Rude City Riot – Nothin’ But Time

On their debut album, Nothin’ But Time, Vancouver’s Rude City Riot comes roaring out of the starting gate with the blistering title track that leaves the listener stalled in place with only one question on their mind: this is a debut?

The track from the seven piece ska-punk band is tight, strong, catchy and instantly memorable. The horns are there, but placed delicately in the background to support the song rather than take over the energy. The guitars are slightly distorted while the upstroke keeps the tempo going steadily. The vocals are strong and confident, like a more melodic Trevor Keith and they’re backed up by a wall full of Bad Religion-like woahs and back-up vocals. Throw in the touchy, personal and mature lyrical matter – Rude City Riot are preparing you to deliver an album worthy of mention, and this is only the first song.

Now, that’s not saying they go downhill from there – far from it. In fact, the next few tracks may even be stronger. Bonnie & Clyde is a bouncy ska tune to get the listener skanking along and popping their heads with a rousing chorus to just make shit go crazy while Imposter Man is a full-blown, two-toned ska song like The Specials and Victoria is a fuller, third-wave ska song where the horns lead the song (imagine a much better Crowned King mixed with a dash of Reel Big Fish).

This is good shit. Especially for ska-punk enthusasists.

Sadly, as we reach near the halfway point of the album, Rude City Riot start to show signs of this being their debut as they become too eager to show off everything in their arsenal. The first bump comes fromKick Me When I’m Down, a slow moving, head-popping reggae tune akin to The Aggrolites or Westbound Train. Not a bad song by any means but the placement hurts it. The album was bouncy, speedy and energetic and this throws a wrench into it.

From that point onwards, the album fluctuates. It’s never truly bad (and sometimes it’s purely fantastic – Gen or the Planet Smashers meets Mad Caddies reggae style of The Reaper) but it is long. The instrumentals, Got A Headache and DC Riot Stomp, may show off some tight musicianship but seem unnecessary and self indulgent. All of it adds together to make fourteen songs that, individually, are fun to listen but drag on when placed back to back as a fifty minute running time seems to be too long.

Still, Nothing’ But Time is highly impressive – even more so for the fact that it’s a debut. It’s tight, crisp, energetic and well written ska-punk. They’ve just taken the title to heart and assumed everyone has nothing but time on their hands. When they learn to cut off and condense, then they’ll really be onto something.