I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: March 13, 2025] Rx Bandits

So I didn’t know Rx Bandits at all.  When they started this tour last year (and played Philly), I skipped it even though I wanted to see Zeta.

But in the year since, I listened to this album and found that I liked it quite a bit.  And U still wanted to see Zeta, so I grabbed a ticket and investigated Rx Bandits more.

Rx Bandits had a simple set up–two guitars (singer Matt Embree & Steve Choi), a bass (Matthew Fazzi) and drums (Christopher Tsagakis).  And for a couple of songs they even brought out some horns (trombone: Andrew Borstein & saxophone: Dennis Passley).

This was a tour for their album The Resignation, which they played straight through.  I didn’t realize that they were initially a ska band and that they had morphed into something else over the years.

The band is tight and energetic and they rocked the venue (the crowd was nuts–I was on the barrier and was fairly safe).  They brought out the horns for Prophetic (and played the slow denouement that segued into Newsstand Rock.

Matt Embree is a charming front man, having fun with the audience and the rest of the band.  When he began Overcome almost a capella and in a kind of reggae delivery, I wasn’t sure if he was improvising (he wasn’t, it’s the opening of the song, which turns into a full on slow ska song with great lyrics:

The future is held in the hands who write the textbooks
Ignorance is bred when falsified thinking is taught
To the youth instead of past mistakes and mind elevation
Like the graves that manifest destiny has created
So we can build our capitalist consumer based economy
To build, market, and sell commodities we don’t need
But we are trained to believe like celebrity imaging
Well I’m here to take my feelings back and I hope that you will be with me
– –
I can’t wait for that day when I hear us all screaming Ahhhhhhhhh

And we all sang together Aaaaah.   llove the way the song kept getting faster and faster but never to breakneck speed.   The horns intro’d Never Slept So Soundly and the band blasted through this an a few more songs.  The diversity in styles was impressive, with some catchy moments, some fast moments and some great riffage (Steve Choi was really fun to watch).

When the album came to an end with the intense wildness of Decrescendo, the place went crazy.

The album is about an hour–a decent set length.  But they had a few more songs left.  These songs I didn’t know, but the diehards were pretty psyched.  Ruby Cumulous from their debut got everyone really excited.  A cool bass line and wild guitars and a vague ska feeling got the crowd bouncing.  The reggae vibe was never stronger than on In All Rwanda’s Glory which really brought home the vibe of togetherness, peace and kindness the band presented.

Human rights went on vacation
Money took over a long time ago
Cry for this racial war in all Rwanda’s glory
There ain’t no glory in a war
Ain’t no glory

A black man or a white man or an Asian or a Mexican
Or an African or a South African or a Serbian or a Libyan
You’re all one race, it’s the human race
Just a different smile for a different face
We’re all one race, it’s the human race
Just a different smile for a different face

They ended the night with a song from their 2006 album and it was indeed a Crushing Destroyer–a great way to end the night.  I’m really glad I went to the show and am bummed that I didn’t know them before this,

SETLIST

1. Sell You Beautiful ®
2. Prophetic®
3. Newsstand Rock (Exposition)®
4. Overcome (The Recapitulation)®
5. Never Slept So Soundly ®
6. Taking Chase as the Serpent Slithers ®
7. Republic ®
8. Mastering the List ®
9. Falling Down the Mountain ®
10. Dinna-Dawg (And the Inevitable Onset of Lunacy) ®
11. Pal-Treaux ®
12. Decrescendo ®
    Encore
13. Ruby Cumulous ∝
14. In All Rwanda’s Glory ¶  
15. Crushing Destroyer &

¶ Progress (2001)
® The Resignation (2003)
& And the Battle Begun (2006)
∝ Gemini, Her Majesty (2014)