A brief history of REDD KROSS would be a lie. A decade and a half of independent releases, side projects, films, tours, and dessert toppings add up to more than we want to tell you, but you need to know this.

Most bands start in a mid-adolescent hormone rush, fueled by a favorite group and a beat-up guitar. REDD KROSS' beginnings were somewhat earlier, before teen angst, before their contemporaries had outgrown recess and cartoons.

In the Los Angeles suburb of Hawthorne, CA (home of the Beach Boys,) the notoriously precocious McDonald Brothers submerged themselves in rock music. David Bowie, Kim Fowley and the Runaways, Land of the Lost, The Partridge Family, Kiss, the Beatles, Captain Crunch and Golden Records inspired Jeff to pick up the guitar at 13 and Steven the bass at 9. Visits to the Roxy and the Whiskey fueled the urge to form a band, although how they got into clubs while still in elementary school is a good question.

By the end of 1978 they were RED CROSS, with future CIRCLE JERKS/ BAD RELIGION member Greg Hetson and future BLACK FLAG vocalist Ron Reyes on guitar and drums respectively. Their first gig was opening for BLACK FLAG, and they quickly caught the eye of Rodney Bingenheimer who supported them on KROQ and would-be-punk-rock impresario Robbie "Posh Boy" Fields, who released the much re-issued RED CROSS EP.

Their next vinyl, the 1981 debut album Born Innocent (originally issued on Smoke 7, currently in print on Frontier), captures the trash rock chaos of kids who lionized the Partridge Family and the Runaways in equal measure. Luminaries like Thruston Moore, Roddy Bottom and Mark Arm have acknowledged the influence of this primal masterpiece, and it still sounds generations ahead of its time. A lawsuit from the real RED CROSS, a glance at REDD FOXX in Sanford and Son, and REDD KROSS changed their name and took off their training wheels.

Steven graduated from junior high while REDD KROSS were recording Teen Babes from Monsanto, their epic tribute to Bowie's Pinups. Classics from The Stooges, Kiss, the Rolling Stones, and the Shangri-La's were familiar enough (though suffused with REDD KROSS magic), but Linda Blair turned a few heads, as it was re-recording of a classic REDD KROSS tune. They toured the United States in a station wagon, solidifying their college-radio following the garnering fantastic reviews.

Tighter and more committed than ever they recorded Neurotica with Tommy Erdyeli (ne Ramone). Hailed in retrospect as the first Seattle album, it featured KROSS classics like 'Ghandi's Dead (I'm The Cartoon Man)', 'Ballad of Tatum O'Tot and the Fried Vegetables', and the title track (Take me to your couch babe/ Recite some Sigmund Freud). Neurotica was their first album to receive major label distribution and proved that Teen Babes was no fluke -- having outgrown punk's bad-on-purpose aesthetic, REDD KROSS was primed to re-make rock in their won image and they had the imagination (and the lunchbox collection) to pull it off. Seasoned at (average) age 22, they were ready.

As their next salvo in the popular culture was against reality, the band kicked off their movie career, co-writing and starring in Dave Markey's (The Year Punk Broke) Desperate Teenage Lovedolls. The no-budget film inspired a cult following and a 1987 follow-up, Lovedoll Superstar, once again starring the McDonald Brothers. Their on-screen charisma lead them to be cast in Spirit of 76, in which they co-starred with David Cassidy and Olivia D'Abo, bicentennial memorabilia and a raft of junk food.

Following an ambitious touring schedule, REDD KROSS recorded Third Eye for Atlantic Records. They topped various college charts, toured supporting Sonic Youth and the GO GO's, and shot their first video, 'Annie's Gone', which featured a cameo appearance by Ann Magnuson. They toured England and Australia with Teenage Fanclub, where several years earlier the world's first REDD KROSS tribute band, KING's CROSS had emerged. Various singles and EPs kept their cult growing internationally.

The latest chapter in the REDD KROSS fable starts with Phaseshifter, self-produced and featuring keyboardist Gere Fennelly, drummer Brian Reitzell, and guitarist Eddie Kurdziel. Phaseshifter will be the first release on the new label 'This Way Up', headed by Andrew Lauder. Already a generation ahead of their contemporaries, REDD KROSS always stay true to punk and bubble gum, Frightwig and Black Oak Arkansas, mood rings, Anarchy, and public access television.