Soapbox, Drafted: Single Review

“We’re All Getting Drafted”: SOAPBOX Deliver a Jaunty Anti-War Belter

SOAPBOX © Tessa Neale

“Stuff your war” is what springs to mind when first hearing the jaunty, sneering and irreverent new single by Glasgow based punks SOAPBOX. I had first heard them by chance when I saw them last play at Oporto in Leeds. The room was packed like the back of a boat filled with nervous twitching soldiers about to get blown to high heaven on the shores of some far off land but unlike those poor souls of yesteryear we were all here, pint in hand, ready to get drafted into the fight on the stiff upper lipped war mongers who would rather see nights of blissful chaos such as this done away with.

“DRAFTED” drifts into your ears with a jump up bassline, nimble guitar work, drums that sound like the marching of the fun brigade all topped off with the talk sung vocals of their dynamic front man Tom Rowan. Hearing this style of vocal delivery in the setting of an uptempo, ska-esque punk tune rather than the frankly somewhat drab and dissonant form of post punk that has dominated much of the alternative music landscape in the UK for the past few years feels less like a breath of fresh air and more like the kiss of life. Needless to say this was a welcome surprise but some of that well explored sonic territory does creep its way into this track.

The taunting shouts of “we’re all getting drafted” are soon interrupted by an abrupt change in tempo, mood and sound scape as the track slows to a dirge like pace with howling bends and hellish white noise overlaid by the pandemonic speech of the skies being on fire and screaming children but then just as soon as the atmosphere turned sour it cuts out, leaving Rowan's vocals all alone before dropping back into the bounce of the start of the song, this time returning triumphant. A plain and simple rejection of the atrocities that some would want us to take part in because it's just not us. SOAPBOX is definitely clued into the attitudes of their audience because nobody wants to die for the ideals of someone they’ll never meet. We’d rather dance the night away and appreciate the simple things in life such as belters like this.

James Gill
Contributor, BritRock Heaven