| Redd Kross, the band that was formed in Los Angeles in 1979 by brothers Jeff & Steven McDonald (then aged 15 and 11 – yes 11! – respectively!), who played their first show opening for Black Flag, and who have since gone on to be a touchstone for an outrageous array of artists including Sonic Youth, The Bangles, Nirvana, The Melvins, Teenage Fanclub, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden as well as Australians including The Hoodoo Gurus, Hard-Ons, and You Am I, have announced the release of a new double LP, simply entitled Redd Kross. The album will be released on esteemed LA label In The Red Records on June 28, and the group has just shared the stunning new single and video “Candy Coloured Catastrophe”. The group, who have been occasional visitors to these shores since 1992 (Steven has also played here as a member of both Off! and The Melvins) and who last toured here in a double bill with The Melvins in 2017, are this year celebrating their 45th birthday. It’s a big year for them. Along with the new album, the acclaimed documentary Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story is currently playing film festivals internationally, and October will see the international publication via Omnibus Press of a memoir, Now You’re One Of Us, by Jeff & Steven McDonald and Dan Epstein. **** |
| In 1979, two school-kids all hopped-up on punk-rock started their own group in their hometown of Hawthorne, Los Angeles (birthplace of the Beach Boys) and soon found themselves opening shows for notorious scene pioneers Black Flag. Jeff McDonald was 15, his brother Steven only 11. But that didn’t stop their group from becoming one of the most remarkable, enduring and unique outfits punk- rock ever belched up. 2024, then, marks Redd Kross‘s 45th birthday – an important anniversary for any group whose heart pulses at 45RPM – and the brothers are celebrating the event with a veritable multimedia extravaganza. There’s a memoir, Now You’re One Of Us, due in October, author Dan Epstein telling the group’s story in the McDonalds’ unmistakable (and occasionally contrary) voices. A brilliant rockumentary, Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story, directed by Andrew Reich, is currently making the festival rounds. Most exciting of all, a new album – an eponymous double-album, no less, packed with 18 of their sharpest, most addictive songs yet – will hit the racks on June 28, 2024, courtesy of In the Red Records. These years of joyful service to rock’n’roll have seen Redd Kross evolve into a killer pop-rock concern, dealing in dayglo power-chords, choruses as tall as skyscrapers and a lyric sheet thick with acid couplets and arch pop- cultural references their loyal following will gobble up like quaaludes. The announcement of Redd Kross is accompanied by the lead single “Candy Coloured Catastrophe” which comes with a video directed by Gilbert Trejo, along with newly confirmed tour dates which kick-off in early July just following the album’s release. “Candy Coloured Catastrophe” opens Redd Kross with the perfect vibe: an itchy, unforgettable acid-pop nugget taking impish swings at what Steven describes as “the fine arts career of a well-known pop star who we love-love-love, and also love to make fun of.” “Our message is, ‘What is art?’,” adds Jeff. “Who gets to decide? And maybe these rock-stars who suddenly decide they’re fine artists and Hollywood actors who decide they’re punk-rock singers should, you know, stay in their lane.” Stream “Candy Coloured Catastrophe” HERE + Watch the Video HERE |
