About the Red Aunts
by Mattman
The first CD we ever got for free (well, to promote, if that's what we really do here) through this magazine was the Red Aunts' #1 Chicken. A rush of fourteen songs in twenty-three or so minutes, it comes on like a crack hit without that shitty medicine aftertaste. It was crunchy like many Rocket From The Crypt songs and screechy like my car on brick streets. The first thing I asked (in general, not actually to members of the band) was, "Are they serious?"
In a way, yes. They are seriously playing music. Playing their music, their way, and on their own terms. "We're the most different band on Epitaph," Debi Dip, bassist, confirmed over the phone. "As long as I can play live and record, I'll do whatever it takes. If it means having a record deal, I'll do it. Just as long as I don't have to deal with the business‹the record company can do that."
If you live in a world where everything is strictly defined in small terms, here's a chance to open your mind. Punk rock, all-female, and quick. This is the quick, easy definition of the Red Aunts. Everyone wants things to be so quick and easy. Losers.
"A cigarette, the moon and all I need is you."
"Sucking on your candy cane."
"She's gonna cut it all loose in her skin tight suit."
"I hate everyone but you."
"Lose your mind on the train."
"My eyes are crying and your eyes are smiling."
"Hit you with a hammer, hit you till you're dead. Then I'm gonna cut off your mutherfucking head."
"I was thinking about the time we met and I know what you're doing to me."
"Palm trees swinging. Jazz man playing."
After seeing the Red Aunts a couple of times, a person comes to realize that quick and easy definitions are for people too bored to actually live life. By the time you read this, the Red Aunts will have run through my life again‹on tour with the New York rap band New Kingdom. Yes, we have featured them in our live review section before. Yes, you should have been warned. We think you weren't listening, buddy.
Most of their songs teeter around the 1:30 mark. Some rage with punk rock intensity, some interweave slide guitar and piano in reckless abandon. The Red Aunts new release, Saltlick, delves further into the eclecticism that sets them apart from their fellow Epitaph label mates. And they use the same kinds of guitars, drums and microphones as everyone else.
"Our songwriting has gotten a lot better, more varied. The touring helped us get more in touch with our instruments," Debi said. "I think Sally [Browder, producer] brought out the layers. Our last one was recorded by Sally, but Brett [Guerwitz] produced it. So the difference is probably the producer," she elaborated when asked about the additional sound layers heard on the new CD. And, of course, the layers add another dimension on their version of punk rock. If you have to have a label for it.
So wake up. Saltlick is waiting at your local record store for you. Again, there are fourteen songs and it's around twenty-three minutes long. If you play it three times in a row, that's 69 minutes of pure pleasure. And you'll hear something different during each rotation. We've warned you enough, kid. Next time we're coming with the bulldozers.
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