In Amerika sind RED schon lange bekannt. Sie teilen sich mit Musikgrößen wie BREAKING BENJAMIN die Bühnen und füllen ganze Arenen mit ihren Fans. Im Gegensatz zu Amerika bauen Sie in Europa noch eine Fangemeinschaft auf. Vor einem Monat erschien ihr neues unabhängies Album Declaration, das nun als ein pandemic record in die Geschichte eingehen könnte. Eigentlich sollten sie derzeit durch UK/Europe touren, aber das wurde auf Eis gelegt. Erst kürzlich habe ich eine Review über das neue Album geschrieben, nun folgt ein Interview mit dem Gitarristen und Songwriter Anthony Armstrong von RED in der englischen Version. Hier erhaltet ihr Informationen über ein neues, anstehendes Projekt, über das neue Album und eine mögliche Tour mit BREAKING BENJAMIN:

The band RED is very well known for a long time. They sharing stages with famous musiciens like BREAKING BENJAMIN and concerts with RED fill huge arenas with fans. In contrast to America they build up their fan base in Europe. A month ago they released their independent record “Declaration”, which could be remembered in history as a pandemic record. Actually they would be touring in UK/Europe, but this is on hold. Recently I wrote a review about the new record and now being followed by my interview with Anthony Armstrong, guitarist and songwriter of RED, in the English version. Here you will find information about a new upcoming project, about the new album and a possible tour with BREAKING BENJAMIN:

Sarah-Jane: RED has an own label now. You can be more creative than before. Do you think you will stay with your own label to be able to do your own thing in the future?

Anthony Armstrong: 100% yes. We like the transition so far. It’s giving us a tremendous amount of flexibility with the decisions that we make, not just with music but with everything. Being completely self-contained and running things on our own and having a great team behind us… We will never go back.

Sarah-Jane: Did you ever think about trying a different genre?

Anthony Armstrong: I don’t think so. We have been rockers since as far back as we can remember. And maybe in the future we will sign some different genre of music to our label. But right now we have not even ventured to talk about signing another band yet. So we are trying to make sure that the label runs efficiently and smoothly for our band, so when we maybe take someone one in the future it will work just as well for them.

Sarah-Jane: As a band you have a lot to do with an own label or?

Anthony Armstrong: We are obviously the artists and focus solely on the music. We have got other obligations with the label, a lot of approvals, everything gets passed on to our teams to make sure we are okay with it, because it is obviously our product that is going out so we want to make sure that it is what we want it to be. It hasn’t hindered us in a way to not focus on the music because that is the number one thing, that is the foundation of all. If the music is not good nothing else matters.

Sarah-Jane: I’ve read the band is working on a new project. You are trying something new?

Anthony Armstrong: A new project- yes, we are discussing it now. We are trying to decide when we should pull the trigger on it. Just to keep releasing music we are obviously touring this new record for a while in the process of doing that we are working on another project something we have never done before so we are excited. It is going to be a full-length album. When I say it is something we have never done before. The plans we have for the record is something we have never tried, so we are excited.

Sarah-Jane: Are you afraid that you and the producer Rob Graves might not come up with the sound like the last album? You have no label which tells you what kind of songs you have to produce.

Anthony Armstrong: We are the label now! So, we are the boss of everything. (laughs) So as far as the sound, the sound will never change. But what we did with the new record “Declaration” will be what Red is, going forward. We feel like we didn’t do any experimenting or anything on this record we just did what we know how to do, and it turned out great. I think we will just - we are proponents of don’t fix what is not broken so we will push forward with music and we experiment here and there but most of all Red is what “Declaration” is.

Sarah-Jane: Would you agree with me that your new album is heavier than the last one?

Anthony Armstrong: I would definitely say that (laughs). This is an important record for us, it is our first independent release. Apart from the label and crowdfunded the whole aspang it was important for us to have a bang of a record. A lot of our fans have been asking us please make a heavier record the way you did on your first few records as we fell in love with the band. I think we did that. Just going forward that will be the recipe for RED.

Sarah-Jane: Would you try an acoustic album?

Anthony Armstrong: We have done a lot of acoustic releases, we released “The Evening Hate” EP. We just put out two acoustic versions “From The Ashes” and “The Evening Hate” we have done several acoustic songs and versions from previous records. We have never done a full acoustic record. It is not not going to happen. We have talked about doing a full acoustic from our first record when releasing that. It will continue to happen. We love doing acoustic versions of our songs because they translate really well. It is kind of cool to take a really heavy song and turn it into an acoustic track for people to listen to.

Sarah-Jane: How did RED come up with the concept to make the video for “The Evening Hate”?

Anthony Armstrong: My brother the base drummer Randy [Armstrong] he is the one that coined the phrase “The Evening Hate”. He has brought that to our attention and told us where it was from and what it was all about. It was an easy video to make because the imagery was pretty set in stone with what “The Evening Hate” was from it was a phrase coined in World War I. It was like make a war video. So we tried to do something as close as to what our interpretation of what it would have been like being in the trenches and taking motor rounds and bombs from the enemy and just being beat down constantly and in the end we lose in the video, we get beat pretty bad but we live to fight another day.

Sarah-Jane: What is your writing process? What do you need to write a new song?

Anthony Armstrong: Just inspiration. The process is pretty much the same from the conception that we have done (taken) different directions, but for the most part it is the same recipe, the same group of guys we write together. It is the same thing, we do not fix what is not broken it has worked so well for us. We have had such a great career so far and I think what we just done on the new record, I believe that will be a key measuring stick on going forward how we write when we put a RED record together. It has worked so well, and it was an easy process. I would say that was the easiest record we have ever written. So, the downside is, if you want to call it the downside, on the next record we write has to just as good if not better than this record. When you have what seems to be a great record for fans and the fans really love and a lot our fans calling it their favored record we have ever written. That is a big thing to live up to. So hopefully we can put together our heads and write some great music for the next record. But I do not have any doubts.

Sarah-Jane: Do the other members of the band have ideas for songs or just Rob and you?

Anthony Armstrong: Rob and I wrote everything on this record. Michael is the singer and he comes up with great melodies and stuff, but Rob and I wrote the whole thing. We only had a few writers on this one. We usually have several on a RED record but just we kind of. We just went on with it. Rob and I just had such a pulse on what happened that we did not need anybody else. We did not need anybody to come in and break up the monotony, even if living with these songs for months and months. So, we need fresh ears and fresh perspective and another writer to come in and help us out to make sure it is what it needs to be. We wrote the songs so quick and they came together so fast that we really did not have time to dwell on the songs themselves. Like is this a good enough part here is that a good enough part? We just said we are going to go with this. We put enough good pressure on ourselves. We are not going to mess around waiting around and making 5-6 different decisions on a song. If this sounds great and it strikes us as first on the first listen, we are going to go with that. This is what we did, and it worked great.

Sarah-Jane: Was there ever a song that Michael Barnes did not performed in the way to would have liked?

Anthony Armstrong: I would say no. Once he gets the basic premise of the song and then obviously we explain it to him, we wrote this song about this, this is kind of mentality, the thought process that you have to have going in to tracking the song and the parts. The emotion that you need to have in your voice, we want that to translate this into the song and make it what it needs to be. For the track “The War We Made” there is a somberness to the song. Michael is obviously used to that. He knows them all well and it doesn’t take him long at all. He can track a song in an hour or two and is ready to go. It got the point on this album that Michael took so many great takes that we just had to pick one. We like this one, this one just hits us emotional quickly and this the one we are going to choose. But there was a lot of passion that Michael did on the record that made it hard to pick. But that is a good thing.

Sarah-Jane: The song „Sever“ was co-written by Keith Wallen – how did it come about?

Anthony Armstrong: We have been friends for a long time, we toured together. I have known Keith 5 years. He just showed interest and wanted to write with us, and we were obviously interested, we had never written with him before. Trying something new is always a good thing. Even though you know your sound and you know what you want, bringing someone in that is brand new could change it in way that: oh, this is cool. Fans will enjoy that. So, we brought him in, and he came up with the melody and the lyrics to the lot of the songs. He and Rob got together and then we wrote the music around the songs, so it was fun. It was a cool process, and it is really coll. So, the first chance we get to tour again with those guys with Breaking Benjamin we will have Keith perform with Michael come out and sing. That will be really cool. Fans love that kind of stuff.

Sarah-Jane: Could there be a tour with both bands together? 

Anthony Armstrong: I do not have a doubt in my mind. I just do not know what is going on with the touring right now. It is a post covid 19 world now. We will see how it all translates and plays out on the road. Fans really want it to happen. We have toured Europe more than Ben has. I think the shows will be massive if we came to Europe and did the tour. I think it is our best interest and our fans would love it. Of course, we do what we do, because the fans come out to the shows and spent their heart and money on us. So we can put together a tour that is going to make our fans happy that is a just no brainer.

Sarah-Jane: In addition to the Winter Jam Tour, RED have been booked for a European/UK tour. In America you are performing in big locations. Will it be strange to play in small clubs again?

Anthony Armstrong: It is not. We love the club shows, it is a more intimate show. With the bigger arena you see faces on the first few rows. In a club you can feel the energy of every single person in the room. If things go as well with the record, we might have to switch venues because it will sell out too fast and there will be more of a demand to be at the show so we will switch venues. The club shows, we have done the majority of our tour has been club shows, so we are looking forward to it.

Sarah-Jane: The club in Frankfurt is small. I was surprised about that, because you have played in such big locations and here in Europe it’s small.

Anthony Armstrong: In Europe we still building our fan base. We can’t go over there and play in a huge place just yet, even if we want to (laughs) even if we want to play huge show in a big room. For us we have to come over there with a band like Breaking Benjamin and tour there. Its just a matter of time but for now we play the clubs and if the clubs sell out, we move on to the next size venue. If fans want to see us in a bigger venue with more exciting stuff happening, then they just got to keep coming to shows and making sure we’re packing the places out.

Sarah-Jane: What would you improve for the next album?

I don’t know. I feel like to save it. To improve on a work of art is a tough thing. If it is your art if it is something you created, I am not sure how you improve on it. If I could think of anything that we might want to improve on it would be our ability to produce, our ability to put songs together Just to get more efficient and stuff like that. But as far as the creation of the songs I feel like we have been doing it for so long I would not say that we have to improve on anything. It is a matter of how we put the songs together. It can always improve.

Sarah-Jane: After a show, do you be around with the others or do all of you need time for their own?

Anthony Armstrong: We stay away from the drummer because he smells (laugh) really bad after a show. I think he is none stop the entire set so he is sweating as you can guess, pretty bad. No we hang out, we are buds, we are family. So we are done on stage, we have to go back to our room or bus. We talk about the show, have a few drinks and we are just thankful that we get to do what we get to do. It is a job, but it is a job that a lot of people want to have. An exciting job. Travel overseas and be a part of different cultures but share in the love of music it is the universal language. Everybody understands it is something that we all share whether we are German, American whatever. So, it is a cool thing.

Sarah-Jane: Do you enjoy to be at home with your family while the lockdown?

Anthony Armstrong: It is pretty nice. We had been very busy when all this happened so everything came to a dead stop. Literally we were at a show in Louisville Kentucky and they said guys the tour is over head home. We got home, and things were really weird pretty fast. So, within a week or two of being home things completely shut down and the whole world changed. It was something none of us were really prepared for. Human race wasn’t prepared for this level of isolation. But the family time is amazing because being in a band and touring doing what we have been doing for the last 13 years it takes its toll on you. You need strong family around you and support you and sacrifice along with you for being on the road. When you can be home the beauty part is all we do is the band so when we are home, we are home. We are not working at the time. Even though there are things going on like now. I am still working, doing interviews talking to people about the new record which is great. Music is cool that way. The pandemic has its effect on us like it has on a lot of other people. Music continues, music moves through everything and endures anything. It’s obviously proven right now music is holding things together for a lot of people it is the glue right now for so many people dealing with tough times.

Sarah-Jane: How do you promote the album?

Anthony Armstrong: It is a little different. Obviously, we would be touring right now and touring new record, but this is kind of different thing. A lot of bands that were going to release new music held off from releasing music, because they were obviously worried about their bottom line and selling records. April 10th was our original date from the start. We had that back before anything of that had happened. Us pushing it up to give that the fans a week early was important, because of the demand and people just sitting at home and people going stir crazy. They need something to listen to. They need something to be inspired by. So the cool thing that is happening right now is, that the more time the people have with the record, before they see us live, it will make them dissect the songs and it will make them appreciate them even more and know the lyrics forward and back. When we are the show every single song will be like a single, they will feel they know every song and be more familiar with the record than they have ever been. It will be interesting to see the people at the show. It will probably make the shows even more intense. They had a chance to live with these songs. This is the pandemic record. We will never forget this record. A record during a very weird time not just for our country but for the entire world. But is our little dose of medicine.

Sarah-Jane: As guitar pick collector I have a question: how did you get idea for “Never Say Die”?

Anthony Armstrong: How did I get the idea? My favorite movie of all time is an American movie “The Goonies”. There slogan is never say die. I think it is a cool credo a cool motto to think about. It is saying no matter what live throws at you, you never say die. You are going to do whatever it takes to push through. What is crazy is now more than ever that’s what it is. Never say die.

Sarah-Jane: Thank you for taking time and the interview. 

Tour dates in Germany:

06.10.2020 Frankfurt am Main / Das Bett

07.10.2020 Berlin / Musik & Frieden

08.10.2020 Hamburg / Uebel & Gefährlich

13.10.2020 München / STROM

15.10.2020 Köln / LUXOR