Rock Like War

Rock Like War is a song by Rustic Overtones that appears on the band's 2007 studio album Light at the End.

History

"Rock Like War" was first premiered by the band on July 26, 1998 at a performance at the State Theater in Portland, Maine, along with a half-dozen other new songs. The song entered the band's normal rotation of live songs that appeared on their set lists, although they left the song off both 1998's Rooms by the Hour and 2001's Viva Nueva! When the band broke up in 2002, the song still remained unrecorded and was circulated only by fans who had access to live versions of the song. During the band's 2007 reunion, the Rustic Overtones recorded the song along with six other older unrecorded songs to appear on their new album, Light at the End. The song received its first radio airtime on Portland, Maine's alternative station WCYY in June, 2007 after the premier of new song "Troublesome," (also on the album) and the announcement of the band's appearance at a live WCYY patio show in July. It was at this show where the song was premiered live for the first time in its new post-breakup form as the show's closing song. In live shows after the patio show, the song has often been used as the final song before the encore set.

Musical style

The song is one of the band's heavier songs, resembling material that might be found on the band's 2001 album Viva Nueva!. The song is much more guitar based than many of the band's other songs, and uses the horn section mainly as support for the main melodies that are played on guitar. The version of the song that was recorded in 2007 is mostly similar to the version that the band originally used to play on tour before the breakup, although there are a few key differences between the two versions. The recorded studio version featured an electrical guitar with much less distortion than the heavy alternative style found on the older version, and the entire end section after the second chorus and bridge was completely re-written. The old ending sounded like a slightly more upbeat section of the rest of the song and featured the song's title in the lyrics, while the new version of the song's ending sounds like a radical departure from the rest of the song, cutting to a synths/violin section that gradually builds into a horn, guitar, drum, and vocal section that has a very similar feel and concept as the end of The Beatles' classic Hey Jude. The catchy sing-along ending is often sung along to by the rest of the crowd during live shows.

Reception and Legacy

The new version of Rock Like War was immediately well received by the band's fans. After the song's premiere, it held the number one spot on WCYY's "top five at five" for many weeks, and is still found in the station's regular song rotation today.

References