HoZac Blackout Fest 2012 featuring Red Kross, Gentleman Jesse & His Men, Homostupids, Fungi Girls
Sat. 05/19 | 5:00PM @ Empty Bottle (map)
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- Inspired as much by breakfast cereal and kiddie TV as by rock music, punk-pop cult band Redd Kross were the brainchild of Steve and Jeff McDonald, brothers from the Los Angeles suburb of Hawthorne (also home of the Beach Boys) who began playing music together before either had hit puberty. Fueled by a series of dubious visits to famed area rock clubs like the Roxy and the Whisky a Go Go, they formed their first band, the Tourists, in 1978; Jeff, then 15, handled vocal duties while Steve, 11, took up the bass. After rounding out the group with schoolmates Greg Hetson on guitar and Ron Reyes on drums, the Tourists played their first gig, opening for Black Flag. Following a name change to Red Cross, they issued their self-titled EP debut in 1980. After the departure of Hetson and Reyes (for the Circle Jerks and Black Flag, respectively), the McDonalds enlisted a revolving lineup of underground musicians for their full-length follow-up, 1981's Born Innocent, which found the group's pop culture obsessions bubbling over on tributes like "Linda Blair" and "Charlie" (about Charles Manson, whose "Cease to Exist" they also covered). Following the album's release, the band was threatened with a lawsuit from the real International Red Cross; as a result, the group became Redd Kross, and returned in 1984 with Teen Babes from Monsanto, a collection of covers of artists ranging from David Bowie to the Rolling Stones and the Shangri-Las. That year, they also appeared in and composed the music for the no-budget film Desperate Teenage Lovedolls, which included their transcendent cover of the Brady Bunch's "(It's A) Sunshine Day." Complete with new guitarist Robert Hecker and drummer Roy McDonald (no relation), 1987's Neurotica, with songs like "Frosted Flake," "The Ballad of Tatum O'Tot and the Fried Vegetables," and "Janus, Jeanie and George Harrison," appeared primed to push Redd Kross out of the underground, but their label, Big Time, folded shortly after the album's release, and legal hassles prevented the band from recording any new material under its own name for three years. Instead, as the Tater Totz, the McDonald brothers corralled Three O'Clock member Michael Quercio and former Partridge Family kid Danny Bonaduce for 1989's Alien Sleestacks from Brazil, the title a nod to the Sid and Marty Krofft children's series Land of the Lost. A collection of satiric and surreal covers, the LP included renditions of "Give Peace a Chance," "We Will Rock You," and Yoko Ono's "Don't Worry Kyoko." Prior to another Tater Totz effort, 1989's Sgt. Shonen's Exploding Plastic Eastman Band Mono! Stereo (recorded with ex-Runaway Cherie Currie and future Foo Fighter Pat Smear), the McDonalds detoured into another side project, Anarchy 6, for the 1988 mock punk tribute Hardcore Lives! Finally, in 1990 Redd Kross landed a deal with Atlantic, issuing the surprisingly straightforward Third Eye. After an appearance (alongside David Cassidy) in the kitschy 1991 film Spirit of 76, the band issued a handful of singles before 1993's Phaseshifter, augmented by guitarist Eddie Kurdziel, keyboardist Gere Fennelly, and drummer Brian Reitzell. Minus Fennelly, Redd Kross returned in 1997 with Show World. The band went on hiatus with an uncertain future following Kurdziel's drug overdose death (at age 38) in 1999. However, in 2006 the McDonald brothers reunited with late-'80s bandmembers guitarist Robert Hecker and drummer Roy McDonald and began making live appearances once again, including individual shows, festival dates, and tours that saw Redd Kross perform across the United States and in Canada, England, and Spain. A January 2007 show in Madrid was documented on the Got Live If You Must! DVD, released the following year by Bittersweet Records. -AllMusic Jesse Smith leads a double life -- when he isn't playing bass with Atlanta's fast, loud, and frantic punk band the Carbonas, he's the leader of Gentleman Jesse & His Men, a combo that revels in the bright, energetic power pop sounds of the early new wave era. Smith first made his name on the Atlanta music scene as a member of the indie rock bands Paper Lions and Some Soviet Station, citing bands like the Birthday Party and Drive Like Jehu as early inspirations, but he became dissatisfied with their creative direction, and as he told journalist Chad Radford, "I remember in '98 I thought I should check out MC5. I like rock music and didn't want to play beat-your-chest emo just to get laid, like a lot of people did." Smith's enthusiasm for direct, emotionally honest rock led him to accept an invitation to join the Carbonas in 2004 after the final breakup of Paper Lions, and he settled in just in time for the recording of their Frothing at the Mouth 7". Later the same year, Carbonas' drummer, Dave Rahn, expressed interest in forming a side project with Smith, and in 2005 the first edition of Gentleman Jesse & His Men came together, with Smith on vocals and guitar, Rahn on drums, Craig Johnson on guitar, and Dustan Nigro on bass. In 2006, the band released its first 7", Don't Wanna Know (Where You Been Tonight) on the local Douchemaster label, which received rave reviews and quickly sold out its initial pressing; it was followed by a pair of split singles for Rob's House Records (one with Joseph Plunket, the other recorded live at a house party and including tracks from the Black Lips, the Carbonas, and Predator) and a Christmas single on Die Slaughterhaus with Fever B. After earning a loyal following in Atlanta, Gentleman Jesse began taking his act on the road, touring with the Black Lips and new wave pop heroes the Paul Collins Beat, and in the fall of 2008, Douchemaster released Introducing Gentleman Jesse & His Men, their first full-length album. Shortly after the release of the album, Smith revealed that Nigro had amicably left the band, and they were in the market for a new bassist. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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Oh My Rockness on HoZac Blackout Fest 2012 featuring Red Kross, Gentleman Jesse & His Men, Homostupids, Fungi Girls @ Empty Bottle
about 1 year agoTexas trio Fungi Girls is three young dudes (like, mid-teens young) that rock some short and noisy lo-fi garage pop that blisters by you, leaving a nice little psych trail in its wake. Yes you've heard all this before, but Fungi Girls prove you can always hear just a little bit more. more at ohmyrockness.com
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Chicago Reader on HoZac Blackout Fest 2012 featuring Red Kross, Gentleman Jesse & His Men, Homostupids, Fungi Girls @ Empty Bottle
about 1 year agoWhen I was new to punk rock I'd see Redd Kross next to Black Flag and the Circle Jerks on reproductions of old LA punk flyers, so I figured they also played hardcore steeped in Cold War nihilism—and that's what I thought I was bringing home when I finally located a copy of their 1982 debut, Born Innocent. So I was surprised when what emerged from my speakers was, while snotty enough to read as punk, more similar in sound and attitude to bubblegum bands and The Brady Bunch than to Redd Kross's Hermosa Beach peers. Brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald, the core of Redd Kross's constantly shifting lineup, kept the band active through the 90s (if you ever find a copy of their 1993 EP 2500 Redd Kross Fans Can't Be Wrong, buy it), but even the alt-rock boom failed to bring them mainstream recognition, and they disbanded following the death of guitarist Eddie Kurdziel in 1999. They've been playing together sporadically since the mid-aughts, and are touring again for Born Innocent's 30th birthday, playing songs from that LP and from their self-titled debut EP. A new album, Researching the Blues (their first since 1997), is due on Merge in August. —Miles Raymer This show is part of the HoZac Blackout. Gentleman Jesse & His Men, Homostupids, Fungi Girls, Teledrome, Pleasure Leftists, Far-Out Fangtooth, Ketamines, the Barreracudas, and White Mystery open. — Miles Raymer 1035 N. Western Ave., Chicago Ukrainian Village/East Village IL 60622 41.90039;-87.68679 773-276-3600 emptybottle.com more at chicagoreader.com
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