"THIS ALBUM WILL definitely go Platinum. Platinum is in this year."

Redd Kross bassist Steven McDonald has always been known for his keen fashion sense, so hopefully it won't fail him where Show World (Mercury), the band's first album in almost four years, is concerned. Steven and his brother Jeff have certainly paid their dues to the fraternity of indie pop. They've been rock's grooviest siblings since 1978, when, in their early teens, they founded Redd Kross. One year later, they released their first in an endless succession of singles, EP's and albums.

Steven and Jeff, along with lead guitarist Eddie Kurdziel and drummer Brian Reitzell, worship at the alter of Sixties rock icons like the Stooges and, of course the Beatles. Their true obsession, however, is the great rock bands of the Seventies: Queen, Cheap Trick, the Runaways, Rush, Aerosmith - and Kiss.

But while they're labelmates of Gene, Paul and company, the members of Redd Kross shy away from the idea of securing an opening slot on the blockbuster Kiss reunion tour. "We realized that it would do nothing for our career to open for Kiss," says Jeff. "I mean, could you imagine? People would just want you to get off stage because they want to see Kiss."

"They want to see the fire and the blood! I want to see the fire and the blood," Steven adds.

While Redd Kross' pop-lovin' sound certainly packs a vicious alterna-crunch wallop, it is deeply rooted in the rock and roll past they hold in such high esteem. Show World's standout track, the swaggering "Follow The Leader," complete with a frenzied fuzz-bass solo, sounds like the aftermath of the Stooges plowing their tour bus into the Beatles' Let It Be sessions. Show World's retro-tones were not, however, the result of some freak accident, but of Jeff's extensive collection of vintage gear. "I have tons of good and horrible stuff," he says. "Sovteks, Marshalls, Fender Twins. We brought the entire arsenal. My new secret weapon was an Acoustic combo that I got for $30 at a garage sale. You know the look and smell of something that's been left in a garage for 20 years? That's how this amp sounds."

And assuming that the tireless brothers McDonald continue to fly the Redd Kross flag for another 20, 30 or even 40 years, what would they like inscribed on their tombstones when they've gone to the big arena-rock show in the sky?

"Oh, that's an easy one," Steven replies. "'Hey Jeff, you got an extra pick?'"

By: Tom Beaujour