Yup, those bonkers Pop rockers REDD KROSS are in festive mood as they sleigh - arf! - Boston's teen Rock chicks! RAY ZELL is dreaming of a white Kissmas!

BOSTON MA. My party (time-freezer Harries, press bod Paddy et moi) went to the 'Cheers' bar. Nobody knew our names. We went to Newbury Comics (a comic/record store - so there is a heaven!) for a Redd Kross personal appearance and acoustic set, And everybody knew their bleedin' names!

There's the brothers McDonald (Jeffrey and Steven, vocals/guitar and bass respectively) along with Edward Kurdziel (guitar), Brian Reitzell (drums) and Miss Gerry Fennelly (keyboards), in case yer not hip to the sussed but dippy Pop pushers.

Mmm, but what musical highs the LA quintet deal in. Too high for the Atlantic label, who got dizzy and had to drop them after being at a loss as to how to exploit the delights swimming in the grooves of RK's 'Third Eye' opus. Thus, and to the band's satisfaction, the 'Phase Shifter' album (with master-plan 'don't buy me' battered books cover!) was released in Britain earlier this year on the This Way Up label. If it was a lollipop, you'd lick it to death,

A suitable stockin' filler? You kiddin'? Santa wouldn't part with it!

DURIN' THEIR three-day stay in Boston as tour support to The Lemonheads, Redd Kross played two shows at the Avalon Club the second night with a Queen tribute band playing next door!

On the third day, which was the Thanksgiving national holiday nightmare (ie, there was no one workin' in our hotel to serve breakfast!), the band graciously accepted the invitation of local fans Misty and Heather to visit them for the customary turkey pig-out. Unfortunately... they got me, Harries and Paddy too!

But it was durin' the second afternoon (am I phaseshiftin' here or what?) at our hotel bar that I cornered Steven 'n' Jeffrey (who don't drink) and Edward (who does... a bit) for the ol' K! 'woss happenin' probe...

"We're six shows in," announces Jeffrey, he of the distinctive black bob barnet, "and it's been really fun, because the average age of the audience has been 14. It's been like a Beatles concert. We shake our hips or put our arms in the air these girls just scream, and sometimes they're louder than the amplifiers."

"We're used to playing to more our own peer group," adds younger bruv Steven, his moon face spillin' lank hair to his arse, "but we've just discovered on this tour that we actually prefer playing to young people best."
"And it's just strange playing to a crowd which is like threequarters female," returns Jeffrey. "I mean, the girls just have so much more energy than the guys.,,
"A different energy," giggles Steven.

IT'S HARD to gauge exactly where Redd Kross are at in terms of 'success' - is it more a culty Ramones-type thing?

Jeffrey: "Yeah, to an extent we've always had this, um, very intense cult following. But The Ramones have always had visible records - until now we've never had a stable home to release ours (Redd Kross have obscurities a-gogo!). That's why now a lot more people are discovering us. So hopefully, we're expanding on our cult status.

"Our whole intention for the next year is to support bands with audiences who have never really heard of us. They might have heard our name, and Steven and I have been in a coup I le of movies, and they might have seen us on TV, but to an extent they're very unfamiliar with our music."

Do you ever worry that fame might siphon your cool?

"I saw Nirvana being interviewed on TV," responds Jeffrey, "and they were talking about how concerned they were about losing their original core of fans to their success. But I think that's bullshit in a way, because if they haven't compromised their music - which I don't believe they have - then if their fans were so cool in the first place, they would stick with them."

Yet Steven somewhat contradicts: "I remember being nine years old and the only kid in the third grade who knew who Kiss were. They were my own thing. My property.

"And then, a few years later with, like, 'Christine Sixteen' and 'I Was Made For Loving You', which I considered to be sub-standard, all of a sudden my classmates - who had alienated me for liking this kind of music - were embracing it. And it did make me feel, well... I did blame the band for it."

"Yeah," frowns Jeffrey, "but Steven, when you use Kiss as an example, that's very poor, because their music started selling when they compromised their musical integrity."

Steven just shuffles mildly and stares into space.

THE KISS conversation does cough up one revelation...
Steven: "Our old guitar player Robert (Hecker) does an amazing Paul Stanley impersonation."
Jeffrey: "If Paul Stanley ever lost his voice, Robert could hide behind an amplifier and sing for him and no one would ever know the difference."

Steve: "There's a little bridge part in the song "1976' on the 'Third Eye' album that Robert sings and it sounds exactly like Paul Stanley."

Jeffrey: "Everybody asks us how we got Paul Stanley to sing on our recordl"

Steven: "We even thanked Paul Stanley on the record because we wanted people to believe it was Paul Stanley. We even wanted Paul Stanley to believe it was Paul Stanleyl"

I note how how much more enthusiastic they are when talkin' about their 'heroes' as opposed to their own band. They positively beam.

"Being a fan - that's the bottom line," states Steven. "When I'm at a concert, I'm up the front! I have, the record! I f**kin' sing along. It moves me. And if I didn't feel that, I couldn't really imagine playing music."
Jeffrey: "It's a thrill when you can still get that feeling from watching somebody else, and it's twice as exciting to know that, oh, I get to do that next week."

WOULD YOU like to produce Kiss and Cheap Trick?

"Cheap Trick?" considers Steven, as you hear his imagination kick into gear. "I'd make them listen to their first album for a week straight. And we'd only set up about three weeks' recording time..."

"And," interjects an equally inspired Jeffrey, "we'd make them write all their own songs."

"Actually," pipes up guitarist Ed, "it is what they're doing. I sent them a song, and didn't hear anything. I called their manager and he said, 'I'm not lofting them hear it, because I want them to write their own songs on their next record'!

"It was kind of a bummer for me, having worshipped them from the beginning, but then I thought, in actuality, that it was really cool," he smiles.

How would you approach Kiss?

"Spank them," hisses Steven, a wicked curl in his smile.

Jeffrey is... more technical: "We'd write all their songs for them. And we'd only give ourselves a week to write the entire album. Michael Bolton and Desmond Child would be banned from the studio (everyone is laughs!). Not that it's anything personal, just we figure they'd be a bad influence on the band.

"We won't allow Bruce Kulick to use a wang-bar. If Ace doesn't need one, neither does Bruce. And if they're reading this - and I'm sure Gene is - yes, we will produce your next record."

"If they really want some street-cred," adds Steven, wicked smile spreading, "they'll listen to us..."

And you can listen to Redd Kross when they (hopefully) return to these shores in in late January. Happy holidays!

XMAS CHART
1 I SAW MOMMY KISSIN' SANTA CLAUS - The Ronettes
2 MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY - Slade
3 THE CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS ALBUM
4 CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE AGAIN (1965 SPECIAL FAN CLUB MESSAGE) - The Beatles
5 SUPER SUNNY CHRISTMAS - Redd Kross

By: Ray Zell