Introducing #128 - The Red Stains
Let us introduce you to The Red Stains, one of the fresh new faces in Manchester’s underground music scene. They have just released their debut track ‘Mannequin’ - a song about expressing feelings of objectification in a sarcastic tongue-in-cheek way. Having already made quiet the racket on the Northern live scene, The Red Stains have managed to attract the attention of Tim Burgess from The Charlatans - who called them ‘a band to listen to’ on Twitter. The band took a moment to talk to us about how it all started with their music.
So, your debut track ‘Mannequin’ is out now - how does it feel to have that first track released?
It’s quite cool, cause we’ve only just been a band for a year so it’s pretty exciting. At the same time, people have been asking us so often that it also feels kind of overdue.
Can you tell us what the track is about?
The song is about being a woman and feeling objectified. It’s about feeling inadequate and rejected and your second best. Mannequin is about being looked at and simply being judged on the grounds of what people see.
You are based in Manchester, where do you go for musical kicks? And are there any Manchester bands you think we should be checking out at the moment?
We go to The Peer Hat, the Castle and Gullivers and check out what’s playing there. The Northern Quarter is where we hang out. Other Manchester bands to check out are Corporation Pop, the Battery Farm and The Dirt.
How did the band start? Does the band’s name have any meaning?
The band started in Manchester last year over a few nights out. Nat and Sterling decided to start a band and then they met Ella at the Peer Hat and asked her if she’d want to join. Ben was added as drummer after the original drummer had moved away. He’d been a friend of Sterling, but she didn’t know that he played drums. The name sums us up really nicely. It’s subversive and suggestive and is meant to be shocking and funny at the same time. We don’t take ourselves too serious. We are the musical equivalent of the red stains on a white shirt just before you want to go out.
Who would you say are your key musical influences as a band?
Our main musical influences are Punk, Britpop, Reggae, Electronica all mixed together in a big musical soup.
If you could describe the band in five words, what would it be?
You can’t wash us out!
When someone listens to your debut track, what do you hope they take from it?
We hope that people will be able to recognise the warmth, anger and life in the song and how it contrasts to a cold plastic mannequin. Hopefully this will show anyone that we are anything but mannequins.
Now the track is out there, what next for The Red Stains?
We’ve got some nice festival bookings coming up, including Kendal Calling if it’s going ahead. Also, we want to record more material and we are writing new songs. Also, we finally want to get back to the pub and writing our names on the toilet walls again.