"Rent Strike!" by The Caroline Bomb
Review
"Did you know that if no one paid their rent today, all our homes would still exist?" say The Caroline Bomb as the unleash their new single "Rent Strike!"
Like the songs on their ‘From the Back Room' EP, the title is qualified with "demo" in parentheses which I find modestly self-deprecating: in fact the subject matter and delivery merit the raw & unpolished production. Over production would dilute its impact. On the other hand, they regard carrying out a self production on an 8 track recorder to be a demo format. Which is in fact twice as many tracks as The Beatles had available for "Sgt Pepper". A little irony of technological history for you there.
Of course the technical issues are irrelevant regardless of this quirk: The Caroline Bomb set out to capture an essentially live performance and that's what you get. When your message is "about time we cut that shit out of our lives so we can all work half the time for the same disposable income..." then you don't need to overdub mellotrons nor orchestras. You just cut to the chase.
And that's essentially The Caroline Bomb way: no flab, no bullshit. If a problem is getting bogged down in obfuscation, cut that Gordian knot. Most problematic aspects of society tend to persist because the vast majority of people whose choice of actions get weighed down by apathy, normative assumptions and excessive deference to authority elect not to act: or indeed cease to act. War for example could be stopped regardless of those who order it if no-one agreed to do the killing: or dying. They do so because they are manipulated into doing so generation after generation despite knowing about the costs & the lies. Here we have an argument (delivered with some vehemence) that the housing market contains equivalent dynamics & that mass refusal to play along with the game is a valid strategy.
This is quite a radical idea (and they are after all quite a radical band). Normally I'd say that you have to catch them live for the complete Caroline Bomb experience (and that's true) but amidst the barrage you'd be unlikely to pick up on the nuances of their argument, so the recorded version does help in that respect.
I insist nevertheless that you do catch them live for a considerable boost to your own sense of wonderment and your adrenaline levels.
The next gig which I'm aware of (I hope they announce more for the interim) is on Thursday 21st August at The Victoria in Birmingham.
Check out too the video for "Rent Strike!"at:
