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Really Red was one of Houston, Texas' first punk bands and existed from 1978 through 1985.
The Really Red line up consisted of John Paul Williams on bass guitar, Ronnie "U-Ron" Bond vocalist/lyricist, Bob Weber on drums and Kelly Younger on guitar. Under occasional variations of their names, these were the original and only band members. Really Red evolved into one of the most prominent and popular Texas punk bands of that era and helped to kick-start the early punk scene in Houston and Texas. Really Red toured the United States several times and played some dates in Canada, including a benefit for the Squamish Five in Vancouver.
Along with their "paying gigs" they were known to do benefit shows for causes as diverse as The Nuclear Freeze Campaign, the Canadian Squamish Five Legal Defense, KPFT radio or even for a vet bill for an injured dog. They started their own independent record label, C.I.A. Records. Really Red toured extensively with DOA and Articles of Faith. They also were billed with many bands of note including, but not limited to, John Cale, Dead Kennedys, SPK, The Effigies, Red Tide, Bad Brains, Circle Jerks, Stranglers, Dayglo Abortions, 999, Big Boys, The Dicks, MDC, Negative Approach, the Butthole Surfers, Sado Nation, Die Kreuzen, Personality Crisis, Culturcide, Mark Arm's Mr Epp and also the Fastbacks. On special rare occasions Austrian avant-garde film maker, Kurt Kren, would project his films as a backdrop for the band's performance.
They released their first 45 single recording, Crowd Control/Corporate Settings in 1979. Among their many accomplishments, Really Red were the first Texas punk band to tour extensively outside of Texas. In addition they were the first Texas punk band to have a full length album distributed nationally; Teaching You the Fear was released in 1981. The title track cited the murders of three men by members of the Houston police department; a Black Panther activist Carl Hampton, a Latino man Joe Campos Torres, and a gay man Fred Paez. Rest in Pain Really Red's second album was released in 1985 and most of side two departed from the punk genre into a dark soundscape that was a homage to the Red Crayola's "Parable of Arable Land" album.. Really Red broke up in 1985 after releasing 2 albums, 2 45 singles, 2 7-inch EPs, and tracks on various compilations.
Their song "Prostitution" appeared on the Alternative Tentacles compilation album Let Them Eat Jellybeans. The song "Nobody Rules" was included on the compilation Cottage Cheese from the Lips of Death. That version was intended for their Rest in Pain album but due to a mix up it ended up on "Cottage Cheese" while the alternative version intended for that release showed up on "Rest in Pain". The song "Modern Needs" was included on Rhino Records compilation "Faster and Louder Hardcore Punk Vol 1". Their cover of Petula Clark's "Downtown" was included on the 1996 7-inch 45 "Rather See You Dead: Houston Punk 1978-1979" from the Hot Box Review label. The song "I was a Teenage Fuckup" appeared on the soundtrack to the film American Hardcore. Their 1st single's A side "Crowd Control" was included on the bootleg album release Killed by Death Vol 2 while both sides of the single were legally included on the compilation album Deep in the Throat of Texas. Their 2nd single A side "Modern Needs" was included on the bootleg album release Killed by Death Vol 4.
The 1981 LP "Teaching You The Fear" was re-issued on Empty Records in 2004. 2015 saw the reissue of all of Really Red's material, as well as unreleased rarities, by the Alternative Tentacles label. This release came as a two CD set "Teaching You The Fear: The Complete Collection" and three full length vinyl albums (see below).
For years, as well as fronting Really Red, lead singer U-Ron (as Perry Coma) created and hosted the original "Funhouse" radio show, on Pacifica's Houston station KPFT.
The only member to continue making music has been drummer Bob Weber who did a California tour with the notorious Culturcide and then joined The Anarchitex. Both bands were also from Houston Texas.
2020 saw Teaching You the Fear... Again a tribute album released with contributions from bands including Sugar Shack, Verbal Abuse, The Hickoids, Mudhoney, Gary Floyd/Dicks, Jello Biafra, The Bellrays, Darwin's Finches and MDC among many other notable groups.
Really Red’s members sometimes appeared under various other names:
Revelation Records is an independent record label focusing originally and primarily on hardcore punk. The label is known for releases by bands such as Youth of Today, Warzone, Sick of It All, Quicksand, Side By Side, Chain of Strength, Shelter, Judge, No for an Answer, Gorilla Biscuits, and End of a Year.
MDC is an American punk rock band formed in 1979 in Austin, Texas, subsequently based in San Francisco, and currently Portland, Oregon. Among the first wave of bands to define the sound and style of American hardcore punk, MDC originally formed as The Stains; they have periodically changed the meaning of "MDC", the most frequent being Millions of Dead Cops. The band's lyrical content expresses radical left political views and has proven influential within the punk subculture.
Nomeansno was a Canadian punk rock band formed in Victoria, British Columbia and later relocated to Vancouver. They released 11 albums, including a collaborative album with Jello Biafra, and numerous EPs and singles. Critic Martin Popoff described their music as "the mightiest merger between the hateful aggression of punk and the discipline of heavy metal." Nomeansno's distinct hardcore punk sound, complex instrumentation, and dark, "savagely intelligent" lyrics inspired subsequent musicians. They were a formative influence on punk jazz, post-hardcore, math rock, and emo.
Poison Idea was an American punk rock band formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1980.
Dicks were an American punk rock band from Austin, Texas, formed in 1980 and initially disbanded in 1986. After the first breakup, singer Gary Floyd formed the band Sister Double Happiness, with drummer Lynn Perko, then later fronted a project called Black Kali Ma. In 2004, The Dicks reunited and were active until 2016.
Siege was an American hardcore punk band from Weymouth, Massachusetts. Formed in 1981, they were active in the Boston hardcore scene from 1984 to 1985, and reunited briefly in 1991. Drummer Rob Williams and guitarist Kurt Habelt led a live ensemble of reunion performances between 2016 and 2023.
7 Seconds are an American hardcore punk band from Reno, Nevada, that was formed in 1980 by two sets of brothers. The band has gone through numerous lineup changes over the subsequent years, with only Kevin Seconds, Steve Youth and Bobby Adams remaining constant members.
Subhumans were a Canadian punk rock band formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1978.
The Fartz were a hardcore punk band that was founded in 1981 and were one of the first well-known bands in their genre from Seattle, Washington. They were signed to Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Record label. They were notable not only for playing incredibly fast and heavy music, but also for their politically and socially conscious song lyrics that criticized government policies, religious hypocrisy, racism, sexism, and poverty. Throughout their musical career they championed a blue collar, working class perspective on life.
Bad Brains is the first album released by American hardcore punk/reggae band Bad Brains. Recorded in 1981 and released on the cassette-only label ROIR on February 5, 1982, many fans refer to it as "The Yellow Tape" because of its yellow packaging.
Let Them Eat Jellybeans!, subtitled "17 Extracts From America's Darker Side", is a compilation album released by Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles in 1981. It was one of the earliest compilations of underground music in the United States and its original release included an insert of all of the punk bands known to be playing in the U.S. and Canada at that time. The first side of the LP features songs by a number of bands that formed the canon of American hardcore punk in the 1980s, while the second side features more of an art rock sound.
Victims Family is a hardcore punk band formed in 1984 in Santa Rosa, California, by bass guitarist Larry Boothroyd and guitarist and vocalist Ralph Spight. Devon VrMeer completed the trio as drummer. Their sound blended punk, heavy metal and jazz, making them difficult to categorize into a single genre. Allmusic says, "Since its inception, the trio has refused to be pigeonholed to any single musical style — incorporating elements of hardcore punk, jazz, funk, hard rock, and noise into its challenging sound". They were known as one of the most musically diverse bands in the San Francisco underground music scene. Over the years, Victims Family went through four drummers and two break-ups. Their name was taken from a piece by the cartoonist B. Kliban.
Vic Bondi is an American singer-songwriter and one of the founding members of political Chicago hardcore punk band Articles of Faith. He went on to form Alloy, and Jones Very after AoF's demise. At the time of AoF's original breakup Bondi was working as a history instructor at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Bondi's subsequent day jobs included working on Microsoft's Encarta as well as other projects in educational and media software. After a hiatus in the late 90s, Bondi resurfaced with new bands, Report Suspicious Activity and Dead Ending. He was featured in the documentaries American Hardcore and You Weren't There.
Kill from the Heart is an album by the hardcore punk band The Dicks. Widely considered a classic of the genre, it was the band's first full-length album and the last to feature the group's original Texas-based line-up. The album finds the band mixing its hardcore punk style with blues aesthetics.
Lynn Perko-Truell is an American musician, best known as the drummer, bass guitarist, and co-singer for the San Francisco indie rock band Imperial Teen. She is also known as the drummer for the San Francisco-based blues grunge band Sister Double Happiness, and the San Francisco version of the hardcore punk band The Dicks. Perko-Truell was an iconic figure and a pioneering female in the American hardcore punk and alternative rock movements of the 1980s and 1990s and remains active.
Why Do They Call Me Mr. Happy? is the sixth full-length album by Vancouver punk rock group Nomeansno. Released in 1993, it is their second album recorded by the original two-piece lineup of brothers Rob and John Wright following Mama (1982), and first after the departure of longtime guitarist Andy Kerr. Here the band mostly replaced its hardcore punk sound with slower songs influenced by heavy metal and progressive rock. The album was well-received by critics and praised for its balance of heaviness and subtlety, showcasing the dynamics of the band in its original incarnation.
0 + 2 = 1 is the fifth full-length album by Canadian punk band Nomeansno. Released in 1991, it was the fourth and final studio album to feature Nomeansno's longtime guitarist Andy Kerr. The proper follow-up to their most popular album, Wrong, the record was somewhat polarizing but generally well received by critics.
Mama is the debut album by Victoria, British Columbia punk rock band Nomeansno. Featuring the band's original incarnation comprising brothers John and Rob Wright, the album was released independently on LP in 1982. Nomeansno reissued a remastered version the album in 1992 on their own Wrong Records imprint, coupled with the tracks from their Betrayal, Fear, Anger, Hatred EP of 1981.
You Kill Me is an EP by Canadian punk rock band Nomeansno. Recorded in 1985, it is the first Nomeansno record to feature the band's three-piece lineup, with guitarist Andy Kerr joining founding members Rob Wright and John Wright. Originally issued on the Undergrowth label, it was later re-released on CD with the Sex Mad album on the Sex Mad/You Kill Me compilation CD and cassette released by Alternative Tentacles.
This is the discography for Canadian punk rock band D.O.A.
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