The Total Rejection
Everybody Knows What You Don’t Know
Raving Pop Blast! Recordings
August 9, 2019

Bristol based band, Total Rejection, is made up of musicians that were active in 90s bands like, Beatnik Filmstars, Secret Shine and The Groove Farm. Arthur Jarrett, vocals and guitar, formed Total Rejection out of boredom in 2017, but the band led to him finding a sound he describes as, “the very soul of me [himself]”. Their very first attempts resulted in a great debut album, Wrapping Yourself in Silver Foil Won’t Save You From The Blast.

The first time I heard their second album, Everybody Knows What You Don’t Know, was from some Internet link, and it didn’t get to me straight away. Like many record covers, it tells you to, “play it loud”, which seems essential for this one. Hearing it on vinyl, played really loud, just blasted me away. Straight rock n’ roll at its best, it’s coloured by beautiful trippy arrangements I didn’t hear on my first introduction to it.

Right from the start, there’s this Pretty Things, Stones rhythm n’ blues, garage, freakbeat, powerpop kinda sound that reminds me of Nervous Eaters’ Eatersville album. It’s like Nervous Eaters, but freakier, rougher and without the smooth production. The freakiness here becomes weird trippy keyboard arrangements, Spacemen3, The Heads, Krautrock kinda drones and psyched out guitar eruptions.

All these weird arrangements are subtler than on the first album and never get in the way of the record’s straightforward rock n’ roll character. Drummer, Tom Adams, is a total gap filler, in the tradition of Keith Moon. Arthur Jarrett’s voice is husky and soulful. The whole band does a great job. The song ‘Bridget’ says it all, “I believe in rock n’ roll and love… and Billy Childish is God!”

-Stefan Schepers