Red Monroe Preview

Red Monroe
Schubas, Chicago
Thursday, January 4, 2007

Red Monroe, apparently, think the less you know about them, the better.

Hoping for more detailed information about the Dallas band than the “publicity materials” — a piece of paper with the date, time, and lineup of Monroe’s Schubas show plus brief blurbs from three reviews — that accompanied their self-titled full-length, we headed to the next logical place: their Web site. Not much help there, either, unless you consider this to be a helpful band bio: “Matt Moffitt, Neal Wadley, Jeff Gilroy, Eric Steele, and Andrew Snow form the proto-punk, art rock band that is Red Monroe. They are very nice boys and say ‘please’ and ‘thank you.'” The Red Monroe MySpace page proves even less resourceful, though one of the band’s online friends does admit dancing her “assssss offfffff” at a show.

Dig around, Google the band’s name, and you’ll find the regular write-up stuff — Snow, Steele, and Wadley formed the band while attending the University of Oklahoma, toured with groups like Be Your Own Pet and The Gourds, though it didn’t make the final cut, Red Monroe was on the Best Alternative Album long list for the 2007 Grammy Awards — but listening to the album is the best bet. The jagged guitars and jerky rhythms of Television’s post punk groundwork are the most obvious influences on tracks like “A Return To The Old Way Of Thinking” and “Fingertips,” but the band has enough originality, especially in frontman Eric Steele’s strained-but-never-screamed vocals, to avoid blatant imitation. Surprisingly, the band released this album on their own; we’re guessing that won’t be the case on their next effort.

Red Monroe share the bill with two Chicago bands, openers Avalanche Rescue Team and headliners Scale Model.

— Trevor Fisher

Click here to download Red Monroe’s “Carolina Cigarette.”

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly