Rude Punch’s sound is closer to Bob Marley than Slipknot, which is saying a lot considering Rude Punch hails from Iowa and not Jamaica.
With the humble beginning of playing as high-school students in Davenport, Adam Tucker and Robb Laake, both 24, and Brady Jager, 23, have a seamless sound that makes classifying music by genre a thing of the past.
Rude Punch will play the Picador, 330 E. Washington St., at 9 p.m. today.
In high school, like an old-school love affair, the three friends reconfigured to jam once they finished playing in their separate ensembles.
“We each belonged to different bands, but when we realized we would rather play with each other, we became our own unit,” said drummer Tucker.
When first developing their sound in 2004, the bandmates played their favorite Bob Marley, Sublime, and 311 songs. In the spring of 2006, the musicians began writing their own songs and playing them at friends’ parties and at local bars, where they received positive feedback.
“While people enjoyed our first album, they were really enthusiastic about our second — they wanted to know more about what we did and talk about it with us,” said Jager, Rude Punch’s vocalist.
Even though the band’s music resists being placed into conventional musical categories, Rude Punch’s songs are magnetic because of how the band blends different sounds.
“Our strengths are quite different,” said Tucker. “I drum kinda hard and hip-hoppish, and Robb’s bass is always moving and very fluid — he’s like another guitar player. And since our influences range from soul, punk rock, classic stuff from the ’50s and ’60s to tunes from the ’80s when we were kids, we don’t have just one sound.”
When pressed, however, the group members will call the trio a reggae-rock band.
“The thing about reggae is that the general vibe of it makes you feel good. The melodies, the percussion, the bassline … it’s funky, upbeat and happy,” said Jager. “The chords are sweet and optimistic.”
The tracks on the band’s latest album, Killin’ It are wholly impressive. Laake’s bass and Jager’s guitar set down the reggae beats and tempos, and Tucker’s percussion carries listeners along without dominating them. In “Until the Sun Comes Up,” the electric guitar switches between sounding rock-ish and strong by playing on the off-beats, or the “skank” — the first and the third instead of the second and the fourth beats — which is a definitive quality of reggae music. “Payment” is looser — the beat is palpable in the way it seems to linger.
For the lyrics, the band takes the typical reggae themes of love and sexual expression and injects them with modernity.
“We sing about being kids from the Midwest, like the cold winters here, trying to get jobs, and trying to get with chicks,” said Jager.
Rude Punch’s manager Jeff Jager, who is also Brady Jager’s father, attributed the group’s popularity to its capacity to excite an audience with its distinct, feel-good vibes.
“When they perform, the fun that Brady, Adam, and Robb have onstage is evident and it becomes contagious,” Jeff Jager said. “Before they know it, fans are smiling, dancing, and having a great time. They get a chance to let their guard down and forget about their problems.”
Unlike so many disposable musical acts, Rude Punch plans to stay around for a while.
“Our plan is just to keep playing,” Tucker said. “Our music is fun to make and perform, and we’re going to keep doing it as long as we can.”
Hannah Lawrence - The Daily Iowan (Mar 26, 2009)
Punch Drunk Love: Local Band Tries to Find an Audience for Its Reggae-Infused Rock
Contributed by Brad Vidmar
Wednesday, 06 December 2006
At
first glance, you wouldn't guess that the guys in Rude Punch are
ambassadors for reggae rock in the Quad Cities. Often sporting
T-shirts, jeans, and baseball caps, the three band members look like
typical white, early-20s college kids.
The
trio - singer/guitarist Brady Jager, bassist Robb Laake, and
drummer Adam Tucker - has been working this fall on its debut album
and is gearing up for shows in Iowa City and in the Quad Cities over
the next two months. And while the young band is at stylistic odds
with most of its peers in this area, it is hell-bent on bringing its
brand of Jamaican-flavored jingles to the masses.
"It's
real chill ... but it's not classical reggae," said Jager. "We
play rock lines with reggae bass and guitar ... use a lot of
distortion." The groups's sound is a groovin' mix of rock and
reggae, heavily influenced by the music of Bob Marley, 311, and
Sublime. The band also cited Slightly Stupid, Pepper, Peter Tosh, and
Matisyahu, as well as hip-hop, classic rock, and the psychedelic
metal of Tool.
Sounding
tight and well-rehearsed, the band played a smoking set on November
17, opening for Chicago Afrobeat Project at the Redstone Room. In
front of a packed house, the band delivered at least a half-dozen
original songs, as well as a cover of Sublime's "Santeria" that
showcased Jager's uncanny vocal resemblance to that band's late
singer, Bradley Nowell. "The girls will just come up to us [after
performances] and say, ‘You guys are so-o-o good. ... You sound
just like Sublime,'" said Jager, "You kind of hate that stuff
[comparisons], because you don't want to be told that you sound
like somebody else. ... But if we're playing their [Sublime's]
songs, I guess thats good."
On
top of their live shows, the band recently began recording its
still-untitled debut album in Galena, Illinois, in a two-night
musical binge that required the band to bring their sleeping bags.
The trio completed 12 instrumental tracks and plans to return to the
studio soon to record vocals and put the finishing touches on the
album.
River Cities' Reader
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The
band's MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/rudepunch) includes
upcoming album tracks "Old Smoke Tree" and "Closer," and a
live cut of "Soldiers for Hire" from a performance at the
Redstone Room. The songs showcase funky reggae chords with trippy
wah-pedal and delayed guitar effects, snaring drums, pounding bass,
and rough vocal tracks with lyrics that tackle your usual reggae
themes: love, perseverance, and marijuana inhalation. And despite
being demo material, the sample MP3s on the page sound well-produced.
"We
started off playing a lot of heavy metal and rock - mainly what was
popular around here," said Tucker about the trio's early days.
While attending Davenport West High School, the band (all now in
their early 20s) jammed with each other and other people in different
unnamed basement bands.
But
Rude Punch's current reggae sound wasn't a part of their old
groups' repertoire. "The attraction to reggae had always been
there," said Tucker, "But with the people we were jamming with,
it really wasn't what they wanted to do."
Those
bands didn't last. "I didn't really like what we were doing
anyway," said Brady. "You start to get to a certain age and you
start to figure out, ‘What do I really like?' instead of ‘What
do my friends like?'"
Citing
their love for bands such as Sublime and 311, the band decided to
move toward a reggae-rock hybrid sound. "That's probably what
brought us together," said Tucker of the band's new style, "It
had never been just us three focused on that genre."
"I
was always into that style," said Laake. "I think when we got
together. it just worked better than any of the other bands."
The
band got its reggae groove started in 2004, originally calling itself
Seed, which also included singer/guitarist Craig Smith. The group
played the Quad Cities bar and college scene, landing opening spots
in summer 2005 for Pepper and Dark Star Orchestra at the now-defunct
QC Live.
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Following
Smith's departure in April 2006, the band decided to rename itself,
fittingly, after an alcoholic beverage Tucker had consumed while on
vacation in Jamaica, and Rude Punch was born.
Although
the group has landed some high-profile shows recently (including a
pre-party gig for a Slightly Stupid/Pepper concert this past month in
Milwaukee), the trio is still working to establish an audience
locally.
"We
can advertise our ass off, and not that many people are going to come
to the show because it seems like people don't care," Jager said.
"They're going to that bar because that's where they go. We get
good crowd turnouts at bars that are just packed anyways."
The
band also recognizes that its style doesn't conform to current
trends. At a recent XMG International musical conference in Chicago,
Rude Punch found itself in competition with close to 50 other acts
that Jager described as emo bands that all sounded the same. The trio
lost to a band whose "name was like, six words long," Jager said.
"‘Tomorrow Will End with the Lust of Forgotten Memories' or
something like that. These guys are like, 25, singing about the love
letter their girlfriend wrote them and how sad they are."
The
band sounded bitter about losing the XMG contest but is generally
upbeat. "I think right now these emo bands could be compared to
'80s hair metal," Jager said. "We're confident in our music.
We say, ‘Man, if we get a bunch of people here, I know they'd
like us!' ... So we're just trying to get more people to know who
we are and like us hopefully."
He
added that once the band's CD is finished, the trio is aiming to go
on tour with whoever will take them on the road. "We gotta get a
van and a trailer," Jager said. "Just live in it and go."
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Rude
Punch will perform on December 29 at RIBCO; December 30 at Mound
Street Landing; and January 5 at the Redstone Room.
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Brad Vidmar - River Cities Reader (Mar 14, 2008)
Band is giving its 1-2 punch
Story Discussion David Burke | Posted: Tuesday, March 17, 2009 12:00 am | No Comments Posted
Font Size: Default font size Larger font size The second album from the Davenport band Rude Punch may have a sound similar to its 2006 debut, but there were plenty of changes behind the scenes.
“The last CD, we kind of had everything written and then went in to record it,” lead singer and guitar player Brady Jager said. With album No. 2, “Killin’ It,” the band “had time to sit and mess with it and work out the kinks.”
“It’s a little more raw,” drummer Adam Tucker said. “We had a lot more fun doing it.”
“Killin’ It” will be introduced with a concert Saturday night at the Redstone Room, inside the River Music Experience, downtown Davenport.
The rock-reggae trio said they noticed differences between the first and second albums.
“The structures are a little more complex,” bassist Robb Laake said. “It’s not like it’s progressive rock, but more than last time.”
“We’ll have a hard rock chorus and then break into reggae verses,” Jager added.
The trio doesn’t play in the Quad-Cities very often, they said, but Mound Street Landing is usually a favorite spot.
They have expanded their touring to include Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Austin, Texas.
The three said “Killin’ It” may gain them new fans and the possibility of a mainstream breakthrough.
“Half this album could be radio hits if somebody pushed them well,” Jager said.
IF YOU GO
What: Rude Punch, with Alan Sweet and the Mental Notes and Vibenhal
When: 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21
Where: Redstone Room, inside the River Music Experience, 129 Main St., Davenport
How much: $5
Information: (563) 326-1333 or RedstoneRoom.com on the Web
Also on the Web: RudePunch.com
Posted in Music on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 12:00 am | Tags: Rude, Punch, Rock, Reggae, Music, Redstone, Room, Davenport
David Burke - Quad City Times (Mar 17, 2009)
Rude dudes
Story Discussion David Burke | Posted: Wednesday, October 4, 2006 12:00 am | No Comments Posted
Font Size: Default font size Larger font size
Rude Punch — Robb Laake, left, Brady Jager and Adam Tucker — perform next weekend during Augusta-na homecoming festivi-ties at Rock Island Brewing Co. Photo by Jeff Cook/GO!
Brady Jager’s T-shirt gives you a little bit of an idea of the Davenport band Rude Punch.
It’s direct from the Buffalo Bill Cody gift shop, but “Bill” is crossed and “Soldier” written in with a marker. Then with a marker, the image of William Cody is transformed, thanks to Sharpie dreadlocks, into a mock Bob Marley, the reggae legend whose hits include “Buffalo Soldier.”
Rude Punch — the concoction of singer-guitarist Jager, bass player Robb Laake and drummer Adam Tucker — is a Davenport-based band that spikes its punch with a good dose of reggae music. Bands like Sublime and 311 are among the influences of the band, which formed seven to eight months ago from three-fourths of the band Seed.
“We want to give them something that’s totally new and what we want,” Jager said. “So many bands are trying to be this or that to please somebody, but we’re going to be what we want.”
The three had played in several rock bands before forming Seed, the predecessor to Rude Punch.
“The music that we played wasn’t really what we wanted to do,” Jager said. “This band would always come in at 2 in the morning and meet up with each other and play reggae music, different from what everybody else was playing.”
The three have known each other for at least a decade — Jager graduated from Davenport West in 2003, a year after Laake and Tucker. They’ve even lived together for a time.
“It’s just friends getting together and playing the music we love,” Tucker said.
No one’s sure which of the three got hooked on reggae rock first, and which one spread the word to the other two.
“All of us started with just the mood it gives you,” Tucker said. “It’s happy.”
“We’ve all kind of grown up with it,” Jager said.
“That’s what helped bring us all together,” Tucker said.
“It was the biggest thing we had in common,” Jager said.
Band members say they can imagine the sneers they might get from the West Coast, wondering how three kids from Iowa can appreciate, play and love reggae music.
“Having the Internet, you’ve got like every style of music available. It’s not just what the local record stores have available,” Laake said. “We get all the same music they get.”
The music has taught them to tolerate other people’s opinions, band members say.
“This music’s all about love and respect and unity of people — not judging people on race or age or gender. We don’t judge by ‘Oh, you like metal music, we don’t like you,’” he said. “We like anybody to come to the shows.”
Although the band has enough originals and cover songs in its repertoire to play a four-hour set at some bars, it’s readying 15 to 20 songs to take to a recording studio in Galena, Ill., later this month.
Jager writes most of the words; Tucker and Laake handle a majority of the melodies.
Tucker said reggae rock is easier to play, but tougher to write than standard rock.
“I figure with all the rest of the music, you have to stick with it,” Tucker said. “But we can let this out.”
Rude Punch plays next weekend, in its second gig at the Rock Island Brewing Co., during Augustana College homecoming activities. Its schedule also includes a Nov. 1 date at Milwaukee club The Rave, opening for bands Slightly Stoopid and Pepper.
The next step for the band is to begin touring regionally, its members say. The ideal goal is to make music a full-time career. (Jager and Tucker are cooks at the Parkside Grill & Lounge in Moline; Tucker also works at Los Amigos in Bettendorf. Laake works in the circulation department of the Quad-City Times.)
“We’re planning on being just like all our influences and everyone we looked up to. We’re looking at this as a career,” Jager said.
“Being able to survive doing something you love — that’s the American dream, isn’t it?”
David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com.
IF YOU GO
What: Rude Punch, with Bad Girls
When: 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13
Where: Rock Island Brewing Co., 1815 2nd Ave., Rock Island
How much: Free
Information: (309) 793-1999
David Burke - Quad City Times (Oct 13, 2008)
