Redd Kross

The Californians look ahead to their UK support shows.

Bassist/vocalist Steven McDonald checks in as the power-poppers prepare for some rare British appearances as guests of The Melvins.

The Melvins and Redd Kross touring together means double duty for you, with Dale Krover also playing drums for both groups. That sounds like hard work.

We’ll have to see. I’ve done one-off shows before but never a full tour. Dale tells me I should survive it.

The two bands play together a lot. Why are they so compatible?

Well, for a start there are practical reasons – it’s cheaper to take one rhythm section. But although we might have a different approach to loud guitars, we’re both from the same graduation class.

Will we hear more of Redd Kross’s punkier side, as opposed to the bubblegum element?

Ha! No. My brother Jeff [vocals/guitar] just reissued Teen Babes From Monsanto, an eight-song mini-album of ours from 1984, and we’ll do that in its entirety, plus other songs from the catalogue.

What prompted the change from the band’s early raw style to the more flamboyant approach?

Mostly it was a natural progression but we had also become disillusioned by changes in the LA punk scene. Suddenly the people that had beaten us up at high school two years earlier were into TSOL and Black Flag, so we dug more into the music we’d grown up with.

Redd Kross were an influence on Nirvana, Sonic Youth and many others. Why did the band never make the big breakthrough first time around?

Some of it was our doing and we never felt too comfortable on major labels. Other parts of it are down to timing.

A new album that’s tentatively titled

Octavia is being planned. What is Redd Kross’s motivation now?

Fear of death, I guess.

Are you still trying to write the perfect pop song?

Sure. Isn’t everybody? But it’s not an easy goal. DL

The tour ends in London on October 31.