Exclusive Song Premiere: Red Rain Boots by Jacob the Horse

Punk’s not dead! The Los Angeles-based indie punk band Jacob the Horse is keeping the genre alive one track at a time. The band consists of Aviv Rubinstien (guitar, lead vocals), Rick Chapman (drums, vocals), Mark Desrosiers (bass, vocals), and Josh Fleury (lead guitar, vocals, orchestral arrangement).

The Phrasemaker has secured an exclusive first listen to Jacob the Horse’s latest release, ‘ Red Rain Boots.’ The single comes from the band’s upcoming album At Least It’s Almost Over, slated to release March 20, 2026.

The song is an ode to Rubinstien’s beloved husky-pitbull mix, Chubbs. Fair warning, it isn’t a happy-go-lucky meditation on the bond between a dog and its owner but rather a grisly reminder of life’s fleeting nature. The song reflects life’s complexity by infusing a myriad of elements ranging from quintessential punk to grunge to classical.

What started as a simple songwriting challenge morphed into a diatribe about the inevitable death of a beloved pet and a declaration of war on the divine being who would allow such cruelty. The song is directly inspired by William Carlos Williams’ poem “The Red Wheelbarrow.”

so much depends

upon
a red wheel

barrow
glazed with rain

water
beside the white

chickens

Like Williams’ poem ‘ Red Rain Boots,’ relies on detailed imagery to stir up intense emotions. The sonic journey is as intriguing as the lyrical one. The song starts off as a morbid marching track. For these warriors, the only acceptable battle cry is “memento mori.”

The song’s closing orchestral arrangement alludes to the peace that comes with acceptance. Fleury concurs, noting in an exclusive statement:

I had never done a full string arrangement on a song like this before. I’ve done other composing and scoring before with mixed instruments for shorts films and youtube channels I’ve worked on, but I really treated this one with extra care even though it’s so brief. I was really determined to have this arrangement hit hard in the last 40ish seconds, reflecting on all the feelings of pain, dread, sorrow, guilt, and fear shared in every track up until this…

Desrosiers adds to the sentiment:

This song came together very quickly in form but the polishing took a while. Once we realize the biggest musical component would be playing with dynamics, I think we figured the rest out quickly! It’s rare we play our instruments delicately at all, but we try here! It sounds like a lost track from an early-season X-Files soundtrack.

Chapman cites Father John Misty’s song ‘ Strange Encounter‘ as the inspiration for the song’s string-arrangement denouement:

I sent Josh ‘ Strange Encounter’ by Father John Misty as inspiration for the strings in the last verse and chorus of ‘ Red Rain Boots.’ In his song the strings add so much and repeat no other melody for this really classic sounding sad song.