With a musical history that spans two decades and seven records, the McDonald brothers have some explaining to do. From their 1980 EP, "Annette's Got the Hits" to their brand new full length on Mercury Records, Show World, Jeff (vocals/guitar) and Steve (vocals/bass) McDonald have created some of the best power pop/punk available. They've toured the world several times over, yet the foursome (currently solidified by drummer Brian Reitzell and guitarist Eddie Kurdziel) from So Cal has yet to break away from the "Best Kept Secret" monicre.
At their recent record release party at Aron's Records in Hollywood, attendees included Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots), and Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth). These and others considered as today's most adored musical heros and heroines name Redd Kross as their source of cutting-edge inspiration.
However, while the band's history makes it seem like nothing short of a phenomenon, Redd Kross remains trapped at cult status. Perhaps the fickle music poulace owes an explanation to the group. Nevertheless, the McDonald brothers continue to attack life both in and out of music with fiery creativity and an eerie ability to finish each other's thoughts on a plethora of pop topics.
Q: You're known for your loyal cult following. Does that bother you?
Steven: A cult following is not necessarily a bad thing. "Cult" doesn't always mean ""small."
Jeff: KISS had a cult following, and yet, they're selling out four nights at 18,000 arenas all over the country. Cult means 'dedicated'.
Steven: It means unaffected by trends.
Jeff: I think, to an extent, if we didn't have this cult success we wouldn't be able to make records anymore. I'd like to dabble it in with a little mainstream success, although we would never intentionally cater to manstream tastes. I don't watch MTV , and I don't listen to the radio, so I don't even know what's popular.
Q: What were your early influences in music?
Steven: Our dad mostly listened to Gordon Lightfoot when we were kids.
Jeff: This will help you have good taste in music: listen to the opposite of what your parents like.
Q. You must have had some other sources.
Jeff: We were lucky enough to discover weird underground fanzines and had neighbor kids who were more progressive in their musical tastes.
Steven: And RODNEY!
Jeff: Yes, Rodney (KROQ DJ) has been on the air since 1976. We've learned a lot about music from listening to his show. He played '60s underground Pebbles music, current punk rock, British punk rock, British new wave, American new wave, Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, Annette Funacello---everything was tossed in the mix.
Q: What do you have to say to critics and music enthusiasts who revel in the band's past?
Jeff: When Ringo Starr was making the Stop and Smell the Roses album, he was more concerned with making current history than Beatles mania.
Steven: We've had some history-making periods in our lives, but now we're only concerned with continusing to make our own history.
Q: You also have a brief history in film, including appearances in Spirit of '76 and Grace of My Heart. How did you get involved in that?
Jeff: Our agent set those up.
Steven: Most of that stuff comes from the casting couch.
Jeff: Yeah, the punk rock casting couch!
Q: You've dealt a lot with the press over the years. Got any complaints?
Jeff: I love it when we do interviews over the telephone from the road. You'll wake up at 9 a.m. and have to be on the road by 10 a.m. You're really tired, talking to the Eastland Tribune or something, and you'll say something brilliant and funny, and the reporter will say, 'Oh, wait! Could you say that again?' Meanwhile you can hear their pencil frantically writing on a notepad. I heard that Prince would only do interviews with people if they wrote it down. He wouldn't let people use a tape recorder.
Steven: He was freaked out about being misquoted, and he wanted to see the actual quote on paper before the reporter left.
Jeff: Prince was very hip to audio technology and so he knew if he put his voice on tape, they could splice together anything. It was a very self obssessed type of paranoia.
Steven: They could splice together any quote they wanted, like 'I've been having sex with my parents for years.'
Q: Is it true, Jeff, that you are wed to Charlotte Caffey of Go Go's fame?
Jeff: Yes. I've been married for a couple of years. Charlotte and I have a baby named Astrid. A lot of people don't know that we have this child. Astrid's obsessed with the 5,6,7,8's. They're this Japanese durge, rockabilly, punk band.
Q: Do you enjoy fatherhood?
Jeff: Yeah, especially now that my daughter has good taste in music! (laughs)
Q: Once again you have to juggle home life with the demands of being on tour. Do you have any initial comments on the tour? (They are currently opening for the Presidents of the United States of America).
Jeff: Just remember: it's two 'd's' and a 'k,' and where we are playing will be in your local paper. Hopefully we'll be doing more all-ages shows.
Q: Anything else?
Jeff: Come to our performances, enjoy our music, and be a part of it. Join us.