Red London

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Red London
Red London.jpg
General information
Genre (s) Oi!
founding 1981
Founding members
singing
 Patty Smith (until 1989, 1997-2002)
Guitar, bass
 Gaz stoker
guitar
 Kid stoker
Drums
 Max Muir
Current occupation
Steve Smith (since 2002)
Kid stoker
guitar
 Steve Straughan
Gaz stoker
Craig Casson
former members
singing
 Raish Carter (1987)
singing
 Marty Clarkv (1987-1997)
guitar
 Tony Frater
Drums
 Keith Warrington

Red London is a British Oi! Band from Sunderland .

Band history

The first punk band in Sunderland was The Rebels , formed by Gaz Stoker. In 1978 his younger brother Kid Stoker founded the band The Street Boys, from which Red London emerged in 1979 when they found a new singer in Patty Smith. As early as 1980, however, they split up again. A demo recording from this time is now lost. In 1981 it was decided to bring Red London back to life, this time with Gaz Stoker, whose band The Rebels had broken up.

The band performed in the UK and was eventually discovered by Attila the Stockbroker and referred to Razor Records . There the Extended Play Sten Guns appeared in Sunderland in 1983 , followed by their debut album This Is England . Shortly afterwards there were more and more line-up changes. Patty Smith met a friend who forced him to leave the band. Raish Carter became the group's new singer for the 1987 EP on the French label Pride and Passion . Carter, previously the group's drummer and involved in criminal activities, drove in shortly afterwards, making way for Marty Clark, who can be heard on Outlaws (1989) and Tumbling Dice, on the next release .

The band signed with the German independent label Knock Out Records in 1994 . There the album Last Orders Please was released . Patty Smith then returned to the band as a permanent singer and two more albums followed on Knock Out Records. The group's last album to date followed with Soundtrack of Our Lives . The co-production of Knock Out Records and Trash 2001 Records had a new singer in Steve Smith. Steve Smith is the younger brother of Patty Smith and also the singer of the befriended band Red Alert .

Lyrics and music

In particular, the band's early works were influenced by British soul and reggae , while the later works were closer to Oi! and street punk orientated. The band cited The Clash , Chelsea , Stiff Little Fingers , Angelic Upstarts , The Ruts , Slade , Faces and The Jam as sources of inspiration . As can already be seen from the band name, the band was politically interested and saw itself as a skinhead band belonging to the “ working class ”. Among other things, the band played benefit concerts for the miners during the great strike in 1984/1985 . With “Red” clearly positioned to the left as the color of socialism and anti-fascist , Red London does not see itself as a political band. Rather, in younger years, when the band name was given, they were clearly socialist, but politics was no longer the driving force. However, their songs still accuse social grievances and individual members continue to see themselves as socialists.

Discography

Albums

  • 1984: This Is England (Razor Records)
  • 1989: Outlaws (Negative Records)
  • 1990: Tumbling Dice (Released Emotions Records)
  • 1994: Last Orders Please (Knock Out Records)
  • 1997: Days Like These (Knock Out Records)
  • 1999: Once Upon a Generation (Knock Out Records)
  • 2002: Soundtrack of our Lives (Knock Out Records / Trash 2001 Records)

EPs

  • 1983: Sten Guns in Sunderland (Razor Records)
  • 1987: Pride and Passion (Gougnaf Mouvement)
  • 1989: The Day They Tore the Old School Down (Negative Records)
  • 1991: A Look Back in Anger ( Split-7 '' with Red Letter Day, Released Emotions Records)
  • 1997: Downtown Riot (Combat Rock)

Compilations

  • 1991: A Look Back in Anger - The Best of… Live (Released Emotions Records)
  • 2000: Streetlife - the best of Red London (Knockout Records)

literature

  • Matthias Mader: Oi! The Book Vol. 1. IP Verlag, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-931624-02-1 , pp. 66-67.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Red London - Interview - Part 2 - Kid Stoker. punksonpostcards.blogspot.de, accessed on December 15, 2013 .
  2. ↑ Interview Red London 22/11/2000 (Interview with Gaz Stoker). Punk & Oi In The UK. Retrieved December 15, 2013 .