After years performing solo, singer-songwriter Yvan Vucina began gathering musicians last summer to form Rebel Beach, fulfilling his longtime ambition to lead a rock band.
Vucina felt a full band would showcase the true weight of his songwriting. In “Nordic Assault” the lyrics evoke a mythical mood, and the acoustic arrangement lets the words tell the story. With Rebel Beach backing him, the arrangement expands into a cinematic, atmospheric sound.
The band also changes how Vucina commands the stage. On “Through the Looking Glass,” guitarists Dori Manuel and Shane Beeman build a dark, psychedelic backdrop while he pours his energy into a raw, Morrison-meets-Corgan vocal delivery.
Vucina’s songs now have a physical force they lacked in solo form. Drummer Logan Mason and bassist Dashiell Stokes keep the music locked in, laying down a steady groove.
“When you crank those amplifiers up and they start growling, people want to move, they want to dance,” Vucina says. “People like to mosh.” Listeners press toward the stage and jump to the music, sending the band’s energy roaring back.
Their track “My Love, That’s Not Enough” has become a crowd favorite. As listeners recognize its opening riff, the excitement builds; the rhythm drives toward a chorus they echo back to Vucina. “People like the song – they like to sing it,” he says.
Rebel Beach feeds off the crowd’s energy, but the band doesn’t keep the spotlight to itself. A few months ago, they began hosting Alt Night, inviting other bands to play ’90s rock covers.
“I feel like ’90s is the new classic rock,” Vucina says. “It’s kind of like the dad rock for the kids now.”
Alt Night has become “a place for us all to converge,” he adds – where local artists meet and support one another, and where “everyone in the room can feel that energy and it lifts everybody up.” At a recent Alt Night, a gray-haired fan threw up the horns and bobbed his head while two young women clasped hands and swung to the music. Nearby, an audience member slung an arm around Vucina and joined him at the microphone for the chorus of the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.” On another night, Anderson Moore – known as “the violin guy” – joined the musicians onstage.
ALT NIGHT HOSTED BY REBEL BEACH 7-10pm Friday, Sept 18. The Salty Seal, 653 Cannery Row, Monterey. No cover. (831) 920-2327, the-salty-seal.com.