![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/red_rockers_blood.jpg\")
Red Rockers were one of the most exciting bands of their era. Coming around out of New Orleans in 1979, the group combined a passionate, left-wing worldview and lyrical sensibility with punk musical values. If that sounds like the Clash, the similarity is no mistake. Not for nothing were Red Rockers often referred to as \u201cthe American Clash.\u201d<\/p>\n
The band\u2019s story<\/a> is a fascinating one; taking them from New Orleans to San Francisco and onto the roster of Howie Klein\u2019s upstart indie label 415 Records. Red Rockers recorded and released a fiery debut, Condition Red<\/i><\/a> in 1981. Following a too-familiar career arc, the band underwent personnel changes and a drift toward commercialism. Those shifts proved the proverbial two-edged sword: bigger chart success and accusations of selling out. Their third album had some powerful music on it but was ultimately too slick (and oh! That notorious cover photo). By 1985 it was all over.<\/p>\n The above two paragraphs too-tidily distill Red Rockers\u2019 story. For a fuller treatment, I would recommend Chapters 38-40 of Disturbing the Peace: 415 Records and the Rise of New Wave<\/i><\/a>. Authored by this writer, the book covers the label and its characters in detail, and \u2013 like everything in the book \u2013 the Red Rockers chapters<\/a> are based on interviews with several band members and others closely connected to the band.<\/p>\n In the wake of the book\u2019s release, the long out-of-print debut record was reissued, and the band even reunited in late 2023 for a start-to-finish performance of Condition Red<\/i> (plus other songs) at New Orleans\u2019 Tiptina\u2019s. I\u2019d love to claim credit (or even influence) for all that having happened, but I will not. I am certainly glad it did<\/i> happen, because they’re a great buncha guys, and the music is top-notch.<\/p>\n Sadly, I wasn\u2019t able to attend the show. And it\u2019s quite likely that very fewreading these words were at Tiptina\u2019s that night. And it\u2019s our loss.<\/p>\n But to the rescue comes It\u2019s in Our Blood<\/i>, an audio document of the November 11, 2023 concert. On this new LP, the band blasts through 15 songs in 43 minutes. Opening with a cover of the Clash\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m So Bored with the U.S.A.,\u201d the band is simply on fire. Red Rockers\u2019 three mainstays and founding members \u2013 John Thomas Griffith, Darren Hill and James Singletary — blast through the songs, exuding all of the passion of the original record. With an enthusiastic hometown audience \u2013 like them, many decades older and wiser \u2013 Red Rockers peel away any of the metaphorical dust and barnacles that might\u2019ve accumulated in the years since they last played together. Griffith’s growling vocals might come as a bit of a shock to fans of Cowboy Mouth (the band he\u2019s played with in intervening years), but fans of the original record will find Red Rockers\u2019 approach note-perfect.<\/p>\n Red Rockers\u2019 drum chair was occupied by a succession of players; for this reunion show the group was rounded out by Bryan Barberot on drums. He plays with the necessary punky power and precision. Nearly the entire show is captured on the vinyl LP, save for a cover of the Pretenders\u2019 \u201cThe Wait\u201d and the Normals\u2019 \u201cAlmost Ready,\u201d both featuring guest vocalists. But seeing as those songs \u2013 fine as they are \u2013 would have taken attention away from the core original material, they\u2019re not missed here. The Clash cover and the inclusion of The Who\u2019s \u201cMy Generation\u201d as a medley with Condition Red<\/i>\u2019s title track hit just the right notes.<\/p>\n