RED STAR REBELS
Bar Academy

TONS of hair, stinging guitar licks, mic stand throwing and proper groupies – all key rock benchmarks.
Receding hairlines, burnout, back problems and a housewife fan base come later so it is best to possess the former characteristics in large quantities while you can. Thankfully the Red Star Rebels showed promising amounts of these ingredients last Tuesday night.
Their music, though in places formulaic, on the whole included many of the components essential for stadium rock. Indeed a stadium would be better equipped for the energetic five-piece. They looked decidedly contained on Islington’s Bar Academy’s less than generous stage.
No sooner were the Rebels out of the starting blocks than three fifths of them were stripped to the waist and writhing about the stage. Your mother would be appalled.
Only guitarist Jonny Amos and drummer Steve Dunne, an Alice Cooper lookalike with platinum standard stick-twirling skills, kept themselves from getting a chill.
The single-friendly killer Fast Die Young and Pretty with its ringing, picked chords and anthemic chorus was met with the filler Let it Die, a weak point in an otherwise sturdy 10-strong set.
Fight for Yesterday included some wondrous cowbell while In It for the Kicks provided the kind of punching, staccato choruses needed early on to warm up the masses.
With hips thrusting, locks tossing and bandanas flowing, the Rebels strutted their way through their night in N1.
Singer Blackie provided a magnetic performance, belting them out while showcasing his stand-chucking skills. Lead guitarist Meady and bassist Darren Loczy, like all good axemen, let their weapons do the talking.
The serious Rebels proved they can rock but it remains to be seen if they can charm an audience. I’m not suggesting whipping out Tarby’s greatest gags but let’s have some banter.