stream Rule Them All's "Teacher," see them with Shelter, Backtrack, and more
Long Island hardcore up and comers Rule Them All are releasing their new Dreams About… EP on December 6 via Flatspot Records. We recently posted the title track, and now we’re premiering a second song from it, “Teacher.” Sonically, it sort of sounds like that moment in the ’90s when NYHC bands started writing songs catchy enough to become fluke hits on rock radio and MTV (in a very good way), and I maybe hear just a little bit of Dag Nasty’s melodic side in the mix too. Here’s what vocalist Jon Gusman tells us about it:
“Teacher” definitely required a lot of effort for us to get the song to what we thought it should be and I’m happy we powered through any obstacles that were in the way of us getting there because I really believe this song is special. It’s about a conversation I had with a professor of mine on one of the last days of my first semester at a real college. I was one of maybe 3 students that ended up staying the course of the class because the professor gave an option to never come back if we were satisfied with our midterm grade. There was something about this professor that I felt was worth sticking around for and eventually, I found that my gut feeling was right. It turns out that even though there was a significant age difference, we had a lot of life experiences in common. He also had an amazing grasp on bridging the gap between physics and spirituality. After I bombarded him with a bunch of existential nonsense, he essentially told me to stop worrying so much about things that aren’t immediately in front of me. He then told me that I do things to fulfill my soul and that makes me a spiritual person. Moving forward, I was told to pursue my art and to simply “be good”. It was a life-changing conversation to me. Even though there is a personal narrative here, I wrote about this specifically to tell the listener to keep their ears open. What you do with the information later is completely up to you but you never know what you could stumble upon when you keep an open mind about what the peanut gallery has already written off. Everyone in the band really pulls their weight for this song. It channels a lot of grooves that we’ve never used before which I think makes for a very abrasive and refreshing song. It’s one of our favorites to play live as well.
Rule Them All also have a few hometown-area shows coming up, all with great bills. They’re playing one of the final Backtrack shows on Long Island (sold out), the Shelter show at Saint Vitus (tickets), and another LI show on 1/11 at Amityville Music Hall with Killing Time, Crown of Thornz, and Hangman (tickets).
Speaking of Hangman (who put their debut LP out on Flatspot in September), they open the E-Town/Lion of Judah show in Brooklyn tonight (11/19).
