Red Kate / Bad Ideas split 7-inch

cover - bad ideas red kate split
The first release from Kansas City’s Mills Record Company features the finest punk rock ‘n’ roll the city has to offer, with two songs each from Red Kate and the Bad Ideas.

Red Kate continues the wonderful racket they had on last year’s full-length, When the Troubles Come. The first cut, “On My Mind,” is a melodic rocker, almost wistful in the way it recalls someone gone. The cover of Naked Raygun’s “New Dreams” clocks in at half the length of its predecessor, and blasts away for its entire 80 seconds. Factor in the copious “way-oh”s, and you’ve a pile-on pit classic reborn.

The Bad Ideas have always been a live force with which to be reckoned, but these two recordings are fantastic. Mixing classic-era Epitaph Records energy with Sonic Youth guitar work and absolute snottiness, they’re absolute keepers. I can’t decide whether the straight-ahead energy of “Apocalypse Detroit” or the off-kilter jerk of “I’m Stuck” is my favorite, so I just keep flipping the record and starting over from scratch.
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Red Kate, “When the Troubles Come” LP

cover - red kateIt might be a sign of my age that I want to call Red Kate cowpunk. Maybe it’s the slightly country, down-home feel to the sound of the band. It could be the fact that they use the bass work to really propel everything along, along the lines of your backyard jug band, working it with a washtub and a broomstick. It could also be my music nerdery popping out and tying in both the basswork of Brad Huhmann and his time in Truck Stop Love.

Whatever you want to call the music on When the Troubles Come, it’s a distinctly working-class set of ideals, ethos, and sound. It took me a few times through the album before I could figure out exactly who lead vocalist L. Ron Drunkard‘s delivery reminded me of. It hit me the other morning: he’s carrying on in the grand tradition of the late Commander PP Urino of Cocknoose.
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