{"id":16262,"date":"2019-03-18T05:30:14","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T09:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=16262"},"modified":"2019-03-12T16:10:43","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T20:10:43","slug":"shootout-at-the-bubblegum-factory-redd-kross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/18\/shootout-at-the-bubblegum-factory-redd-kross\/","title":{"rendered":"Shootout at the Bubblegum Factory: Redd Kross"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the first of three non-overlapping Redd Kross features. Enjoy. — bk<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Since forming in 1980, Hawthorne, California-based Redd Kross has been expertly straddling the link between punk rock and power pop. And at its best, the band has erased the arbitrary line between those styles. Nearly 15 years after ending a lengthy hiatus, the band is still going strong with a tour, a new album in the making, and a pair of archival releases that remind modern-day listeners of Redd Kross\u2019 trademark blend of inventiveness, humor and style.<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s name is an off-color reference to a notorious scene in the classic 1973 horror film The Exorcist<\/i>. And that kind of bratty yet knowing plundering of pop culture is a signature approach for the group. \u201c1976,\u201d a standout track on the band\u2019s 1990 album Third Eye<\/i>, manages to parody mall culture, \u201870s fashion, Kiss and Elton John, all inside four minutes.<\/p>\n

A working knowledge of mass culture adds to the listener\u2019s appreciation of the band\u2019s music, but bassist Steve McDonald insists that it\u2019s not strictly necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess it\u2019s sort of like the way people say that the Kinks were too English to be widely accepted like the Stones and the Beatles in the U.S.,\u201d he observes. McDonald describes the Redd Kross approach to music. \u201cWe\u2019re holding trash culture and mainstream culture in some sort of high esteem,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cAnd in the process, [we\u2019re] making sure that we stay underground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Redd Kross has indeed remained steadfastly underground and outside of the mainstream scene upon which it so often comments. Though the band had a brief brush with the major labels in the 1990s, its undeniably catchy and uptempo music never broke through, even on the modest level enjoyed by artists like Jellyfish or Matthew Sweet. McDonald has few regrets, and he has his own theory as to why Redd Kross never achieved major success.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of it would be [the result of] choices we made and the timing in which we existed,\u201d he offers. Ultimately, though he thinks that aiming for widespread commercial success wouldn\u2019t have been in the best interest of the band co-led by him and brother Jeff McDonald. \u201cMaybe subconsciously we knew that wasn\u2019t really the right choice for us,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Redd Kross\u2019 underground status does work in its favor. From its perch outside the mainstream, the band has been able to comment wittily on passing fads and fashions, while paying tribute to everyone from ABBA to David Bowie to Charles Manson to the New York Dolls. And the group has done it all while maintaining its own stylistic identity. McDonald believes that through it all, Redd Kross has remained true to its own unique musical aesthetic. \u201cI don\u2019t think that we ever made our music in a way that we didn\u2019t relate to in order to take another stab at the roulette wheel,\u201d he says. \u201cWe still always did our own thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as Redd Kross barrels toward the 40th<\/sup> anniversary of its formation, the band looks forward and backward at once. McDonald is reluctant to share details about the album due in 2019, but he offers a hint: \u201cSo far, it\u2019s kind of a party album.\u201d Acknowledging that current events have made it \u201csuch a tense and polarizing time for people out there,\u201d he says that Redd Kross would \u201creally like to invite people to have a good time for a while with us. Because we have to kind of refuel your spirit before you continue on with that fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Redd Kross\u2019 aesthetic vision draws from across the musical landscape. The band is closely allied with Melvins; Steve McDonald has played bass with the sludge-metal heroes, and Melvins drummer Dale Crover is now an official member of Redd Kross. Though the two bands\u2019 styles might seem miles apart, they\u2019re already planning a twin-headliner tour for 2019, with Steve and Dale doing double duty.<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s 1984 EP Teen Babes from Monsanto <\/i>has just been reissued with five bonus tracks; it shows that Redd Kross\u2019 focus on pop culture is equal parts irony and genuine appreciation. And Hot Issue<\/i>, a new collection of previously-unheard tracks, demonstrates that Redd Kross has always had more good song ideas than the means to release them. Without a hint of hubris, McDonald compares Hot Issue<\/i> to the Who\u2019s 1974 collection of outtakes, Odds & Sods<\/i>. \u201cIt\u2019s our nod to your rarities collection,\u201d he says. When it\u2019s suggested that the album holds together like a collection of new songs, McDonald smiles. \u201cMaybe that\u2019s my brother\u2019s loving, curating touch,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the first of three non-overlapping Redd Kross features. Enjoy. — bk Since forming in 1980, Hawthorne, California-based Redd Kross has been expertly straddling the link between punk rock […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16272,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,51,59,62],"tags":[1809,3748],"class_list":["post-16262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-pop","category-punk","category-rawk","tag-redd-kross","tag-steven-mcdonald","cat-41-id","cat-51-id","cat-59-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16262"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16273,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16262\/revisions\/16273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}