TAROCK MUSIC

I came upon The Reds release Early Nothing, when discussing a script set in Tijuana, Mexico.  One of the writers was playing the album’s last track, Strangeness, and I commented how the song captured the gritty, late night vibe of TJ’s red lights, where the intersection of poverty and narco excess is always a stone’s throw from the U.S. border.  As the meeting progressed, and we were discussing a film about Iraq war veterans set in Los Angeles, the track Diggin’ It, played.  The catchy guitar riffs and surf hooks, with the ever present organ, captured the Venice beach and Sunset Boulevard of old.  But it also captured the inescapable anxiety of today’s America.  The  dark and grimy undercurrent we all feel but don’t talk about: Is the party over?  It was like I was speeding the windy roads of Mulholland in a stolen Ferrari, as the city below burned after the big one finally hit.  Again, the music was packed with images and tone.

Throughout listening to Early Nothing, track after track, the music and lyrics kept evoking images and feelings that worked for all the films we have set for production.  The album’s variety and scope was perfect.  After doing a little research I wasn’t surprised to find The Reds have done score work for Michael Mann and other productions.  It made perfect sense.  What did surprise me was how long these guys have been making music.  I assumed they were the tripped out peers of bands like Interpol and Artic Monkeys.  I was thrilled to discover The Reds have been pushing the throttle with their own distinct sound for thirty years, a sound that’s grown and captures today so soundly.  But then again, maybe they knew what was coming all along.

Brooks McLaren, Writer/Producer, Repo & Shogun Films, Los Angeles, CA, 2009

Rock.  Remember that!?  Philly based basic rockers, The Reds, with a organ that lends an occasional psyche flavor.  But mostly about the male vocals, basic rock and drums, minimal lead wanks.  If this was slightly more stupid it would be a bar band, but its not.  It’s good KZSU fundamental rock.  Remember that?  Rock/Guitar, songs, singing with a slow beer drenched feel overall?  Kissing a girl in the parking lot who just puked?  This is it.

1. Big Boy — smarmy, blues swing, dirty.

2. Sidebuster — upbeat and the organ melody makes it, some tambourine, and we got a sexy one.

3, Diggin’ It — hip grinder, like a slow surf, good smarmy if down beat a tad.

4. Endless — slow, sexy, dark.

5. Night Must Fall — mellow introspective, avoid.

6. Laying Low — slow rock, organ, head nodding heavy beat.

7. Where We Belong — upbeat spy feel some how, nice swing.

8. A Few Dollars More — drum machine feel, slow, slightly funky approach.

9. So Long — just a good head shaking side to side as in, “no, everything is not alright, but fuck you for asking.”

10. Strangeness — stony rock feel, still falling into that slow 4/4 dark groove that is sorta getting old, if I may say.

Go back to tracks 2, 3, and 7.

• Your Imaginary Friend, KZSU, Stanford, CA, November 2, 2009

Right from the opening sensationally sleazy slow-grinding song Big Boy, this album filled my imagination with tantalizing trashy images of a smoky and sordid biker bar with half-naked women in skimpy black leather lewdly cavorting on stage, while the rowdy regulars booze it up and brawl with each other to the wee hours of the morning.

All the right lowdown skuzzy ingredients for a prime rattling blast of first-rate “junk” rock are present and accounted for, sneering sub-Mick Jaggeresque vocals, slinky, slithering tempos, hard-diggin’ guitar riffs, relentless steamroller drums, fiercely hip-n’-rippin’-zoned-to-the-funky-bone heavy keyboards, deep, thick, lingering bone-quaking groves, deliciously tawdry subject matter, and absolutely no needless artsy-fartsy pretense to get in the way of the divinely dingy and dirty straight-up-no-bullshit fun.

A splendid slab of inspired grungy spew.

• Joe Wawyrzniak, Jersey Beat, Weehawken, New Jersey, 2009

Two years after releasing Fugitives From The Laughing House, Philadelphia duo The Reds are back with another self-released album titled Early Nothing.  If you neglect their history, you might think they are another bunch of late ’60’s proto punk revivalists, but that wouldn’t do them any justice.  Founded in 1977 they released a couple of LP’s on a major label, and entered the American charts.  In the mid-’80’s, they concentrated their energy more on movie soundtracks and TV shows (Miami Vice, Band Of The Hand, and Manhunter).  Guitarist Rick Shaffer was doing session work for artists like Marianne Faithful, Peter Murphy and Marc Almond, while keyboarder Bruce Cohen was writing scores for plays.  They resurfaced briefly in the early ’90’s with their first self-released album Cry Tomorrow, just to go on a hiatus for the next fifteen years.

It seems as if Shaffer and Cohen have finally recaptured their early rhythm, as they prove dauntlessly on their new CD Early Nothing.  Already the opener Big Boy sets the pace for what to expect.  Shaffer is playing a guitar that sounds as if he swapped the strings with razor blades, and his vocals have this haunting quality reminiscent of Iggy Pop and Suicide’s Alan Vega.  Cohen’s keyboards cover all grounds, from psychedelic organs over repetitive piano patterns to atmospheric synth carpets.  He’s also in charge of bass and percussion, although I get the impression that some of the beats are programmed, although that doesn’t disturb.  In fact they add a hypnotic quality that recalls the mesmerizing years of the Velvet Underground.  This all is equipped with an authentic film noir quality, as if Raymond Chandler had decided to start a second career as frontman for a rock’n’roll band.

Nowadays there are many young bands that have rediscovered the chic of ’60’s psychedelia and early ’70’s proto-punk, and who are even quite successful with their revivalist art.  Let us not forget though that The Reds were there when it was still in its early days, making their current releases more a continuation of what they started in the ’70’s than just another band trying to jump on the bandwagon.  It adds to their sincerity and integrity that they not only self-release their music these days, but even sell them at customer friendly prices.  Fans of the aforementioned bands are encouraged to get acquainted with The Reds and their excellent new CD Early Nothing.

• Pascal Thiel, DisAgreement, Luxembourg, 2009

I found The Reds on Last.fm.  Never heard of them.  But, after further investigation, discovered they’re a true artifact recording since the late seventies.  Currently the line-up is two of the original founding members, Rick Shaffer and Bruce Cohen.  Their new recording, Early Nothing, the topic of present discussion, is an album with late sixties vitality and adventure, at times mirroring early Velvet and Stones, with a good amount of Door’s swagger.  However, the other part of The Reds story is their work with director, Michael Mann (Heat, Insider, Collateral), on numerous Miami Vice episodes, and three films, especially their Manhunter score.  Their film work, along with interesting side works by Shaffer (guitar tracks on albums with Marianne Faithful, Peter Murphy, Mark Almond, the late Hilly Krystal), and Cohen (scores for stage productions in Philadelphia and NYC), keep this band’s sound fresh and expanding, not just a curious time capsule.

To fully appreciate Early Nothing, for this listener, is to experience it at the most sonic volume level, via a good set of headphones.  Starting with Big Boy, a slow grinding groove, bluesy Door’s style track, with a driving organ, pumping bass, slapping back beat, edgy metallic guitars and dark, blues tone Shaffer vocals, not unlike Jim Morrison, with a bit of Jagger twang.  The track further hits you with the atmospherics of sixties percussion, most notably Cohen’s understated keyboard work, much like Brian Eno’s approach in his atmosphere treatments.

Other tracks carrying this type of feel, drive and atmosphere are Sidebuster, Diggin’ It, Where We Belong, and Strangeness.  Sidebuster is my favorite, because of the psycho rich textures of guitar, percussion, keyboards (the main organ signature reminds me of a warped Junior Walker sax riff), and Shaffer, a man not fully in control of himself, but with a missed sense of humor, much like Morrissey.  The end of Sidebuster, with it’s rocking groove and vocal refrain, “Dream, baby, dream,” seems inspired by Suicide’s vocalist, Alan Vega’s haunting style.

Additional songs, more electronic and groove oriented are, A Few Dollars More, Night Must Fall, Laying Low, and especially, Endless, a moody track that conjures up the vision of Jim Morrison singing, Massive Attack electronics, with a Robbie Krieger guitar approach.  These four songs hint at the band’s film work, with moments of dark slinking stories of things best left unsaid, and a world of very modern sound, yet pure, original, organic, and as adventurous as late night sixties radio and today’s indie underground.

Every now and then you’re lucky enough to come across unique bands, deserving much greater exposure, but who never fully achieve it, so you feel compelled to help spread the word.  The Reds are one of those bands.  Take a listen, it’s the kind of music you’ll find yourself still listening to twenty years from now without ever getting bored.

Thomas Rathman, Eraser Net Blog, Berlin, Germany, 2009

In the late 1970’s The Reds must have seemed anachronistic, as the omnipresent organ evokes the Doors, while singer Rick Shaffer sounds like Mick Jagger at his most drawling.  Occasionally, the band recalls the post-punk scene they came out of, as on Endless, with its electronic beat and cavernous new wave guitar.  But more often, they sound like bluesy rock ‘n’ roll purists; opening track Big Boy kicks off the album with a thundering stomp, featuring  tinny keyboards provided by Bruce Cohen, and Shaffer’s arena-sized guitar leads that would fit right in on any classic rock play list.

On Early Nothing, the vocals are typically placed low in the mix, buried beneath layered, metallic guitars and the ever-chugging rhythm section. The Reds have a knack for setting an eerie mood.

∎ Alex Hudson – Discorder Magazine – Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2009