Raw Nerve: inside the mind of a Red Rider

By Jonathan Leonard, May 2009

After a recent tour through Texas, LA and New York, Red Riders look set to become an international sensation. With their new single, ‘You’ve Got A Lot Of Nerve’, currently altering Australian radio in the shape of forever, their second album, Drown In Colour, due to hit the shelves July 3rd and an upcoming Australian tour, Red Riders are preparing a hostile takeover of our stereos, towns and TVs.

Aware of their recent activities, I thought it’d be a good idea to get a hold of Red Riders’ frontman Alex Grigg. Australian rock ‘n’ rollers earning nothing, Al had only two options: accept my offer of a steak in exchange for an interview or go another night eating crusty potato peels off the floor of his Newtown shack.

I should point out that Alex Grigg is one of the greatest men you’ll ever meet. A spot in 2006’s Hottest 100, a Jack Award in 2007, and Red Riders’ recent uniting of the states of America into a conglomerate mass of stovepipe appreciators hasn’t come close to altering Al’s character. When I greet him, Alex has come direct from a video shoot. Eighteen mornings and nights into a nightmare of stop-motion the easy smile and open manner are more obvious than ever.

After all this touring, I ask Al if Red Riders are still fond of Australia or if its geographical isolation acts as an impediment to the band’s progress. “There’s a part of me that just enjoys playing and touring and, in a way, I don’t feel any more excited to play in New York than to play to people here...But I think the part of me that doesn’t want to work a crumby job is aware that this is a really small place here and that (gaining financial security) is a really hard thing to do without compromising what you do quite a lot.”

Red Riders’ return to touring has come as a welcome relief. It wasn’t so long ago that the band’s very existence looked uncertain.

 

 

Check out their upcoming performance!

May 22
Red Riders
You’ve Got A Lot Of Nerve Tour
The Annandale Hotel

Listen to their music at http://www.myspace.com/redridersmusic

Following the exit of Adrian Deutsch from the Riders’ camp there were weighty moments of apprehension. “Yeah, I had those classic wake up at four in the morning moments, thinking ‘what the hell am I going to do’.” Al elaborates, “To have 2008 off was the first time we had actually stopped. It was weird because you start to get used to (having a normal job) and think it’s nice to have security. We went through the shows (in the US) and suddenly everyone’s passion is reignited.”

Surrounded by pokies with Avril Lavigne’s shrill voice blaring from a jukebox, our conversation turns to the nitty gritty of the music industry. When asked what he thinks of current trends in music, the power of sex to sell records and the push for pop, Al’s answer is typically modest, “Yeah, we’re an indy band signed to an indy label and it doesn’t enter my mind when I’m writing a song and I only write a song when I have the desire to do so.”

I lead my interviewee into a discussion of musicians who have attempted to alter society, “My biggest problem with (John) Lennon,” Al says, “is that he’ll put the song ‘Imagine’ on the same album he’ll have the song ‘How Do You Sleep?’ about Paul McCartney, a bitter, outright mean and unforgiving song. To me it brands Imagine a perfect example of why so much in the world is shit. It’s two things: one - it’s easy to have the ideal of peace and forgiveness but if you can’t even forgive someone who you were in a band with how are you meant to forgive somebody that is part of a system that’s been keeping a whole race down?

“It also shows for Lennon the problem lies without – (for him) it’s the government. If everybody on a personal level took responsibility for being involved in social issues or even just being civil or humane to people around them you’d change a whole lot more than I think you’d realise. I definitely think that governments do hold a lot of clout and do need to be changed but I also think you need to do things on a personal level.”

As for what we can expect from the new album, Al tells me, “this is an album where each song has its own identity without them being studies in style. At the same time, I think the common thread between a lot of the songs is way more defined (than on 2006’s Replica Replica)...At the heart of Red Riders it’s always just been that we like songs that we like and we play them. And that’s kinda it.”

And that is it. If you want to listen to well written songs performed with menacing charisma, get to the next Red Riders show. And say hi to Al. He’ll say hi back. He’s that kind of guy.

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