Vault: Red Stars Parade
For a while we thought we had lost about 70% of all the interviews we had done prior to sobering up. It was a shame and we spent seconds crying over all the lost material, then the hard drive started working again and we found out that not only was our spelling and grammar much (a lot?!?!) better then but we also hit up a lot of good shit. Red Stars Parade were an incredibly tight live outfit from Leeds, if I was Simon Cowell I’d buy them all a happy meal and ask them to reform. Here is the interview we did with them about 2 years ago…
Listening to Red Stars Parade’s new EP, their first release since 2004’s debut album ‘Disko’, the evolution is obvious. The heaviness is still present, but there’s a new depth and scope to the songs. Their songwriting has matured, for want of a better cliche. If you like bands like Botch, Depeche Mode, Kiss it Goodbye, Neurosis, The Cure and most things in between, you really need to hear this band…
Matt
RSP have been present in the Leeds metal scene for years now and are quire rightly regarded as one of the city’s best heavy acts, the afore mentioned new EP, entitled ‘Lutine Bell’, out later this year on Thirty days of night records, will no doubt expose them to a much wider audience. So what have RSP got that other ‘metal’ bands don’t? “We are a pop band” is the unexpected retort from singer Matt Dixon. “Every single part of it, whether its atmospheric or brutal as fuck, has got loads of hooks and is really catchy” adds guitarist Charlie Pritchard, explaining his bandmate’s answer. It’s true too, ‘Lutine Bell’ is a dark, moody piece of work, ferocious in parts and ambient in others. It’s always menacing, but everywhere you look there’s
melody sneaking in your ear and embedding itself in your brain. “Even with all the best bands who do really obscure white noise or grind or whatever, If you haven’t got tunes, you haven’t got tunes.” says bassist Matthew Newsom.
Charlie
Red Stars Parade (Charlie and Matthew in particular) are known amongst many bands and musicians in Leeds as being somewhat opinionated. This often gets very boringly misconstrued as elitism and really fucks off all the backslappers, but it’s all for a reason – “We might have a reputation for being harsh to other bands or whoever, but we’re all harsh to each other when it comes to writing music” says Charlie. In Red Stars’ world, the standards are high it seems. Matt, in slightly drunk shocker, sums up perfectly, “If it’s good, it’s good. If it’s shit, it’s shit.”
Matthew
When asked about current pop listening habits, it’s a mixed bag. Some are in agreement that Leona Lewis’s tune ‘Bleeding Love’ is a great song (“It’s got the pure emotional chords” – Matt), there’s mixed opinion on the Arctic Monkeys (“I fucking hate them” – Matt, “I quite like them actually” – Matthew) and on Bloc party? well… (“If you listen to the lyrics on the new album it makes you cringe” says Matthew). What about Prog then, and the bands who play it? I ask, regarding the popular musical direction within metal. “Boring, overdone, band wagon jumping wankers” is the instant reply from singer matt. Not a fan then? Their frustration on the subject is justified though, ever since their inception RSP have been tagged in with the Isis clone crowd, and despite their obvious progressive tendencies, it’s inaccurate to say the least. “You know when Deftones would get bunched in with nu metal? it’s like that. We were getting bunched in with Isis, and we don’t sound anything like that” Matt explains, “I think we’re progressive in the way that if we get bored we do something different”. Matthew has something to get off his chest regarding the subject, “Can I tell you why im fucking irritated by this? Isis, fair enough. But I was listening to fucking Mogwai and June of ‘44 like ten years before all this shit. Thats why I’m a little more bored than most, I think.”
Kev
Around a year and a half ago, singer Matt relocated back to london, original home of three quarters of the band (bassist Matthew is leeds born and bred). Such a shake up would have serious implications for most bands but RSP don’t see a problem with the distance, “I dont think it’s changed anything, when he lived in leeds he didnt come to practise anyway” Charlie says with a smile. So there were no considerations of stopping the band then? “The only point we’ll stop is if one of us or all of us decide this isn’t fun anymore. If it isn’t fun then what’s the point?” the guitarist adds. Thinking more about what the band get out of playing this music, he reveals their ethos – “We don’t do this for any reason other than writing good tunes and being in each others company.”
Red Stars parade, a band for whom the ‘tune’ reigns supreme and pop sensibility is just as important as brutality. Just don’t fucking mention Isis!
First Photo By Bez. Interview by Lee Vincent.
Leave a Reply