About Me
There are two sides to every story and in this case it's Rant 'n' Rave the covers band and Rant 'n' Rave the Americana band, let me explain...
Rant ‘n’ Rave have been together, on and off, for the past twenty years or so, though not necessarily with this name. The members of the band have played with other groups but they all agree that they get the most enjoyment when they play together with this line-up. They started out originally playing working men’s clubs and weddings etc. and quickly became the quintessential party band, playing pretty much anything with a beat – Rock ‘n’ Roll, Pop music from the sixties onward, Rhythm and Blues, Ballads, Soul and even Country. However because there was little or no room for their own material they very quickly stopped bothering to write. They continued playing these types of gigs, reaching the dizzy heights of the Basildon festival, opening it in 2005 and headlining in 2006 – albeit by default, The Commitments having to play an early set before going on to do another show! Rant ‘n’ Rave were only informed of this change the evening before the gig and quickly amended their forty-five minute set to ninety minutes. Nevertheless, they had the crowd up and dancing in no time! It’s true that the band did try to have a second life for a short while during that period playing mainly Rock ‘n’ Roll with their good friend Wil on slap bass but that never really took off - although that’s where the name ‘Rant ‘n’ Rave’ came from.
About this time Rant ‘n’ Rave had begun to move away from the clubs and event shows (though, if asked to play they will always say ‘Yes’) and started playing more of a Pub Rock set. In late January 2007 they met Bob Collum for the first time when they saw his band, The Welfare Mothers, supporting Los Pistoleros at a gig at The Riga Bar in Southend-on-Sea and they chatted with Bob, an American now living over here, for a while after the show. At the end of August that year they saw Bob and his band again at The Seaxe, a small venue attached to The Essex Arms pub in Brentwood, Essex. After the show he told them of an afternoon gig that he and his band hosted every first Sunday of the month called Prozac Yodel at St. Anne’s Castle, Great Leighs, near Chelmsford in Essex. When they met again at another Los Pistoleros gig, on the first of November that year, Bob invited them to play a guest spot; the only snag being that it was an Americana show and they had to play mainly original works.
Leaping to the challenge, the band immediately set about writing a bunch of songs ranging from straight country to honky-tonk, folk-tinged country and country rock to blues while adding a dash of Cajun, and a little rock ‘n’ roll to get everybody jumpin’. They drew on their wide range of musical inspirations, be that groups, individuals or musical genres whether current or from decades past and by the end of that year they had written and arranged enough material to work on a set for a guest spot in the April of 2008. The show was a success and they have been invited back several times since then. Furthermore, it has led to them playing at other venues around Essex performing their own material.
Encouraged by all the positive feedback, over the next twenty months and whenever their day jobs would allow, they continued to write and perform, eventually managing to get into a studio on a number of occasions to record their debut CD, Americana Shakedown. Fourteen self penned songs, some of which were first aired when the band was interviewed on Saint FM, a local radio station in Maldon, Essex in August 2009, and which has already converted a few unbelievers to the vastly underrated and overlooked genre that is Country music.
Their line up includes guitars, drums and keyboards and they have always believed that good music is just that, good music. It shouldn’t need much classification or be too pigeon-holed it just needs to be played with a bit of passion and a sense of fun. And when this band start playing they like to see everybody get up and dance because, as they’ve been told before ‘They can rant ‘n’ rave with the best of ‘em!’.
EVERYBODY GET ON YOUR FEET…
