Green on Red

Infobox musical artist
Name = Green on Red


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Origin = Tucson, Arizona
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Genre = Cowpunk Country rock
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Years_active = 1980s
Label = Enigma, Mercury
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URL = [http://www.greenonred.net/ greenonred.net]
Current_members = Dan Stuart Jack Waterson Chris Cacavas Chuck Prophet Jim Bogios
Past_members = Van Christian Alex MacNicol Keith Mitchell
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Green on Red were an American rock band, formed in the Tucson, Arizona punk scene, but based for most of its career in Los Angeles, California, where it was loosely associated with the Paisley Underground. Earlier records have the wide-screen psychedelic sound of first-wave desert rock, with occasional impulses toward pop mitigated by the limitations of shambolic vocalist Dan Stuart. Later records suggest a kind of broke-down American Rolling Stones with touches of Country rock and the "cow punk" scene in Los Angeles. Others have called them the bastard children of Neil Young.

History

The band began in 1979 as The Serfers, a four-piece made up of Stuart, Jack Waterson (bass), Van Christian (drums, later of Naked Prey) and Sean Nagore (organ), quickly replaced by Chris Cacavas. In the summer of 1980, the Serfers relocated to Los Angeles, where they changed their name to Green on Red (after the title of one of their songs) to avoid confusion with the local "surf punk" scene. Christian returned to Tucson and was replaced by Lydia Lunch sideman Alex MacNicol.

The band issued a self-released red vinyl EP, sometimes called "Two Bibles", though its first widely available record was an EP issued in 1982 by Dream Syndicate leader Steve Wynn on his own Down There label. Green on Red followed the Dream Syndicate onto Slash Records, which released the album "Gravity Talks" in the fall of 1983. San Francisco-based guitarist Chuck Prophet joined for the 1985 "Gas Food Lodging" (Enigma), after which MacNicol was replaced on drums by Keith Mitchell (later of Mazzy Star). In 2006 'Gas' was performed live in its entirety as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties-curated Don't Look Back series. Also in 1985, Stuart collaborated with Steve Wynn as "Danny and Dusty" on the album "The Lost Weekend" (A&M).

A major-label deal with Phonogram/Mercury followed, with the EP "No Free Lunch" and the album "The Killer Inside Me", produced by Jim Dickinson at Ardent Studios in Memphis. The band split up afterwards; Cacavas began recording albums under his own name. When Stuart returned to recording, with the 1989 "Here Comes the Snakes," it was essentially as a duo with Prophet, using hired backing. Three more albums were released before the pair called it quits, after the 1992 "Too Much Fun". Stuart essentially quit music afterwards; Prophet maintains a career as a solo artist and semi-celebrity sideman.

However, in September 2005, the band reformed in "golden era" line-up, Stuart, Cacavas, Prophet and Waterson, with Jim Bogios filling in for Alex McNicol (who died in the meantime) to play a one-off show as part of the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the Hotel Congress in Tucson. This was followed up by a show in London on 10 January 2006 (ostensibly to complete their aborted 1987 European tour), with more shows promised later in the year (and a second "Danny and Dusty" album came into production, followed by a Double-CD and DVD on Blue Rose Records).

Discography

*"Two Bibles" (EP, Green on Red, 1981)
*"Green on Red" (EP, Down There, 1982)
*"Gravity Talks" (Slash, 1983)
*"Gas Food Lodging" (Enigma, 1985)
*"No Free Lunch" (EP, Mercury, 1985)
*"The Killer Inside Me" (Mercury, 1987)
*"Here Come the Snakes" (Mercury, 1989)
*"This Time Around" (Mercury, 1989)
*"Scapegoats" (China, 1991)
*"The little Things in Life (China Records 1991)
*"Too Much Fun" (Off Beat, 1992)
*"Archives: What we were thinking (Normal Records, 1998)
*"Valley Fever - Live at the Rialto (Blue Rose Records - CD + DVD 2006)
*"BBC-Sessions (Maida Vale Records, 2007)

DANNY & DUSTY
*"The long Weekend (A&M Rec. – 395 075-1) CCD + LP 1985
*" Cast iron Soul (Blue Rose Rec. – BLUDP 0418) CD + DVD 2007
*" Here’s to you, Max Morlock (Blue Rose Rec. – BLUDP 0531) DCD + DVD 2007

External links

* [http://www.greenonred.net/ Green on Red official website]
* [http://www.highanddrymovie.com High and Dry: Where the Desert Meets Rock and Roll - documentary about the Tucson Music Scene feat. Dan Stuart and Green on Red]