The Red Eyes have just announced the release of their new album Red Army, the long awaited follow up to their 2007 release Rudeworld. The release will be accompanied by a national tour starting in late May.
Three years in the making, Red Army is a more ambitious offering from the Melbourne Dub/Reggae group, with the band aiming to reproduce their vitriolic live sound on record.
We haven’t got our hands on a copy yet, but by the sounds of it the album will continue The Red Eyes tradition of politically conscious protest songs you can still get up and dance to. Here’s a sneak peek into the meanings behind the title and some of the tracks:
The title, RED ARMY harks back to the formation of the workers movement, representing, symbolically, the blood shed by the working class in its struggling against oppression, and the belief that all people are equal. For The Red Eyes, the title suggests an egalitarian sentiment while also reflecting on the iconography and themes of war that underpin almost every culture around the globe.
From tracks such as ‘Titokowaru’s War’, which tells the tale of battle against colonial attack led by one of New Zealands early Maori leaders, to ‘The Road to Jericho’, based on a dream that merges stories of the biblical crusades with the recent invasion of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan, the album touches on the struggles and bloodshed that have marked every epoch in world history. Also touching on local issues, ‘Inside Ou’t was inspired by the spotlight on street brawl deaths in the bands home town of Melbourne during 2009.
Other sentiments within the album include the universal disparity between political leaders, corporate giants and the everyman. While songs like ‘Higher Ground’ comment disparagingly on the popular branding of ‘environmentalism’ by politicians despite an obvious lack of action to tackle the serious issues facing our planet, other tracks like ‘Highplace’ and ‘Sticks and Stones’ encourage us all to fight the system, to look up and rise up.
Of course it wouldn’t be a Red Eyes album without some heavy dub party tracks, such as ‘Ultra Magnetic’, about the healing power of music, and ‘I Get Wild / Wild Gravity’, a cover of a Talking Heads track (the bands only recorded cover song) about unleashing the primal side of civilized man and getting wild… something that The Red Eyes are continuing to practice, both on and off stage.
Red Army drops Friday 7th May, through MGM and on iTunes.
‘Tour Of Duty’ National Album Launch Dates:
Friday 21st May
Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
Tix on sale April 5: www.cornerhotel.com / 03 94279198
Friday 28th May
Barwon Heads Hotel, Barwon Heads, VIC
Saturday 29th May
Groove’n’Grind, Healesville, VIC
Thursday 3rd June
Transit Bar, Canberra, ACT
Friday 4th June
Manning Bar, Sydney, NSW
Saturday 5th June
The Zoo, Brisbane, QLD
Sunday 6th June
The Beach Hotel, Byron Bay, NSW
Saturday 3rd July
Jive, Adelaide, SA
Friday 9th / Saturday 10th July
Republic Bar, Hobart, TAS
Check their official website for more ticket info soon.
