As of today, Riverside Rebellion has released three singles. A fourth is scheduled to be released late on Memorial Day 2024. All of our songs have stories and backgrounds that we think are interesting and hope you might as well.
Singles
Debut Single
BLOOD MOON
Written during the isolation and complex cultural turmoil of the Covid lockdowns of 2020, Blood Moon tackles another epidemic of our time – the opioid epidemic. This blues rock ballad specifically deals with the life and death of Jennifer’s cousin Todd. He was more than an addict and another victim, he was a friend and a father and a person who would do anything for a person in need. This song takes an unflinching look at his loss while remembering his humanity.
second single
ACES & EIGHTS
Aces is a fun driving rocker that tells the story of Wild Bill Hickok. Specifically it tells the story of his death at the hands of Jack McCall in a dispute over a poker game in Deadwood South Dakota. It’s a true story and features a feedback driven narrative breakdown in the middle before fishing in a climactic crescendo.
Aces is a western but with a classic rock aesthetic. Truly one of the band’s favorites to play live.
THIRD SINGLE
BROKEN LINES
A heavily instrumental song with only two verses, the emphasis is on the groove and creating a simple and repeating musical idea that builds on that mood. That mood is up to the listener, but the intention is for it to be a little melancholy – mellow, bittersweet and seductive, but lyrically it is an expression of regret and submission to a journey without a destination. We are left not knowing how his story ends, but the musical breakdown in the second half of the song lets the listener decide for themselves.
COOL FOOL
Cool Fool is the first song wrote. This goes back to around 2018 and predates Riverside Rebellion. It’s a dirty blues rock grinder about a girl and her guilty pleasure – the cool fool – a guy who looks good and has a lot of confidence but is about as deep as a mud puddle. he’s not a long term answer to anything but even though he’s not Mr Right, he’s Mr Right Now.
Bright Lights
Bright Lights is our second song and in some ways a companion piece to Cool Fool. Bright Lights is an Americana rocker that channels a little angst and existential fear as the protagonist imagines the end of the line in a “forever” love. Soulmates are forever, but in the end, one usually checks out first. What’s that like? What is it like to leave your soulmate and go to the other side and wait for them there? This song is influenced by several real life friends who have gone through that shadow veil to the bright lights on the other side to wait on their beloved. One is Jeff “Triple J” James, Gregg and Jen’s dear friend who was lost to lung cancer in 2013. He and his wife Shian were the quintessential “It” couple and it always made us wonder what happens to the magic that makes a couple like that when one dies first? The lyrics came to Gregg in a rush at the funeral of another friend in a similar situation, and always feels personalized when it’s sung and performed because it’s such a relatable dynamic.
Electric Orange
Electric Orange is a departure from the southern rock vibe that permeates the Riverside Rebellion catalogue. It’s a sexy groove driven rock song that draws a little from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The story is about a guy who once had a girl he didn’t value highly enough and let her go before she became Electric Orange – the IT girl. He encounters her again at a party and realizes she has outgrown him rather than the other way around.
Bourbon Cowboy
This song is a southern rocker that tells the story of Billy the bull rider. Billy was once a rodeo hero who time had not been kind to. Injuries and age ends his rodeo career and he became increasingly dependent on whiskey to ease the pain. The upbeat tempo and structure of the song masks the story of a lonely crippled cowboy who’s best years are behind him.
Diggin Da Blues
The song Kritter wrote, this is a fun blues-funk upbeat song with a complicated structure that tells the story of a guy who life’s been treating hard. He keeps on hangin around to get back where he belongs. His woman found another man, so he goes out and loves the women he can.
Through the Night
Through the Night…. This one needs to be interpreted by the listener, but simply put – it’s a story of someone who is desperate to get through a bad night. It might or might not be about a batch of exceptionally strong pot brownies, but the musical arrangement is absolutely one of our favorite songs and we hope you like it too. The vocal harmonies and musical layering are some of the band’s best work.
Trust Fund Rebels
Written before the pandemic, the song’s lyrics can be mistaken for an admonishment against wearing medical masks in the covid era – but in reality it is an anti-communist rocker. This song is 100% unapologetically a celebration of our non-partisan freedoms and liberties and a straight up FUCK YOU to those who would take them away. Censorship is bullsht and no true artist will abide by it. Saying things that piss people off is part and parcel of both free speech and rock n roll itself. Trust Fund Rebels are fake activists whose parents fund their political role playing. They don’t have real skin in the game or a real cause to live and die for. They are soft frauds. We are NOT political and don’t endorse ANY candidates, but the basic framework of free speech is what allows art to be made and those who wish to control it are enemies of art and can fuck right offf. If this song offends you, call another band.
Gas Grass or Ass
This song was literally written as filler for another song’s music video. In that video, a honky tonk song needed to be playing on a jukebox as the scene opened. Rather than paying royalties for a known song, Gregg wrote this one. It play in the opening scene or Gypsy Store Troubadors’ “PBR” as the main character snorts coke in a venue bathroom. Riverside Rebellion liked the song so much, they kept it for themselves. It’s the story of a redneck who goes on a date with a girl who catfished him as he fishes, stoned and drunk catching crabs at catfish bay. It’s funny. It’s a sing along and it’s a great show ender. This is our most “country” song and is probably the one people are most likely to sing along to.