Rock’n’roll is not dead. Define is another living, breathing affirmation of this irrefutable, perennial truth. Red Racer’s debut album pulls together rock’n’roll’s basic elements of guitar, bass, drums and voice and melds them all together into one compelling, feral blast of primal power.
Written and recorded in its entirety by the band’s frontman and drummer John Hogg and guitarist Sean Genockey over seven days of frenetic activity at the famous Rancho De La Luna recording studio in Joshua Tree, California it launches straight off into orbit with the record’s thundering title track. A scuzzy, deconstructed dose of proto-punk – complete with Rotten-esque sneer – it is a ferocious statement of intent, something that the nagging insistence of the album’s first single ‘Put It Out’ merely serves to reinforce.
As Hogg and Genockey begin to splurge their huge brushstrokes of visceral rock sound over Define’s canvas, word begins to spread. First Danny Frankel of The Mojave Lords shows up and adds some ferocious trashcan percussion to ‘Pretty Polly’ and not to be outdone, the former Queens of the Stone Age sticksman Joey Castillo appears to thunder his drums on the classic rock staple ‘Shotgun Suzie’.
‘Cover Me’ echoes The Who’s ‘I Can’t Explain’ as Red Racer show that they can play maximum rhythm and blues too. But it is Jesse Hughes’ appearance at Rancho De La Luna that properly ignites the recording session and propels Define into another dimension. The Eagles of Death Metal frontman adds his customary sense of trashy sleaze to ‘How Does It Feel’ and with his hand firmly on the production tiller he steers the record home.
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Define was released on 3rd November 2014 via Dissention Records. The album can be bought here
After the recording of Define, Jesse Wood joined Red Racer on bass guitar and the London-based trio will be playing The Garage in their home town on 19th November 2014. Tickets for this show can be bought here
