 Band - Red September
CD - Wake Up Call Label - - Static Records Produced by: Peter Schorn Recorded by: Roscoe at Roscoe's Recording, Detroit. Mastered by: Tim Pak at Woodshed Studios. If you were introduced to local indie rock in the early eighties like I was, you'd remember the new-wave power-pop that emerged in the Detroit area from bands like Rhythm Corps, Toby Redd, The Cadillac Kids, The Look and even The Rockets. Red September (Peter Schorn, Paul Brown, Frank Greenhalgh) sound like hold-overs from that era in Detroit indie rock that brings back memories of skinny ties, spiky hair, polished patent-leather shoes, parachute pants (that's pre-acid-wash), cotton blazers in pastels and memories of "Jaggers" lounge in Waterford where many, if not all of these bands, played at one time or another. Well, Jaggers is extinct and, thankfully, so is this particular flavor of Detroit pop - that is, with the exception of Red September. They are the only local band I've heard in the last few years who remind me of that era so I suppose there's some historical and sentimental value there. *You'll notice the band's name and the title of this CD hint at living in a post-September 11th world (they come dangerously close to using tragedy as a marketing tool - a prophetic coincidence I hope?) though there's no direct references to the towers or the Taliban, thankfully. Musically, Red September's major-chord, enthusiastic bubble-pop seems ill-equipped to deliver the seriousness of the heady issues they tackle. But lyrically, the band has delivered on a number of contemporary issues: "Wake Up Call" contains a poignant list of what's wrong with this world including
References to the demise of social values and morality are strewn throughout this disc, but it's the simple truths writer Peter Schorn pens in his lyrics that make you nod with him in agreement. From "MyGod (Can Beat Up Your God)" - 'Time and again in modern history / a recurring source of human misery / Has been the inability to accept what's over there. ' .... ' so we found ourselves in foreign lands / with foreign people who didn't understand / that all this suffering was really for their own good.' (Peter Schorn ©2001 Belligerent Music, ASCAP) From "Killjoy" '...then a vegan, commie, junkie, movie-star / junkies in from the Left Coast / to bless us will all the knowledge / that she's learned from researching her roles /....' 'Don't eat that / don't drink that / don't smoke that / stop having fun' (Peter Schorn ©2001 Belligerent Music, ASCAP) From "Living in Oblivion" '...We were latch-keyed to a falling star / devoid of dreams and passion / and since we're not to be going far / we indulge in retro-fashion...' (Peter Schorn ©2001 Belligerent Music, ASCAP) From "WWW" '...An endless game of show and tell / I've bookmarked all the URL's / of all the places I've gone and seen / But, what's it all really mean?...' This CD is a buy for people who long to pull their skinny ties out of the closet and have a healthy argument about why the world's so fucked-up now. Count me in Peter, for old-time's sake. - Mitch *( According to Sue Static and Peter Schorn, the artwork and title for the CD "Wake-Up Call" were conceived before Sept 11th, but the CD wasn't released until November. According to Sue, the CD was being manufactured at the time of the tragedy. The name "Red September" is over a decade old. Freaky, eh?) |
-- Mitch