RED GUITARS
The indie-rockers tell Tim Naylor about their latest set
What’s planned for Red Guitars’ 40th anniversary celebrations? John Rowley: A red vinyl
12” remix, a home gig, and a few surprises.
Matt Higgins: Fun, nostalgia, and new stuff.
You’ve re-recorded Good Technology and Fact for the
12”. Do you plan to do any more recording?
JR: Yes. The new material sounds fantastic, and we’ll start recording tracks for a new album very soon. What film could Good
Technology soundtrack?
MH: Threads.
Hallam Lewis: The latest CHATGPT [AI chatbot] promo video.
JR: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
As one of the more successful indie bands of the mid-80s, would you rather be a big fish in the indie pond, or a major label act?
HL: A big fish. The illusion of success is preferable.
JR: It’s always good when you’ve never really made it. Your credibility remains high.
Lou Duffy-howard: The former, but with the possibility of an exciting future over the horizon. Who are your favourite indie artistes of recent years?
HL: Michael Kiwanuka’s Cold Little Heart was one of my favourite tracks of the last decade or so.
JR: Ren stands head and shoulders above most things that I’ve heard in a long while, and I still listen to local musicians. Bitmap are very good, and deserve more exposure. LDH: Gina Birch has a brilliant new single out, and there’s Bob Wayne, The Yawpers, North Mississippi Allstars, and nearly everything on Fat Possum.
MH: I love The Lathums.
The 80s were turbulent, and political themes infused your work. If Red Guitars were starting out today, what’d be grinding your gears?
JR: Jesus Christ. Where to begin? We thought that Thatcher was crap! LDH: The same – unfortunately. What’s the last album
“IT’S ALWAYS GOOD WHEN YOU’VE NEVER REALLY MADE IT”
that you bought?
JR: Bob Log III Log Bomb.
LDH: Hespèrion XXI Codex
Las Huelgas.
What was the first record that you bought?
HL: Black Sabbath Paranoid.
LDH: T.rex Ride A White Swan. Jeremy Kidd: The Paul Mccartneypenned World Without Love, by Peter & Gordon. It was a duff pressing and I had to take it back to Maxwell’s, Woking.
JR: Kaiser Bill’s Batman, by Whistling Jack Smith. Banging! MH: Joe Cocker With A Little
Help From My Friends.
Does anyone in Red Guitars own a red guitar?
HL: I’m the proud owner of a cherry red Gibson 335.
JR: A Gretsch Electromatic.
JK: A 1964 Hofner Verithin, which I’ve had since 1982.
LDH: An orange Mustang bass with go-faster red stripes. MH: I do, and I can play it, unlike Lewis and Rowley, who just twang. Who do you think really played in the studio?!
Red Guitars play Hull O’riley’s, 24 June, with the Good Technology/fact 12” issued that day via bandcamp.com.