotive vocals and harmonies. Wayne explains “I wrote the song after I saw one of Gary’s social media profiles, where the bio read ‘This is my practice run, I’ll do better next time I promise’… I asked him several times, ‘Where have you got that from?’ He always said to me, “I didn’t get it anywhere, I made it up”. So, I asked him if I could use it in a song? He agreed, thankfully. I didn’t ask him what it meant to him. I used it as inspiration and I interpreted the statement on my own”
On “Streets Of Fire” the band once again get anthemic, with the pull of stadium-style Rock. There are big choruses, infectious rhythms and rich resonant vocals. What’s not to like ? It’s a tune that can proudly stand side by side with the 80’s Rock bands that it takes influences from – another track that I’m sure will stand the test of time as the years go by, a song that will be requested when the band perform live. “Who Wants To Be In Love” has a wonderous Synth melody; fast propelling drum and basslines, along with a proper old school guitar solo. It’s quite a departure for the band from any of their previous material and it shows that they have no fear in pushing the envelope with new ideas.
“Divide and Conquer” was a tune that kicked off the band’s headline set in June at the Loverocks Festival, a tune at the time that only a few people in the audience had heard before. The band clearly had confidence in the tune to get it out there before the album’s release. It’s has a perfect beginning with an opening guitar riff that immediately grabs your attention, then keeps up the momentum with full-on, uplifting instrumentation. Lyrically it was written before the recent general election and is a huge rant about the Conservative Party, Wayne echoes ” I’d like to think that it would resonate with the vast majority of people, whether they have voted for the Conservative Party in the past or not. It seems clear as day to me that what we’ve had isn’t what anyone voted for or asked for”.
The final track “My House My Rules” is as the band describe it: a Punk romper stomper, a track written with one of Northern Ireland’s finest musical exports Ricky Warwick. Lyrically it’s about the dues you have to pay as you make your way in the world and having to bow down to the rules of the house and as everyone knows, the house always wins! Ricky’s influence on the track is huge and the band take this and turn it into another punchy Scarlet Rebels number that provides some formidable drumming from Gary, who provides the very backbone of the track. It features an ear worm of a chorus and a rip-roaring guitar solo to behold. Hopefully one day we will get to hear the band and Ricky combine together on this live with Ricky’s significant vocals duetting with Wayne’s.
This is surely the band’s moment to shine, over the last few years the band have slowly built on their successes; gaining experience, confidence and a large loyal fan base. This record has so much to love about it, across the twelve tracks the band have shown plenty of original creativity bringing together every last ounce of their significant combined talent.
Track-Listing
Secret Drug
Let Me In
It Was Beautiful
Grace
Declining
Out Of Time (featuring Elles Bailey)
How Much is Enough
Practice Run
Streets of Fire
Who Wants To Be In Love
Divide and Conquer
My House My Rules
Where Colours Meet – Credits
Drums and percussion – Gary Doyle
Bass guitar – Carl Oag
Guitars – Chris Jones and Wayne Doyle
Lead Guitars – Chris Jones
Lead Vocals – Wayne Doyle / Wayne Doyle and Elles Bailey on Out Of Time
Backing Vocals – Wayne Doyle, Chris Clancy, Elles Bailey
Piano – Chris Clancy
Produced by Chris Clancy and Colin Richardson.
Engineered by Chris Clancy.
Mixed by Chris Clancy and Colin Richardson.
My House My Rules – Ricky Warwick and Wayne Doyle
Out Of Time – Elles Bailey and Wayne Doyle
Divide and Conquer, Grace, Secret Drug & Streets Of Fire – Chris Jones and Wayne Doyle
Practice Run – Wayne Doyle and Gary Doyle
Declining, How Much Is Enough, It Was Beautiful, Let Me In, We’re The Broken & Who Wants To Be In
Love Anyway – Wayne Doyle
Scarlet Rebels are
Wayne Doyle – Vocals/Guitar
Chris Jones – Lead Guitar
Gary Doyle – Drums
Carl Oag – Bass Guitar
Links
https://www.scarletrebels.com
https://www.facebook.com/ScarletRebels
Words By David Chinery
Photography by Rob Blackham
