Deaglan
New Member
THE REDNECK MANIFESTO
+ The Dublin Guitar Quartet (Friday)
+ Schroeder’s Sound (Saturday)
Fri 12 & Sat 13 November, doors 8pm. Tickets 10 euro
Crawdaddy, Old Harcourt St. Train Station,
New Album I Am Brazil released on the 25th of September 2004.
Niall Byrne – guitars
Richard Egan – bass
Mervyn Craig – drums
Neil O’Connor – keys & electronics
Matthew Bolger - guitars
The Redneck manifesto
By Leagues O’Toole
An instrumental band named after a book? You know this lot have a sense of humour from the off. But even for a band that leaves an untraceable breadcrumb trail of hilarious titles with no actual words to back them up, there is one obvious parallel between them and that of Jim Goad’s acerbic literary attack on the American class system, and that is the pure ferocity with which The Redneck Manifesto landed on this earth.
The original four members became friends through encounters with their respective punk rock and hardcore bands at gigs in Dublin throughout the 90s. The combined experiences of writing and playing with bands like Flexihead, Hylton Weir, Blackbelt Jones, The Waltons and Jackbeast armed the four players with enough punk rock know-how, musicianship and attitude to form a truly powerful band. The Redneck Manifesto formed at the end of 1998, playing their first gig in December of that year with The Farewell Bend and The Sorts at the long-deceased Funnel venue.
They sharpened their live performance playing everywhere from punk gigs in pubs to opening for visiting international bands and on bills with guitar acts immersed in Dublin’s escalating independent community. It didn’t take long for people to recognise that The Redneck Manifesto were more than just a local hardcore band. Too often the prospect of seeing an instrumental band meant expressionless, emotionless introspection. Not so with TRM. Their tactics were full on live physicality, wrestling with their instruments, freeing themselves of the restraints of how one behaves in front of a live audience and fully embroiling themselves in ‘the moment.’ TRM became compelling viewing as much as they became essential listening.
The music was already filtered from numerous sources and quite accomplished from the start. The rhythm section was tight funk with a rigid backbone, a pulse, a heartbeat, but also fluid, almost jazz. The twin guitars exchanged abrasive rhythm playing and plucked sweet melodies with a nasty, severed sound as scaling arpeggios infused a trademark touch of class. The music could both hover meditatively, as elemental and gentle as calm water, and erupt with volcanic brutality. Like all great rock bands TRM generated truly cathartic moments and their snowballing audience responded in kind, thronging into venues, dancing, stage diving and embracing the chaos.
The Rednecks first release was a seven-inch on the Grey Slate label titled TRM:1. It sold out quickly. The next release, in October 1999, was a split seven inch single with cult Dublin band The Idiots, the first release for the Road Relish Singles Club, and featured a rare vocal track entitled He Threw Down his Rifle and Ran. Both bands played at the Temple Bar Music Centre in Dublin and stuffed the place. The band continued recording and releasing seven inches and in 2001 they released a CD mini-album entitled 36 Strings. A beautifully executed manifestation of their live shows, 36 Strings was produced with Alan O’Boyle of electro/techno act Decal in guitarist Mattie’s back garden shed cum Rednex rehearsal room. It featured the volatile, head-crunching live favourite Sweet Pot and was released on Grey Slate and French label Red F Records in Europe.
Within nine months of the release of 36 Strings The Rednecks and Alan O’Boyle emerged from the back garden shed with another CD mini-album, Cut Your Heart Off From Your Head, which they introduced as a companion piece to its predecessor. This recording was better again, offering more thought to the contrasting styles of TRM from the calamitous rush of Please Don’t Ask What We Think of Your Band to another live favourite, The Dillon Family Dancers, complete with a “doo-doo-doo…” outro that quickly became an audience sing-a-long at gigs, including the album’s launch gig at the Guinness Storehouse as part of the Wonky multi-media happening.
2002 also saw lots of interesting live action for TRM. They played their first European tour and seemed genuinely surprised by the overwhelming reaction in places where their records weren’t even available. Back in Ireland 4,000 people lapped up the Rednex experience at the annual Witnness festival and it felt like a joyous victory for good over evil (not sure why, but it did). They also visited Austin, Texas to perform at the annual industry conference South By South-West as well as playing a number of shows for a BMX event [the band had previously been invited to contribute music to an Ethnies BMX video]. Most importantly, TRM invited Neil O’Connor to join the band. A wizard with organs and electronics, O’Connor also operates as Somadrone and is a member of Connect4orchestra. Neil’s input can be heard in full effect on their first full-length album, I Am Brazil.
I Am Brazil was recorded in Black Box Studios in France (a popular haunt for Irish acts) with producer Dave Odlum in early 2004. This is The Redneck Manifesto with a fully realised sound, modern and expansive. >From the opening oscillating pulse of the title-track they carefully craft a sweet ambient canvas and then duly rip it apart with jagged guitars. Take On Us imagines a classic Stereolab groove whirring away and embroidered with the finest of riffs and motifs. The Rednex have truly outgrown the quiet-loud impulsions of a young band, now entering a more heightened phase of songwriting and sound sculpture.
That said, TRM still flash their teeth. Break Your Fingers Laughing is a relentless barrage of metal-driven hardcore that literally pounds itself into a hole in the ground. And No Vegetable Option is epic wall-of-guitars rock. This is the sound of The Redneck Manifesto are having fun, balancing with intricacy with anarchy, Five Style hyperactivity with linear drone therapy. It’s quite something. No idea what any of the titles mean though.
