ALBUM REVIEW: The Inciters – Bring Back The Weekend
(Pirates Press Records)
Northern Soul outfit The Inciters are quite a different addition to the Pirates Press Records roster, but for a label which specialises in punk rock it sure knows how to pick them when they go off grid.
Previous releases have seen PPR dip a toe into jazz/reggae with Shuffle And Bang (reviewed here), but this latest release by the 10-piece from Santa Cruz, California, is something else.
The combo of veteran players have been filling dance floors around the world since the mid-90s, and are no strangers to playing with ska, punk, and Oi! bands.
With three female vocalists and a four-piece horn section as well as the usual guitar, bass and drums, The Inciters’ take on Northern Soul is a powerful one.
Formed in 1995, they had a successful 10-year run before breaking up in 2005. Original member and bandleader Rick Kendrick put the band back together four years later, re-forming with some new, younger faces and picking up right where they left off.
This is their fifth album, but their first since 2012’s Soul Clap, and they’ve refreshed the line-up again, though six of the 10-strong ‘reformation’ line-up remain.
Right from the off, Bring Back the Weekend recalls one of those ’60s revue shows you’ll have seen on TV, full of energy and amazing musicianship, with the singers, rhythm section and horns in perfect synch.
It’s 11 slices of upbeat soul music, of which three are well-chosen cover versions and the rest originals. It kicks off with the title track, about living for the weekend and dancing away your troubles.
I’m not sure which of the three vocalists – Sabina, Rizzie or Aimee – takes lead, but the vocal interplay between the three of them is one of the highlights of the album, recalling greats like Martha and the Vandellas.
A strident bassline kick-starts off If I Didn’t, and it’s one of the features of the horn-soaked stomper. It’s followed by Love Comes Around, which slows things down a touch.
The lead single is the jaunty Boot N Soul, written by Skankin’ Pickle’s Lars Nylander in a reggae style for San Francisco band The Impalers, who never got to use it. In the hands of The Inciters it becomes a soul stomper with a wonderful horn section.
Up In A Puff Of Smoke, which kicks off side two of the vinyl version of the album, is the first cover. Originally by Polly Brown, from British pop group Pickettywitch, who had a solo hit with it in 1975, it’s bright and breezy, underpinned by a great bassline, and a great choice.
We Gave It A Good Run features some of the best harmonising on the record, and then we get the second cover, Only Time Will Tell by ’80s British mod revivalists Makin’ Time (whose bassist Martin Blunt would go on to form The Charlatans).
Warm feeling
The final cover is the slower-paced Love (Your Pain Goes Deep), a 1969 cut by American funk and soul singer Frankie Beverly & The Butlers, and, like the other non-originals, it’s not a song I’m familiar with, but they’re all a good fit alongside Inciters’ originals like Waiting By The Phone.
The final track, Always, Sometimes, Never is a slower song which makes for a change of pace, but it’s a perfect closer, leaving you with a lovely warm feeling, and making you want to listen to the record all over again. 8/10.
- Bring Back the Weekend by The Inciters is available now from Pirates Press Records HERE on 12in black vinyl or black with white splatter.
The Inciters have played with the likes of The Slackers and The Aggrolites, but they’re a band well worth seeing in their own right. The good news is they’re embarking shortly on their first European tour in over five years.
