Here’s the thing. Sometimes I worry that The Rubberbandits are the only fully lucid members of modern Irish society, and that the rest of us are, metaphorically speaking, the ones walking around with plastic bags over our heads.
After a whopping one hour and 42 minutes of the Gospel according to Mr. Chrome and Blind Boy Boat Club, you can’t help but come away with an abridged view of Irish life. The embarrassing, disappointing and devastating chapters are laid out in front of you plain as day, albeit backed by an irresistible electro hop shuffle.
But who wants to listen to a gangsta rap album about unemployment, emigration, racial stereotypes, history and politics? Well, when you get your point across as outrageously and cleverly as The Rubberbandits do, I’m guessing a whole lot of people. Even without the ludicrous Limerick drawl and righteous attitude, few have described the plight of the Irish twentysomething as well as these lads do when they honk, “My buddies are in Boston and the club is graveyard bare/A naggin in my pocket but the barman doesn’t care… The Ireland that I used to love has now become a myth/Reminds me of an empty pub/A bra without a tit.”
Other times, it’s clear that BBBC and Chrome are simply horsing around, spouting priceless tales of putting Danny Dyer in a headlock, making friends with a six-year-old, and that awkward moment when you accidentally kiss Ice Cube on the mouth. While the on-point social commentary is ripe for the picking, plenty of tracks are there purely for the love of musical parody.
The 24-track double album, brilliantly-titled Serious About Men, includes effortless takes on dubstep (‘Buddies In Boston’), electrofunk (‘Spastic Hawk’), jazz fusion (‘Greyhound Shuffle’) and trip hop (‘Danny Dyer’), and bizarrely enough, lyrics like “I’ll cut your lawn if I can ride your sister” aside, their playful caricatures are not too far removed from a lot of genuine pop music. Suddenly I’m struck with the horrifying realisation that we are just one, maybe two Lil’ Wayne albums away from tracks as ridiculous the Vocoder remix of ‘Too Many Gee’ making it into the charts for real.
Elsewhere though, Chic-esque basslines and old school hip hop beats sound absolutely smashing, as Bandit One and Two appear to pay tribute to, among others, Prince, R.Kelly, L.L. Cool J, Cameo, Snoop, Gil Scott-Heron, A Tribe Called Quest and their all-time hero, Tupac. There’s even a hammy sax solo and some dirty Hendrix-esque guitar licks for your thrusting, tail-shaking pleasure.
Unfortunately, their debut is likely to spark even more debate from humourless citizens who can’t see beyond the two eejits in Centra masks, smoking weed and dropping yolks. “I can’t control what I’m inspired by,” Blind Boy said when forced to defend ‘Horse Outside’ on Joe Duffy’s Liveline. “All I can do is look at the world around me, and what comes out of my mind is a response to that.”
At the moment, no-one’s response is funnier or more astute, and when mixed in with gut-busting prank calls and carefree odes to greyhounds, it’s all the better. For those who understand the irony in The Rubberbandits’ shtick, Serious About Men is a brilliant portrayal of the most ludicrous elements of Irish life. But those who see it as just a bit of craic get the best deal of all – razor-sharp silliness and slicker melodies than some bands could come up with in a decade.