Fugazi, Frusciante, Jawbox, Jawbreaker, Constantines, Reigning Sounds, Johnstown PA, Bruce Springsteen, Interpol, the Beatles, The Clash, Shiner, Boy's Life, Cap N Jazz, Q and Not U, Les Savy Fav, Johnny Cash, MC5, Coldplay, The Smiths, Morphine, Neil Young, The Police, The Scientist, Gang of Four, The Zombies.
Sounds Like
there's going to be a fire.
Booking and contact info: beth@redcollarmusic.com.
From Ryan Muldoon of InRich.com (Nov. 2007): "Think of the great artists whose reputations have been based in large part on live performances: James Brown, The E Street Band, Milli Vanilli. No one is putting Red Collar in such esteemed company just yet, but since forming two years ago the band has managed to stand out as a live entity in the always-crowded performance market of its Raleigh-Durham home base. Hearing Red Collar's debut EP, "The Hands Up," shows the band members to be no slouches in the studio, either. The EP is a vivid and angular mix of punk, passion and proto-Pylon rhythms, with standout track "Used Guitars" threatening to be burned onto a thousand CD-R mixes."
From Delusions of Adequacy (Oct. 2007):"The frontman can make or break a record, and singer Jason Kutchma provides great, scruffy (actual) singing. A tune forms here and the band know how to work with it and around it, complete with "Buh-baaddaa-bahh" backing vocals. "Stay" opens more like indie rock then punk, but in a good way. This is the track that stands out the most and shows the band able to develop further than the typical punk sound. It's a catchy, hooky song, that, if all were right with the world, would be on your radio right now...This record is incredibly exciting and makes the anticipation for their debut album very high. Let's hope they can live up to the what the Hands Up EP has laid out for us."
From Bryan Reed of Diversions (The Daily Tar Heel): "The band played with the gusto and energy a band should have when celebrating its first release. Guitarist Mike Jackson covered the stage, leaving no monitor un-jumped off of, colliding into his bandmates and grinning all the while. Frontman Jason Kutchma was best described with the word impassioned. His stage presence was powerful as the band sped through disillusioned rock songs such as “Used Guitars” and “Hands Up,” off the new EP. Though the band has often been compared to Fugazi and Bruce Springsteen, on stage, Kutchma brought to mind the intense sincerity of Joe Strummer. The broken guitar strings and bloody fingers he left in his wake, only proved the band’s all-out mentality to live performance...But what sets Red Collar apart from from the average punk band is its world-weary lyricism and a strong, mature sense of melody"
From Grayson Currin of the Independent Weekly: “Somehow, they fuse several great strains of punk—like the power plod of early ‘80s Boston band Mission of Burma and the scabrous edge of D.C.'s Fugazi—with a wide-open sense of pop...
From Josh Spilker of Southeast Performer Magazine: “Red Collar channels the angst of the workingman in a way that hasn't been seen in rock in a long time. Thankfully, Red Collar has enough experience and well-chosen punk-rock influences to create an energetic and convincing modern rock anthem that anyone frustrated with The Man should be proud to own....
From Blake Gillespie of Impose Magazine: "The first two songs are the Fugazi-esque standards. They rock fast, fuzzy and shout the chorus. But the final two songs are reasons to check for Red Collar. “Stay” invites everyone to give up on those higher aspirations for the great wide world and realize they are meant for their small towns. “Used Guitars” is like getting advice from some poor broken sap at a bar who tells you “we were made to fail everyday” and you take it even more nonchalantly as a chorus of bar flies affirms it with slurry “ba ba baduhs.” It is a fair warning that luck was lost at birth, meant to be taken unconscientiously, because there is a good chance it will not spark until it is too late and you are at the stool next to that sap muttering about broken hearts and used guitars to the next generation of young cocks."
From Rich Ivey of the Independent Weekly: “With its Durham-bred dischords falling somewhere between Jawbox and The Replacements, Red Collar's recently-released Hands Up EP is an engaging clash of post-punk angularity and anthemic rock ‘n' roll melody, not to mention one of the best local releases in recent memory..."
Just letting you know that our EP “Or Am I A Nightmare?” is up and available for purchase online at CDbaby, Amazon, iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, and many of your other favorite internet music stores! Check it out and let us know what you think!
"The Commuter Live" so incredible and I hear you loud and clear. Many thanks to wknc for supporting and playing local music and to Red Collar too. You are always there to support local artists.
I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to tell you that although you were havin some trouble I still love to see you on that big stage at the cradle.
today i had lunch with an old co-intern from the scranton times. we got talking about the scranton music scene, and how we miss our respective collegiate homes (she went to IUP out in western pa). and part of our conversation went a little like this...
her: "have you ever gone to hell in chapel hill?" me: "yeah, once or twice, why?" her: "my friends' band played there a couple weeks back - endless mike and the beagle club - they're from johnstown" me: "umm..yeah, they played with red collar." her: "i've heard of them! the guys said they're really good" me: "no way, they're good friends of mine...and they're playing in johnstown at the end of august..." her: "we are sooooo there."
Even with the technical difficulties, still a great show Saturday! Hey, are you all playing with my other favorite Red band when you're in Charlottesville?
I hope you have a gooooot show at the Pour House in Raleighwood, and if you need an accompanying band then give my son's a call, Embarrassing Fruits, over at Trekky.
Well two people have beat me to comments about tonight... but that just goes to prove that we love you guys... rain or shine.. for better or for worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health... all that jazz. <3! Till death do us part.
Pickup breakdown aside, y'all rocked the pants off of every goddamned person in there tonight. And I think my name should be a permanent part of Radio On.
do me a favor and simply click on the photo below (it's a link to the jpeg magazine site). i've entered this photo in a competition and it's doing well right now. you don't have to vote or anything, i think the more views it gets the better the chances... thanks
