When Louisiana punk band Red Rockers thrashed out the distorted chords on Condition Red in 1981, they had no idea where those three chords and the truth would take them. The band eventually relocated to Boston, and their New Wave-influenced “China” became an early classic of the genre. But before all that, they were four punks from Louisiana who’d been inspired by Joe Strummer. Condition Red has been remixed, remastered, and re-released — and the Red Rockers are hitting the road.
Fans of Cowboy Mouth know that Red Rockers singer John Thomas Griffith can sling six strings with the best of ’em. Condition Red bottles his youthful exuberance and righteous fury over issues that will feel all-too-familiar today. In a much more mellow state, JTG and I spoke about the reunion with the band and how it feels to revisit these songs over 40 years later. Red Rockers will be playing a reunion show at Tipitina’s in New Orleans on November 11th (tickets here.) The vinyl for the Condition Red reissue is already in its second pressing.
Rachel: So you’re re-releasing the Red Rockers’ 1981 album Condition Red.
JTG: We’ve been talking about this for the last five, ten years, that when it gets to the 40th anniversary [of the album release],we need to do something. And if we’re still around — which we are, and very healthy — we would redo the album. It’s been great, man. It sounds fantastic.
We’re really pleased with the remix and the remastering. James [Singletary] and I basically remastered, remixed it. Darren [Hill] had it remastered up in Boston, it sounds really good. We’ve used a guy named Mike Mayeux to remix with us in New Orleans.
Rachel: You all started down in New Orleans, and I remember you telling me one time that you lived in like a punk house with Jason the Scorchers.
JTG: That was in Boston. After Schizophrenic Circus, we moved into a house up in Brookline, Massachusetts, and it looked like the Herman Munster house. It was all rickety and stuff. All the bands that would come through town and the Paradise, which was right across the street from where we were, we’d invite them over to the house for a few drinks and whatever, cocktails and a smoke, and we’d all just hang out. Jason and Scorchers would be one of them. Gus, of The Waterboys, they would come over when they were in town and just hang out and it was a good place to relax for bands on the road.
Rachel: I feel bad asking this, but how did you all stay in touch without the Internet?
JTG: You kind of had people’s numbers. Back in the day when you really had to go do an interview on a payphone, get out of the bus or the trailer or whatever you’re traveling in, go to a payphone at a truck stop, and do your interview. Before Zoom, you and I would probably be talking, I’d be on a payphone out in the parking lot here!
Rachel: The last time we spoke, we were talking about Cowboy Mouth. And if I’m remembering correctly, you spoke a lot about how Cowboy Mouth is more focused on entertainment. But these Red Rockers songs are very political. Speaking of how much things have changed, a lot of these songs feel relevant today. How has it been to revisit them?
JTG: I feel the same way. We’ve discussed this in multiple rehearsals, how when we go through these songs, how poignant they are today, but what’s going on in politics here in America and across the world… Cowboy Mouth has that a bit of the same spirit because Fred and I have always discussed having a positive mentality, positive attitude. With Red Rockers, it was a sign of the times — we were influenced by Stiff Little Fingers and, and The Clash and they were socially conscious and we felt like that’s what we wanted to do, be socially conscious.
It’s funny to listen to these songs now and just go, “Wow — I mean, we could have written these today.” And we’re also amazed at the fact that we were 19 years old and writing songs of that caliber.
Rachel: A lot of the songs are about Maoist China. How do you feel about that aspect of it now?
JTG: Well, when we do “China,” with Cowboy Mouth, the lyrics are so vague. You can imagine we were singing about a woman or a girl named China, but I remember when we came up with I came up with the title with Red Rockers, everything kind of had to have a marketing vibe. With Red Rockers, it made sense to sing a song about China.
We could pull it off as a political statement. Like, we don’t know what’s going on — we still don’t – but we’ve come to feel that you’ve basically got to think for yourself and do your research.
Rachel: You’ve been rehearsing because you’re all about to tour together, but have you started playing out yet?
JTG: We have not toured yet, but we’re playing November 11th, which is a Saturday night in Tipitina’s at New Orleans. And that’s our next big concert. We’re trying to get to Riot Fest, the Warped Tour, things like that.
Rachel: Are there any songs that you feel like have really jumped out to you as more resonant than they were originally?
JTG: “White Law,” which is a Saul James quote, which is about racism. There’s a line in there. “When an N is loose out on the run/the heat has got to lead.” We’d used the N word on the vinyl and on the new version, it’s bleeped out, and we just thought it was inappropriate at this time.
But everything else just sounds great. I mean, stuff like “Peer Pressure,” when the guitar start just rolling through that song, it’s like so much power. It’s like heavy. One of the reasons we remixed and mastered this record was because we just thought it was had gotten the short end of the stick, so to speak. We had a wish to be harder, like Foo Fighters and stuff like that.
We had a producer named David Kahn and it just drenched everything in reverb. But we wanted it to be in your face. When you put reverb in it, you sound like you’re down the hall, you’re not even in the concert hall.
Rachel: How are you feeling about playing the songs live?
JTG: It’s been a bit of a challenge. I’m practicing here in the living room, just going through the lyrics. Mainly, it’s memorizing the lyrics because we’re doing three or four B sides we never played live much if at all. So I’m challenged with learning all these new lyrics and there’s a lot of them. And then we’re doing a bunch of covers and we’re inviting some friends from the past to come up and sing with us. It’s going to be a good reunion at Tipitina’s on the 11th.