Refuse Resist – “Mind Yourself “
Last night I saw Refuse Resist’s last show. They were giving out, free, their first CD. As a big believer in American freedom I scoffed one up. Afterward, I remember Ian asking me if I’d do a review of it and I said, “No way, the band’s done. We’ve reviewed their second CD, there’s no point.”
Which leads us to this review.
One of our first live reviews on our site was done by Andy at a show I didn’t attend and we noticed, in the months to come, that it was, by far, our article with the most “hits”. And we tried to sort it out with the bands on the bill and we came to the conclusion that Refuse Resist was the culprit. He praised them, I’d never seen them, I plotted for months to get an interview, it seemed to always slip my grasp.
But in my quest I got to see Refuse Resist quite a few times. I loved their passion and aggression, their melding of hardcore and traditional punk. I even liked how visually they didn’t fit together at all. A drummer who looked like he was Woody Allen’s nephew; a huge, towering bass player; one guitarist who looked like he belonged in an indie band and another like he was from an old Boston garage band; topped with a singer who looked like he’d fit in a “remember the fifties” group. I don’t mean to make fun, too many bands are made of clones of each other, this was a band that looked like fun and didn’t give a fuck.
This band became one of my favorite bands on the site for quite a while. And seeing them at Great Scott’s a few months back, opening up for The Ducky Boys, was the best I’d seen them until their last farewell show, fronting a great lineup in a sold out show at the Midway.
So what’s the point of reviewing this CD? Well, there’s no point. There’s no point to art, whatsoever, when you get down to it; but for the expression and passion and connection and doing and thinking and feeling and acting not how you’re supposed to but how you truly want to- for you, always do what is right!
So, no- you can’t buy this CD. You can’t see this band. But then you never can buy the passion that creates things like this at any cost; but you can experience this by attempting to do what they’ve done or enjoying all the other bands on our site.
Gonna toss up a few samples, gonna say their second CD was definitely better, gonna say check out Andy’s reviews- he saw the band long before I did. I can say a lot of things but will it do justice to what Refuse Resist did and what they represent?
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/04 – Closing In.mp3|titles=Closing In] [audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/06 – Just Paranoid.mp3|titles=Just Paranoid] [audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/12 – See It.mp3|titles=See It] [audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/07 – Still in Massachusetts.mp3|titles=Still in Massachusetts]I believe in everything I’ve written in this review but none more than this.
No, it won’t.
(Slimedog)
