Street Voice UK

Red London grabbed me from the moment I heard them. Their great tunes and street wise lyrics was a breath of fresh air from most of the other punk bands at the time who either couldn’t play or wanted to play faster than Napalm Death. In 2020 they have a new line-up and a new album is coming out very soon so it was time for a catch up! The interview has been answered by Gaz Stoker the bassist of the band and an all round top fella.

Street Voice UK: First off can you tell us who’s in the reformed Red London line up please?

Gaz Stoker: The original singer, Patty Smith is in the new line up. Gaz Stoker (original bass player) is also in, along with drummer John Forster who is the brother of Matty Forster who spent 14 years as the drummer with the band. John actually played a European tour with the band years ago when Matty couldn’t make it. John was only 18 years old at the time. We’ve just added two new guitarists. Danny from a Sunderland band called Symbient and Marty Jackson.

Street Voice UK: How come Kid wasn’t keen on playing in Red London again?

Gaz Stoker: We asked him but he says he’s retired from the music scene. He’s been settled down for a number of years and didn’t want to get involved.

Street Voice UK: It’s been years since you last played. Why reform now?

Gaz Stoker: I’d always missed Red London and the time seemed right. It actually came about through Attila the Stockbroker. He’d been offered a gig in a small pub in Sunderland called the Museum Vaults which used to be Dickie Hammonds local. I’d been texting Attila about it to try to help them get it sorted and I mentioned that it would on a Sunday afternoon and go through until around 7 pm and they would put a few support bands on. He replied and said it would make his year if Red London would do it as one of the bands. This got me thinking and I asked Patty and John if they would be up for it? We asked two guitarists we knew (let’s call them Snowflake 1 and Snowflake 2) and we learnt 8 songs to do what was meant to be a one off gig with our old mate Attila. Anyway, we enjoyed rehearsing so much and enjoyed the gig so much we thought why not get back together? So we did, and ended up doing quite a few gigs including Rebellion two years running, a European tour that included a gig at the ‘Punk n Disorderly’ festival in Berlin and we recorded the ‘Kings of the Streets’ E.P. on Mad Butcher Records. So it really got the ball rolling for us again.

Street Voice UK: You have a new album coming out soon. Can you tell our readers a bit more about it?

Gaz Stoker: We had to get two new guitarists in as Snowflake 1 and then sometime later Snowflake 2 had melted by this time as they couldn’t handle being in a punk band and had melted away in a very short time as snowflakes do. We asked our old mates Mick Jones and Dave Jones (who play in Red Alert and their own band Loudmouth) if they would step in. They couldn’t join the band due to their other commitments, but they offered to help out and record the new album with us. We were happy for them to do this as they are both great guitarists and the album is sounding awesome.

I’d like to say a big thanks to Mick and Dave for a great job playing on the new album. We’ve just started rehearsing with Danny and Marty who have joined full time and will be doing the European tour later this year and all future gigs.

Street Voice Uk: Patty said today this album isn’t for snowflakes so what can we expect from the album?

Gaz Stoker: When Patty made that comment it was a little dig at Snowflake 1 and Snowflake 2. They have now become a bit of an ‘in’ joke with us. We felt badly let down by them, and Snowflake 1 especially as we now realise that he used Red London to further his own band.

S2 was great for us and played some great gigs with us after S1 had melted so quickly but then he started listening to S1 and actually started blanking us and not responding to our messages and texts which we found really strange. He never actually told us he wanted to leave the band, he just decided to ignore us! How strange is that? If he’d just told us he couldn’t handle it, then we would of understood and parted on much better terms. It’s sad because he’s a really good lad.

Street Voice UK: Is this just going to be released through Mad Butcher? Any plans for a UK label to take it on board?

Gaz Stoker: Mad Butcher Records are paying for the recording of the new album so it’s up to them but we’re hoping he can sort out some distribution in the UK to make it easier to get over here.

Street Voice UK: Red London have some European dates lined up for the album so where you playing?

Gaz Stoker: The tour is still being put together by MAD tour booking for July 2020 so the only gigs we know so far is the ‘Back to Future’ festival and a venue called ‘Don’t Panic’ in Essen which we played last year and it’s a great place to play. Last year the tour dates included Germany, Switzerland and Austria so we’re hoping this year’s tour will be similar.

Street Voice UK: Are there going to be any UK dates lined up to promote the album?

Gaz Stoker: Once the album is finished, we’ll definitely be looking at booking some UK gigs so anyone wanting to book us for a gig just get in touch and we’ll try to make it happen. We can be contacted through the ‘Red London punk band’ page on Facebook.

Street Voice UK: With Brexit all done what future do you lads see for the UK?

Gaz Stoker: It’s too hard to predict. I actually voted to remain. The future looks very uncertain.

Street Voice UK: UK society is certainly swinging too far to the right and with it the punk scene so any message for dickheads who should actually know better?

Gaz Stoker: There’s no place for fascists in ANY society. They can FUCK OFF!

Street Voice UK: So you lads still into drinking and partying? Who’s the party animal of the band?

Gaz Stoker: Patty doesn’t really drink, but I like a drink or two (which some of you might have noticed haha) and my partner in drink is our drummer ‘Gentleman’ John Forster aka ‘Slippery Jack’ who can drink more than anybody I know.

Street Voice UK: Aside from the album what plans have you guys got for Red London?

Gaz Stoker: We’re hoping to tour as much as we can, play UK gigs and play some festivals.

Street Voice UK: Anything you’d like to add?

Gaz Stoker: Thanks for the interview. The new album is called ‘Symphony for the Skins’ and I’ll send you a copy to review when it’s ready. I hope you and everyone else likes it.

Thanks to Gaz for doing the interview. I am really looking forward to this new album so wish the lads well with that. If you want to check out out Red London please visit their page HERE.