Red Riders

Red Riders may be able to spell ‘ Aspirin’ but the question is, can they spell ‘ Disappointing’?

Hitting Jive bar with support acts Adelaide locals ‘Fire! Santa Rosa Fire’ and Melbourne newbie’s ‘Dance with Voices’, The Red Riders put on a show this reviewer wouldn’t recommend in a hurry.

Adelaide’s own Fire! Santa Rosa Fire! Warned up the crowd that had poured into the generally sedate ‘ Jive Bar.’

Being no strangers to the thriving Adelaide local music scene, the Fire! Boys played an enthusiastic set. Even acquiring a small, but impressive group of underage, teenybopper fans.
Enthusiasm aside, it was clear it was going to be an interesting night, like most others, plagued with technical difficulties!

Firstly lead vocalist and guitarist David bust a string, but being to stranger to bloopers, tried his hardest to carry on with the show whilst fellow fire! Member Andrew continued to have technical difficulties with his amp lead.

Then it was time for ‘ Dance with Voices’ to hit the stage. These Melbournian rockers left the crowd feeling confused. Live, their set consisted of grungy-trippy rock beats, inspiring the crowd to buy their $5 bargain EP, but once reflecting on this, it turns out the EP is completely different. Proving Dance with voices are not only a good live show, but musical chameleons, playing grungy rock live, and trippy techno when recorded, with the EP sounding more like the soundtrack for Madonna’s newest aerobics’ inspired excuse for a music video- instead of that something special they offer live.

After an hour or so of flittering around, being mildly distracted by the support bands, and eventually just annoyed at the technical difficulties – I mean, don’t these gigs have sound checks??, It was time for the Red Riders to grace us with their presence. The first thing to be noticed is lead vocalist Alexander Grigg’s love of the grandma cardie. Fast becoming the biggest fashion statement on the music scene since skinny leg jeans, the grandma cardie is fast becoming an epidemic from which most rockers should be immunised against.

Fashion tragedies aside, The Red Riders had a small army of fans who were happy to down the jager shots whilst swaying to the beats the guys poured out of the small venue. But after having wrestled for a spot close to the stage in the usually empty venue, and then being bashed in the head and stepped on numerous times, I was left wondering ‘ is this is?’. Granted their feature tunes ‘ Aspirin’ and ‘ my love is stronger’ are catchy, with guitar riffs guaranteed to get stuck in your head, but the rest of the hour long show, left me feeling deflated(and sore) rather than on that much anticipated high that comes after seeing a killer gig.

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