The Divided Plays Punk Rock Genre Love Tracks For Working Class

An orange county punk rock show.

Orange County’s new band The Divided has what it takes to make a mark in the streetpunk genre. The band offers crunchy and thick guitar riffs, many powerful vocals, and precise drumming. Those features make The Divided’s sound is similar to the old working-class bands that worked in Oi! genre music. The first album of this Orange County band has melodic hardcore elements at healthy levels, as well as even some blues music-like rock. The album entitled ‘World You’re Living In’, reminds us of a distinctively Orange County punk rock sound from the 1990s.

Drum player Noah Lysek, guitarists Brian Celi and Pat Hall, and singer Raybo have experience in working with the former Orange County band Bonecrusher. Therefore, those four are seasoned performers in their respective roles. Bonecrusher’s class-conscious lines and streetpunk sound caused this working-class punk rock band to be an OC staple after its inception in 1992. After that year, the band released ten full-length music albums, plus more extended play records and singles.

Bonecrusher had many changes to their performers in the past, including their lead singer Raybo’s move to the state of Hawaii. Raybo went to the US state for some years, and then he started to surf. After that, he came home with a desire to be part of the rock music scene again.

Back then, he was seeking other musicians, so he returned to the other personnel of the Bonecrusher band. Raybo felt that the music he produced was not up to the mark, and he sort of stopped communicating with the Bonecrusher members. After that, Brian Celi contacted Raybo to express his desire to start a music band. That gave birth to The Divided as we know it.

The music band has a more diverse sound as compared to Bonecrusher. With the recently-included bassist Chris Lohman, they combine many different influences in a way that does not lose the punk urgency. The voice of Raybo includes a fear-inducing growl, plus a gruff croon expressing deep feeling. Their melodic guitar riffs similar to those of bands like Anti-Flag and The Unseen add a different layer to The Divided. Further, hearty chorus vocals and even mere ‘oh’s’ include the feeling of bands like Dropkick Murphys and The Angelic Upstarts.

Noah Lysek does the primal screams of The Divided, which sounded good to such a level that the rest of the band members started to do it, said Raybo. So, they hit the backup vocals in their studio, which worked well, he added.

Noah Lysek is passionate and technically proficient, so many regard him as the engine of The Divided band. The drummer plays flavorful fills, thrashing beats, and heavy-handed drum rolls all extremely fast. It may be difficult to sing and drum simultaneously with that kind of energy, but Noah Lysek has become proficient in it. Lysek even played the lead singer role for the Bonecrusher band when Raybo was not around. Perhaps that is why Raybo loves Lysek and always wants to talk about him.

The Divided entered the studio just a few months after its inception, something which Raybo attributes to the energy of their debut album. Raybo describes it as urgent energy. He also said that the band had to enter the studio shortly after it was possible to do so before they parted ways or another such event happened.

The main change for this band may be their lyrics. On the other hand, Bonecrusher was a political music band because some of their songs had elements of politics in their lyrics. Conversely, The Divided band writes more personal tracks. Raybo is tired of things such as politics in music. So, he only sings about familial things and good times. He tries to use music to improve the mood of listeners, as well as writes about his surrounding world and what he sees.

That approach to music made Raybo sing love tracks in the punk rock genre, something which he had not imagined. Raybo’s fiancée Wendy’s cancer diagnosis made him experience stress, frustration and many other emotions. Interestingly, Raybo handled those issues with what he does best. Music affects you when shattered or something happens in life, said Raybo while adding that it is important to write regarding it. Fortunately, Raybo said that Wendy was fighting cancer and recovering from the issue.

A few tracks in The Divided’s debut album, like ‘Suicide’, deviate from the work of Bonecrusher. Anyhow, the entire album has a timeless feeling of angst. Songs like ‘Working Man’ prove that The Divided has not forgotten the band’s class-conscious origins. With the release of the album through the Hostage Records label, the band celebrated a part of their history. The record company’s first release was the 1996 extended play of Bonecrusher entitled ‘Animal’, whereas its 75th release was the album we are talking about here.

Before their proposed European tour in 2020, The Divided worked on content for a different full-length album.

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