Indie rockers, Scarlet Rebels have just landed at #15 in the UK Official album charts as well a #1 in the Official Rock charts with their latest album Where The Colours Meet – “an album of unity, a call for togetherness in a world gone mad” – out now via Earache Records.

“We’re a tiny little Rock band from a corner of South Wales,” says frontman Wayne Doyle, “and we’ve managed to rally enough support for us to even attempt to take on the Giants of the Industry and the phenomenon of Taylor Swift!”

Wayne joins us for our latest Why I Love where he shares his (and our!) admiration for a musician who has a clear influence on the Rebels’ philosophy and songwriting – Bruce Springsteen.

I could talk all day about Bruce Springsteen. For me, he’s the greatest. As a songwriter he can weave stories and narratives so vivid that you can see them play out in your mind. Or even a commentary song he’s written about a specific even that just captures a moment in time perfectly. Then, you see him live…It’s the most life affirming 3 hours of your life. Post Springsteen show comedowns are real.

I’d been somewhat of a casual fan growing up. Knowing all the ‘hits’ that the radio played and the ones that any casual person would know. It was a random trip to HMV in my hometown of Llanelli, where I saw his Greatest Hits album on sale for less than a fiver. That purchase has cost me literally thousands of pounds as I’ve travelled across the world to see him play live, also giving me some of my best memories…

It was the song The River that caught my attention on the Greatest Hits album, I’d put the CD in on my drive home. The first 3 songs I’d heard previously and as I drove along I of course belted out “Baby we were born to run” sung along to the parts of Thunder Road that I knew, air drummed too Badlands and then the fourth song started, the intro to The River started…I was pretty close to home at this point, but the song and the story of the song engrossed me to the point I sat outside my parents’ house, parked up, listening to the story that unfolded in front of me. The intensity of the last quarter of the song…I was hooked.

The first time I saw him live was in Hyde Park. I was stood queuing for a drink and a gentleman I’d never met turned to me and asked had I ever seen Bruce before? I replied, no this is my first time…He smiled at me and told me that my life was about to change and that no live concert would ever be the same after today. He was correct. Bruce Springsteen took to the stage in front of 80 Thousand People, with Roy Bittan on Piano, he stood and sung Thunder Road.

For the next 3 and a half hours, I sung, I danced, I came close to tears on several occasions as I let myself to be taken on the most life affirming ride. There was no stage show, no props, or gimmicks. It was a band, led by one of the greatest front men, giving the most intense performance not letting the audience breathe for a second.

His songs such as Jungleland, The River and Thunder Road where he weaves stories and creates images that could easily be adapted into films or Broadway shows, to songs like Long Walk Home a song about American Politics and their rights and  41 Shots –  American Skin where he comments on the shooting and killing of Amadou Diallo by the NYPD, after they mistook him reaching for his wallet as a gun… Then he has his pop singalongs like Dancing In The Dark and Hungry Heart. His versatility as a songwriter is second to none.

There’s a story of an American Citizen stopping Springsteen in New Jersey in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, where they shouted at Bruce, that country needed him now more than ever. Springsteen then wrote and recorded The Rising. Music heals.

He will rightly go down as one of the greatest songwriters of all time and his influence since I’ve started listening to his music has been massive. Before Bruce Springsteen, I would always be more concerned with how a melody sounded rather than what my lyrics said. Delving into his music changed my whole ethos and since then, I’ve worked really hard on writing lyrics that have something to say or tell a story that touches people.

If you get the chance to see him live…Do it. You won’t ever regret it

Our thanks to Wayne for his perspective on the man known as The Boss – and a choice we thoroughly endorse!

Here’s Let Me In from Where The Colours Meet:

Scarlet Rebels online: Website / Facebook / X-Twitter / Instagram / Youtube

You can read more from our extensive archive of Why I Love pieces from a wide array of artists on an even wider array of subjects, here.

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