Who are 'The Redwalls'
Logan Baren (Vox + Guitar), Justin Baren (Vox + Base), Andrew Langer (Vox + Guitar), Ben Greeno (Drums)
How would you describe your sound?
Energetic pop rock
What are your main influences?
bob dylan, the strokes, sam cooke, the stones, and possibly one or two Liverpool bands.
The USA is renowned for producing a whole glut of ace rock'n'roll bands, such as yourselves, Thee Shams/Mooney Suzuki , why do you think that you seem to be able to get the sound just right ?
we've worked long and hard at it, its been a product of many things, we took our lessons from the greats and now we are making our own place in music. We have found a manor of writing and playing which we all feel totally comfortable with and we try as much as possible to leave our ego's at the door when it comes to working with eachother.
You have a very cool image. Just wondered what are your thoughts on 'image'?
we are who we are, as far as we're concerned what you see is what you get. how that is percieved by people, well, thats out of our control and we rather have our music make us look good than anything else.
In terms of pop mass media have you any other influences coming from films, comic books, drunken poets etc...?
We play PSP when we're on the road.., as far as media is concerned, the office, ali g....the Hulk, Rushmore...
Are there any other bands that you feel a kinship with or can recommend, signed or unsigned?
kinship? no we're too young for that. We are big fans of Regina Spektor, The Zutons and the Stands.
On your debut album 'Universal Blues' I hear several distinct 'vibes', from the Brit invasion type bands to later late 60's sounds, to high energy pop and rock jangles.. You have a distinctive sound, . I just wondered if you worked hard to get this distinct but varying sound or did it just come naturally?
It came from our musical education, those were the bands we used to cover, and when we started writing it naturally had an affect. The further back you look for influences the more you have to draw from and then inevitably the more your music is prone to variance, i think its perfectly natural.
Also, I'm wondering if the songs you've written have been built up around what I hear are very powerful live gigs, one reviewing calling you more of a band that puts on a show than a plain old gig.
well i think people tend to enjoy the record a lot more after they see us, we sell a lot of records at shows. There's definitely a lot about a live song that cant be captured by even the best producers in the newest studios.
What are your thoughts on your songwriting / who writes the songs
Logan, Andrew and myself all write, and we also all sing so in that regard its a very egalitarian band, which probably goes back to your previous point about variance in that the songs are not all coming from one writer, nor are they sung by one person, they are writen by all and sung by all. Usually one of us will come up with an idea, like a lyric or a tune, and the rest of the band will add to it.
How many releases does the band have? for those who don't know that is..Shame on them :)
2 records out so far, Universal Blues, was our first indie record, and De Nova, which was recorded with Capitol Records, is our most recent release. And then if you count singles, we have 'thank you' also, which is off De Nova. many more record and singles to come we hope.
Where can your music be purchased ?
Well the record is looked after by Parlaphone in the UK so Tower, HMV, Virgin, pretty much anywhere, .. online!
Do 'Redwall have a website?
sure, www.theredwalls.com
there's some cool stuff on there, the updates are daily and we throw as much footage up as we can for those who are interested.
What are your future plans?
not being unemployed. The near future is pretty jam packed, we're gonna be touring 'De Nova' all over, hoping to make it back to england pretty soon and staying for a little longer, possibly a residency somewhere in london, who knows, we also have plans for australia and japan. We're looking forward to releasing a couple more singles and maybe a few more video's too.
Have u seen our site ? thoughts ?
yeah, briefly, its pretty retro, looks like the homepage for that game 'space invaders' on the atari. Your 8-track is pretty cool, obviously we're Oasis fans, they've been great to us, and the La's music we were introduced to whilst over there.
Describe The Redwalls in three words...
distinct, tight, energetic , well thats good enough for sohostrut