THE RED BULLETS
A biography
Consider the name: The Red Bullets. Just what were you expecting? Heavy metal? I don’t think so. Imagine, if you will, a sound reminiscent of Elton John fronting The Feeling and a band who owe as much to the fashionable melodrama of mid-70s era Steve Miller and Billy Joel as they do to… well, Supertramp! The band’s debut single East Of Easy (released on Bullet Records via Absolute in March 2012) is as close to a mission statement as you could get: “East of easy, south of simple, west of where I wanna be/We all know the north is way too cold/Meet me in the middle, meet me in the middle/We can have a little paradise of our very own.” Co-written by BMI Award winning songwriter and Ivor Novello/Brit Award nominee Jamie Hartman (whose previous cohorts include Joss Stone, Will Young and The Wanted amongst others) East Of Easy is parked so firmly on that familiar central reservation it’s possible to order burgers and fries as you pass by it. Indeed, as you fall hopelessly in love with its incessant charms you’d do well to remember one thing: not everyone wants to change the world. Some seek only to reflect it.
The Red Bullets comprise brothers Pete Edwards (piano, lead vocals) and Mark Edwards (drums, backing vocals) and they formed in Buckingham in 2007. Live and variously on record the band also include former Twang insider Stuart Hartland on guitar and lyricist John Bailey on bass. The latter, along with Pete, is responsible for much of the lyrical content on Drama In The Drawing Room, the band’s debut album due for release later this year, and the writing relationship that Pete and John share is as fluid and engaging as anything this decade will produce. Correspondingly, Drama In The Drawing Room is a revelation: fresh and uncontrived, it has that instant classic feel like something you’ve had knocking around the house for years. It’s the sound of someone hitting the ground running.
Drama In The Drawing Room tackles universal themes yet conjures up some serene sub plots: Walking Solo could just as easily be about the death of a band’s line-up as it could be about the death of a relationship; Mice Go Dancing (inspired by a friend’s misrepresentation of the phrase “when the cat’s away the mice will play”) and Black Dog are about depression and fighting depression respectively; and Open Your Eyes, which is reminiscent of The Knack, was partly inspired by a camping trip to Devon (“We fed our radios to the sugar cows/Tide’s gonna cut me off from Summer Town”). Best of all, though, is Never Alabama. Interestingly, in 1975 the humourist Alan Coren undertook some elementary research and learnt that the best-selling books just happened to be about cats, golf and Hitler. He promptly called his next book Golfing For Cats and placed a swastika on its cover. In not dissimilar fashion, Pete and John came up with the lyrics to Never Alabama after examining a word block published in the Times. The block highlighted the words most used in No.1 pop songs in the previous year and the verses and chorus to Never Alabama are the result of this process. To confirm: yes the song features the line “A love like this can’t fade away” and yes, the results are sublime.
A brief history lesson; born in Aylesbury in 1982 Pete Edwards is a classically trained pianist who started writing and recording when he was 16. Mark, his younger brother, is a drumming prodigy whose simple, effective technique belies his erstwhile existence as a drum tutor. Together, the pair’s live experiences include a British Grand Prix gig in front of 8000 people, three shows a day during a two week period at the Dubai Tennis Championships and an ill-advised foray into enemy territory when they accidentally appeared in Bristol in front of a metal crowd who were expecting Pantera. Yes, it’s that name again. The pair also admit to having the occasional, heated argument though judging by the following exchange (on the subject of album track Ragged Shoes) we need to ask: should we be scared?
Pete: “It’s about going down to London with, erm, all the optimism and,” pause, “sort of, do you know what I’m trying to say here?”
Mark: “Gusto?”
Pete: “Well, that doesn’t help at all.”
Some interesting footnotes: Drama In The Drawing Room was produced by Gavin Monaghan and Chris Porter, recorded at Rockfield, Vale Studios and Magic Garden Studios and mixed at Porterhouse and Magic Garden Studios. The band’s debut single, East Of Easy features George Michael’s guitarist, Graham Kearns and strings arranged by composer Nigel Hopkins whilst the strings and brass on Walking Solo, Time of Your Life and Mice Go Dancing were provided by Louis Robinson and the Destroyers.
“East of easy, south of simple, west of where I wanna be”.
The Red Bullets release Drama In The Drawing Room on Bullet Records via Absolute on 7th May 2012. Now it all makes sense.
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