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CJSW Program Guide Magazine |
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SPOTLIGHT |
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Red Appeal |
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by Nick Karim |
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One band that has consistently produced intelligent, stimulating music is |
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The Reds. Their new mini-album Shake Appeal, is no exception to this rule. |
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Shake Appeal is produced by Mike Thorne, who is famous for his work with |
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such bands as Wire, Soft Cell, Nina Hagen, and most recently the very |
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successful Bronski Beat. Thorne's production highlights the keyboards of |
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Bruce Cohen, and provides an ambiance that was absent on The Reds' earlier |
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albums Fatal Slide and their self-titled debut album. |
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The Reds have trimmed their lineup by two and now have just the two core |
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members, Bruce Cohen and Rick Shaffer. Cohen explains, "Two people leaves |
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us open to a lot more things to do and stuff to experiment with." The Reds have |
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been consistent in the delivery of their music, avoiding the trends and pioneering |
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their own path. "We will always rock!" insists Cohen, "I mean, I don't want to get |
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caught in the trap of saying, "this is the trend for this month - let's be like that. |
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That doesn't get you anywhere. That stuff lasts like a big dance-club hit and you're |
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heroes for six weeks then that's it." |
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The long history of the band proves that they can endure, and will continue to do so |
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in the future. It is obvious that The Reds' music is geared towards the dark side of life, |
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similar to New Order and Joy Division, but Cohen becomes irate when the band's lyrics |
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are called depressing. He says forcefully, "I don't think they (the lyrics) are really |
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depressing; I think we're just being honest with ourselves, being honest with other |
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people; we're not going to sing songs about the loves in our lives, we sing songs |
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about people's inner conflicts amongst themselves, rather than in a relationship with |
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another person. Or like politics, it's about the inner suppression of anger or sadness |
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that they have within themselves." Doesn't this abstinence from politics make one |
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interpretation of their name redundant? Politics are just an extension of people, and |
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by singing about inner conflict, The Reds cover all the politics they care to. |
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With their new mini-album, The Reds are testing the waters with their new record |
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company, Sire, Shake Appeal is the precursor for an album due to arrive early next |
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year. The Reds plan to slowly motivate their loyal following by word of mouth and |
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extensive touring. Commercial success will hopefully follow, but the most important |
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thing for this band is to satisfy their current fans. If they can do this, they will have |
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achieved an important goal. Cohen says, "If you do it any other way you'll go crazy, |
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and we've been crazy and we don't want to go through it again." |
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