Whether it was Star Wars figures, baseball cards or records, I’ve always had a proclivity for collecting things that appear on lists. The catalogs that came inside Star Wars boxes, the checklist cards that came in sports cards packs and Beckett Monthly magazine and eventually things like the Killed By Death series, the “NWW List” and the Top 10’s in the back of Maximum Rock n’ Roll. Once I knew I liked at least one thing on a list I could be pretty sure I would like the other things on it. Record collectors of all types have meticulously curated wantlists but I was always content to let people I looked up to tell me what I should be looking for. Sometimes it didn’t work out so great for me, such as the time 20+ years ago a very famous collector and then store owner told me that he would go out of his way to see if he could find a copy of a “very rare” bootleg LP (which he had just recommended to me 15 minutes prior) and promised the next time I returned he would sell me a copy for a very modest price. Upon purchasing said record without ever having heard it, I proudly brought it to another shop to show it off to another respected elder who I yearned to impress. He smirked, curled his lip up and asked how much I had paid for it. When I told them, he shook his head, laughed and asked, “Who do you think put that record out?”
You would think I would have learned my lesson and started being a little more cautious with my money but, nope. I would continue to blindly buy things based on the recommendations of others whose taste I admired. One place I always returned to for guidance over the years was Siltblog, an expertly curated assemblage of critique of some of the more obscure current and historical releases that hovered in the general vicinity of punk, experimental music and beyond. The curator of said blog, Mr. Roland Woodbe, had been responsible for introducing the world to many “underground” artists in the decades prior and the blog seemed to be an extension of his work, one more focused on highlighting his older musical influences as well as current releases he felt were worth waxing poetic about. One such current release (circa 2006) was my introduction to the world of Ben Wallers AKA The Rebel who, at the time, was probably best known for his work as frontman for The Country Teasers, a UK band whose name I was familiar with but, due to record label-mate association with some bands that weren’t exactly my cup of tea, I had never explored. Mr. Woodbe’s “review” was in the form of a letter from a woman named Lady Pembroke to her lover, one Mustapha Kunt. I’m guessing I probably read this entry 4-5 times before I could even figure out whether or not the author liked the record and if he did, what exactly he liked about it. Regardless, if it was good enough for Lady Pembroke.. However, much to my chagrin, by the time I reached out to the purchase link provided, I was too late. Out of print. Very limited. The collector’s gut punch. I believe I was offered the opportunity to purchase some US pressings of Country Teasers records and pay for them to be shipped to me from the UK. No thank you, I would prefer the one with the big broken swastika on the cover. Thank you.
Over a decade later, I am much more familiar and appreciative of Wallers work. Not just with the Country Teasers, but also as The Rebel, his one off 2002 LP with friends called The Company (also featured in Siltblog) and also realizing that two 7″s I had owned since the late 90’s by a Fall-centric band called The Male Nurse was the work of Wallers and a few of his fellow Teasers. I think the last time I had checked in with Wallers was when I read he had released an LP called The Devil which featured not one but TWO covers of songs by Kool Keith. Shortly after this, while negotiating a deal for a record with a gentleman in London via Discogs, the seller offered me a vinyl copy of “Prawns” for a lot less than I could have hoped for and I jumped at the chance to finally own it. I’m sure the audio is out there on Youtube or whatever has replaced Kazaa or Limewire but much like my inability to enjoy a crossword puzzle without an ink pen and an actual newspaper, I can still wait to hear something the “right” way.
I own a few other Rebel records that I enjoy such as the first few 7″s and the “Northern Rocks..” and “Incredible Hulk” LPs but listening to “Prawns” for the first time in 2017 or so was the first time I really “got” what (I think) Wallers is using the character “The Rebel” to express on his records. I remember reading criticism of The Rebel’s lyrics and imagery by whatever we were calling “woke” or “PC” folks in 2007. I see his use of a broken swastika (his “Spakenkreuz” as he calls it) and his provocative (offensive?) lyrics and personas he adapts in his songs as vehicles for expressing many peoples’ attempts to understand those around us who honestly, actually think these thoughts. Calling Waller’s lyrics “offensive” is a sanctimonious notion akin to criticising books for being “erotic” or “violent” without taking into account the actual point being made. History has no shortage of art being criticized by holier-than-thou culture police with very short fuses and a penchant for displaying moral superiority in order to hide their own shortcomings, even especially in the “punk” scene. Wallers by his own admission is a white (gasp!) male adult from above average means who is fully aware that a large majority of problems in the world have always and will always be caused by people exactly like him. His expression of his world views through the Rebel reflect an awareness of this fact and (in my opinion) deeply criticize these unfortunate realities through two things that, as I get farther from age 40 and closer to age 50, keep getting more and more problematic and offensive to some of the younger “punks” coming up behind me: irony and humor. “Prawns” is a truly amazing document and I’m very glad after all these years I was finally able to hear and enjoy it. I hope, like the Teasers records from the same period, someone sees fit to reissue them. We need people like Wallers to keep making music like this if for no other reason than to get those privileged enough to be the most critical of others to take a long hard look at themselves and make them wonder of they’re more of a problem than a solution when it comes to allowing their peers to express themselves through their art, regardless of how it might make some people feel.
The title quote is from a great interview with Wallers from 2018 you can find here.
Follow Wallers on Instagram here.
Catch up with my old friend Roland Woodbe here.
