Rude Pride - Be True To Yourself

Spirit Of The Streets Records

 

To me Spanish band Rude Pride kind of came out of nowhere. The band formed in 2013 in Madrid and already released a four track debut EP last year for Bandworm Records, but slipped my attention until a few weeks ago. I saw their music video for the song “Screaming Oi!” on YouTube and found their debut full-length, “Be True To Yourself”, for free to download on the internet and after one spin I was instantly charmed by the sound of these Madrilenos.

 

Musically Rude Pride sounds like a mix between Perkele and Lion’s Law on the first nine songs of “Be True To Yourself” and some simmering down ska on the tenth and final track called “Living A Lie”. Now personally that is a ratio I can live with, because I am much more into Oi! than ska music, but ironically “Living A Lie” turned into one of my favorites of “Be True To Yourself”. This doesn’t say anything about the quality of the first 90% of the album though, because Rude Pride produces some top flight Oi! music and recorded a full-length debut that is nearly as impressive as the debut albums of the earlier mentioned Perkele and Lion’s Law were.

 

Lyrically Rude Pride takes a stand against racism, fascism and sexism, while being pro-equality, being united and worker’s rights. Also, unlike many other Oi! bands, they’re not particularly proud of their nation and its flag colors, explained in the song “Flag On Fire”. In this track they identify the red for the blood that has been spilled by Spain’s military and police and the yellow for the lies spread by its dirty politicians (for those who don’t know Spain’s flag, it’s red-yellow-red). Pretty sure this is a song that will not be appreciated by every Spaniard out there, but at least Rude Pride is straying true to their selves and aren’t afraid to show this.

 

As said, “Be True To Yourself” contains a total of ten songs on LP, but if you don’t have a record player there’s a CD version as well that contains all four tracks from the band’s debut EP as a bonus. And although I am not too fond on flag burning myself, this is a pretty fan-fuckin’-tastic debut album by this traditional skinhead outfit and definitely worth checking out!