Red Kate

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Red Kate is a no bullshit, class conscious punk rock and roll band from Kansas City, MO. For more than a decade the band has expressed its DIY ethic through multiple LP and 7” releases and by touring across the Midwest, going so far as to create a not-for-profit record label cooperative, Black Site, to help other bands produce vinyl records. With authoritarian narcissists, white supremacy and plain ol’ hate and prejudice again on the rise worldwide, Red Kate’s hard, fast and angry polemics on our current state of affairs are, as the “only band that ever mattered” once put it, a public service announcement…with guitars!

While Red Kate’s lyrical themes may be serious, the band has always believed a message is best received while having a good time. Singer/bassist L. Ron Drunkard and drummer Andrew Whelan lay down solid, danceable grooves and catchy hooks, while guitarists Shaun Hamontree on rhythm and Ben Summers on lead maintain that classic, fierce tube-driven tone that tips a cap to the beer-soaked barroom floors of 70s British Pub-Rock, Australian proto-punk and modern post-punk noise that has since taken root in Midwest dive bars and basements. Hard working both on and off the stage, the band’s locale has lent its perspective in sound, lyric, and ethic. Straight off the factory line, Red Kate hearkens back to a time when musicians played hard, stayed up late, and carried a union card.

With the late 2023 release of the band’s third LP, Exit Strategy, Red Kate fires an unapologetic sonic blast of musical truth into the disinformation-soaked wall of incessant noise that deafens and numbs us daily. While it's natural to wonder how we got to this sorrowful state, Exit Strategy asks the more relevant question, "How do we get out?"

While the album takes musical departures into post-punk and proto-industrial territories only hinted at in previous albums, it does so without sacrificing the band's well-established Cleveland-via-Sydney style of Midwestern punk rock and roll. Addressing issues as varied as standing up for your rights (“Shut It Down”), American exceptionalism (“Home of the Slave”), anti-intellectualism (“Don’t Think Too Much”), provincial conservatism (“Escape Room”), and technological dehumanization (“Lost Connection”), Exit Strategy holds a mirror up to our self-absorbed, narcissistic society, a society so easily manipulated and exploited through tribalism and fear that it makes one doubt that progress is actually possible (“No Solution”). Even the album’s seeming power pop love song, “She’s in Love”, proves instead to be a warning about an intractable relationship. When slowly degrading gridlock is all the future has in store, is embracing the madness the only way to maintain sanity (“Mind Control”)?

Complementing the theme of the record is Shaun Hamontree’s dramatic album art, an adaptation of a Vietnam-era photograph of a soldier being lifted into (or falling from?) a helicopter – a grim silhouette that aptly captures the uncertainty and anxiety of our postmodern condition. Pressed on translucent smoke gray vinyl, Exit Strategy is an exemplary work of art for the coming end times. Read more…

Red Kate released its debut LP, When the Troubles Come, in 2013 on Replay Records in Lawrence, KS. A mix of ‘70s political punk and sardonic “love” songs, the red vinyl pressing with hand-printed and letter-pressed cover art designed by Kansas muralist Dave Loewenstein put the band on the map. While recording the album, original lead guitarist, Scot Sperry, left the band and Desmond Poirier stepped into the role. Fan favorites, “Pink Sweater”, “Sooner or Later” and “Union Voice” still frequently make it into the band’s set and are sure to get asses shakin’ on the dance floor.

When the Troubles Come was quickly followed up with a 7” split EP with fellow KC punks The Bad Ideas in 2014. The “wall of fuzz” single “On My Mind”, which would appear on the next album, was sidled up next to a cover of the Naked Raygun classic, “New Dreams”, featuring original guitarist, Scot Sperry, on slide guitar.

In 2016, Red Kate released the critically acclaimed sophomore LP, unamerican activities, the first on its nascent cooperative label, Black Site. The album (and label) name, plus the “redacted” artwork theme by as-yet-to-be guitarist Shaun Hamontree, reflects how daring to question the authority of the social, economic or political hegemony can be considered unpatriotic and disloyal to God and country (and even the corporation). Kicking off with the defiant “You Don’t Speak for Me”, songs from the album ranging from the Pub Rock stylings of “Better” and Nick Lowe’s “Heart of the City” to the old-school hardcore of “I Want You” and “Waited” formed the mainstay of the touring set for years. “You Ought to Know” (about the police killing of Michael Brown) and “Take It Back” (inspired by the story of Mouseland) became the go-to closers to bring the house down.

A 2017 split 7” with Lawrence, KS punks, Stiff Middle Fingers, saw the band push new speed and rhythmic boundaries with the hardcore “Urban Church” and post-punk “Hole”. Later that year, original rhythm guitarist Brad Huhmann departed for greener pastures (seriously, he has goats) and Shaun Hamontree was lured out of musical retirement to take his place.

Shortly thereafter, in 2018, Red Kate issued its last release until now, an old-school 45 rpm ripper, on Kansas City label Too Much Rock. The seventh in the Singles Series paired “Iraqi Girl”, a grinding statement on American foreign policy, with a cover of TSOL’s “American Zone” – a frank indictment of how we treat those sent off to impose that policy. It’s as relevant today as it was in 1984.

After surviving the pandemic and yet another lineup change (Chris Kinsley stepping in for Desmond Poirier on lead guitar), Red Kate returned to the studio in late 2021 to finalize what had now become a years-long project, a new album. Recorded at the band’s mainstay studio, Weights and Measure Soundlab, engineer Duane Trower pulled together tracks recorded over several years, multiple guitar players and two studio locations into the band’s best, most adventurous outing to date - Exit Strategy.

Barring any further collapse of society (or uprising of AI chat bots), the band can be found bringing their message to The People across the Great Plains, and with a little luck (and a hell of a lot of work) maybe even the European continent.

Red Kate YouTube Channel

Press

Big Takeover #93
Ox Fanzine #172 (Germany)
Razorcake #138
Big Takeover #84
Ox Fanzine #139 (Germany)
ArtCore Fanzine #37 interview
The Partae interview
KansasCity.com Center of the City article featuring Red Kate
iheartlocalmusic.com Summer Kamp Fest article featuring Red Kate
Pitch article previewing 2014 Red Kate show

Releases on Black Site