455. Darren Hill - The Red Rockers

Darren Hill returns to the show to talk about the new live Red Rockers album, recorded at Tipitina's in the band's hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana, in 2023.

The Red Rockers were a New Orleans punk/new wave band formed in 1979 by John Thomas Griffith, James Singletary, and Darren Hill, who took their name from a song by California punk band The Dils. Early on they earned the nickname "America's Clash" for their politically charged debut Condition Red (1981), and even opened for The Clash on a Louisiana/Texas tour in 1982. Signing with San Francisco's 415 Records, they relocated and overhauled their sound, scoring their biggest hit with the new wave single "China" in 1983, which reached #19 on the Mainstream Rock chart and received heavy MTV rotation. Internal tensions over their commercial shift led to lineup changes and a third album, Schizophrenic Circus (1984), before they disbanded in 1985. The band reunited in 2023, with founding members reissuing Condition Red to a new generation of listeners.

Music clips by The Charms, The Dogmatics, Blame It On Whitman, Black Helicopter, and The Red Rockers..

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