Review: Guns of Brighton – A Selfish Call to Arms

A Selfish Call To Amrs is a serious take on punk rock meets metal, the product delivered by Markie D (Mark Duchane) guitar/vocals/songwriting, Anthony Aubrey (drummer) adding harmony vocals and crunching percussion and former Virginian (the state) Lee Holland on bass who joined the group in July of 2012. A fourth member rounds out the trio-gone-quartet, recently added Mike Lucantonio on 3rd harmony vocals and lead guitar.

The official video of Track 4, Heroes of the Past is a perfect example of what is store on the eight track disc. Exploding power-pop metal with the groove of a Maglev propelled train (magnetic levitation):

“Rude Boy Warning” is a quick burst of the Ramones meet AC/DC with some poignant lyrics – “Like father like son / but for some of us it ain’t much fun.” The 2:33 short, succinct essay has an eleven second phone call added to it, and from there it is right into the Ska-influenced “All the Young Hooligans” – a change of pace from the relentless onslaught of guitar-powered melodies. This is not your grandpa’s “All the Young Dudes” from David Bowie’s pen, more like Bob Marley playing at Aerosmith’s old Mama Kin club where the House of Blues is now.

Opening track A Call To Arms gives an acapella 18 second admonition before “Unjustifiable Mistake” kicks things off, three minutes and 29 seconds of driving rock and roll. All of the songs are under three minutes and thirty seconds, “Unjustifiable Mistake” actually the longest of the eight cuts at 3:29. Duchane’s voice works on record and in concert, the group showing off its skills in live performance August 30, 2014, a Labor Day weekend special at Club Bohemia at the Cantab. Guns of Brighton rocked the hall with louder versions of the (if there’s any justice in the world) soon-to-be classics on this disc.

While most groups are advised to issue a single or an EP at best, Guns of Brighton double the pleasure with a short-but-sweet 8 tracks, tunes like “Ready for Salvation” have accurate backing vocals and Aubrey’s steady beat to keep things uniform in the controlled mayhem. Great job on the CD and terrific live.

Joe Viglione is the Chief Film Critic at TMRZoo.com. He has written thousands of reviews and biographies for AllMovie.com, Allmusic.com, Gatehouse Media, Al Aronowitz’s The Blacklisted Journal, and a variety of other media outlets. Joe also produces and hosts Visual Radio, a seventeen year old variety show on cable TV which has interviewed Jodie Foster, director/screenwriter David Koepp, Michael Moore, John Cena, comics/actors Margaret Cho, Gilbert Gottfried, Gallagher, musicians Mark Farner and Don Brewer of Grand Funk Railroad, Ian Hunter of Mott The Hoople, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, Felix Cavaliere of The Rascals, political commentator Bill Press and hundreds of other personalities.