Freeze Your Balls Off scooter rally. January 2010

Who is Blood Red River?

When people talk about Blood Red River, words like ‘garage’ and ‘surf’ inevitably seem to come up.  I guess that’s ok, depending how you look at it.  The band themselves prefer ‘Action/Adventure’, whatever that’s supposed to mean.  Me?  I think of it more like a ‘roots’ thing.  Not middle-aged-white-guys-playin-the-blues ‘roots’ music, you understand, more like the roots of Rock an’ Roll, if you can dig that.  Punk Rock.  1976…1966…1956 and even further back if you want to figure in all those crazy pre-electric guys.

By the time Blood Red River got together a few years back, they were more than ready to do something that could provide the musical and stylistic freedom that your typical wall-of-distortion punk rock could’nt.  It’s all about the Freedom.  Blood Red River do whatever they want.  God Bless America.  Want to hear a fast song?  Got it.  Slow song?  Sad song?  Happy song?  Check.  How ’bout a quiet song?  No?  Too bad.   The music that you hear is just what comes out when these kids play.  It might sound a little retro on the outside, sure, but it also sounds cool as hell.  It’s an ALIVE kind of retro, too, not the slavish re-enactment or condescending mockery of the past that a lot of ‘retro’ acts depend on.  Don’t expect  too many songs about tractors, trailer parks or girlfriends that sleep in caskets.

That’s about it.  Blood Red River are my friends, so I’m predjudiced.  Listen to the songs.  You might not like ‘em.  Probably will though.  It’s fun.  And everybody, no matter what kind of music they dig, likes to have fun.  These guys have shared stages with such profoundly different (or not…) bands as LA horror punk old-timers 45 Grave, 80′s-ish guitar hero Gary Hoey, soul/ska favorites The Pietasters, and the legendary Agent Orange.  Everybody had fun.