American Rebel Soul: Ready To Rock The Nation

Photo Credit: Chas Budde Photography

American Rebel Soul: Ready To Rock The Nation

Meet American Rebel Soul, a dynamic collective from Fort Collins ready to bring rock and roll back to the true believers all across the nation. With their original groove-oriented, old-school melodic blues rock, American Rebel Soul is primed to captivate listeners in a vast and epic way.  Their debut Self-Titled album has just been released via Perris Records, and they recently opened for none other than Faster Pussycat at Nixon’s Rocky Mountain Smokehouse & Tavern in Fort Collins.  We caught up with American Rebel Soul’s bassist Jimmie Earls to find out more about this band on the rise ready to your rock your world!  Read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in American Rebel Soul, and how long the band has been together.
I’m Jimmie Earls, the band’s bass player and founder. The band started to take shape about a year ago, but the lineup that recorded the album didn’t come together until a couple weeks before we went into the recording studio.

Where is the band based out of and what is the music scene like there?
The band is based out of Fort Collins, Colorado. The music scene here is a hodgepodge of cover bands, tribute bands and original acts. In my experience, there hasn’t been much support for original music here. Most of the time we have to do cover gigs and throw in some of our originals.

How did you wind up on Perris Records?
One of our guitar players, Sean Quidgeon, used to be in a band called Dust And Bones that was signed to Perris. After that band broke up, Sean and I briefly had a band called Heretic Saints and we contacted Tom Mathers, who owns Perris Records, to see if he was interested. Unfortunately he passed on that band, but we kept in contact while Sean and I played in various other bands, one of those being an American Rebel Soul. We sent Tom the master tracks and he agreed to sign us.

Select any two songs from your Self-Titled album and what inspired the lyrics.
Dave and Dawn wrote a lot of the lyrics, some of them while we were in the studio. I can’t tell you what inspired those lyrics but I can let you know what my interpretation of some of them are. I really like “Back Window” because it’s very introspective and talks about not dwelling on the past, to keep moving forward toward a better day. The song that I wrote and sing, “Say Hello To Goodbye“, is all about not putting up with someone who takes advantage of you. Sometimes it seems like the more you try, the other person is never satisfied. Finally, you have to know when to cut your losses and just walk away, hence the title.

What could one expect from a live American Rebel Soul show?
First and foremost, an American Rebel Soul show is all about having fun. We don’t believe in staying in one place onstage for the entire show. We also like it to be interactive with the audience so they can have as much fun as we are.

Has American Rebel Soul ever played in the Los Angeles/Hollywood area or plan to do so in future days?
We haven’t made it out to California yet, but we would certainly welcome the opportunity if it were financially feasible. We’re not really a touring band, and it’s really difficult for all of the members to get together for even a local gig, let alone a show so far away.

What are you looking forward to the most about your upcoming show with Faster Pussycat?
Every show is an opportunity to meet new people and gain support. The most important thing is to make new friends and get feedback about the music, both good and bad.

If American Rebel Soul could open up for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
That’s a tough question to answer, but I think a safe bet would be AC/DC, because it would be a massive crowd and they are the quintessential hard rock band. If it were solely up to me, it’d be the original lineup of Kiss. That was the band that started everything for me.

What’s up next for American Rebel Soul?
Right now, we’re taking a brief break while I work on a solo album. Then we play Colorado Springs on Labor Day at an outdoor festival. After that, who knows?

Any final words of wisdom?
Despite what Gene Simmons says, rock is not dead, it’s always been around for the true believers. You just have to know where to look for it. I think the cool thing about this band is that we have such a wide range of influences. We’ve been compared to Skid Row, AC/DC, The Answer and Scorpions by some. I don’t hear it, but others do. We’re just having fun writing and playing songs that reflect our influences.

American Rebel Soul is: David Kubicek (Lead Vocals/Acoustic, Slide and Electric Guitar), Sean Quidgeon (Electric Guitar/Backing Vocals), Jimmie Earls (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals), Dawn Kubicek (Vocals), Jay Winslow (Drums)

(Interview by Ken Morton – Photo by Chas Budde Photography)

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