Red C - Pressure's On demo (1981)

For those who don't know, I currently co-host the End On End podcast with Brian Gathy.  Our goal is to go through the entire Dischord Records catalog, record by record.

Brian started the podcast several months back and, with his original co-host, Aldred, released episodes covering the first several Dischord releases (Teen Idles, SOA, both Minor Threat 7"'s, Government Issue, Necros & Youth Brigade).  When Aldred left the podcast, Brian reached out to me - really because of my aborted attempt to blog my way through the Dischord catalog via THIS VERY BLOG a few years back (those posts still readily available - I think I did them in 2018).  Of course, I said "yes".

As of this writing, we have done two episodes for the 'Flex Your Head' comp, SSD ('Kids Will Have Their Say'), the Void/Faith split (one episode for each side), Iron Cross ('Skinhead Glory') and Scream ('Still Screaming').  We just recorded an episode last night covering the 2014 D.C. hardcore documentary 'Salad Days', which will feature an interview with director Scott Crawford.

In any case - you can check out the End On End podcast here - https://www.buzzsprout.com/893587 - and if you dig it - please subscribe & spread the word!  Thank you!

We already covered a bit of ground on Red C on the second Flex Your Head episode (the one covering Side Two)  - so please check that out if you get a chance.

But, since this blog is separate & apart from that podcast - I guess I should cover at least a LITTLE bit of ground.

Red C were from Washington, D.C. and were a part of the original, early Dischord scene that revolved around a bunch of hardcore kids from Georgetown who formed bands like the ones mentioned above, who would quickly break-up with their members re-configuring into new bands, who would also complete their mission, break-up, rinse, repeat.

Red C were Eric Lagdameo (vocals), Pete Murray (guitar), Toni Young (bass) and Tomas Squip (drums).  The story goes that Tomas, who recently moved to D.C. from Switzerland, was walking down M Street when he ran into a crew of D.C. punks who were being interviewed for an article about the punk scene for the Washington Post.  It was through that meeting that he was introduced to Eric Lagdameo.  Tomas was looking for a band, Eric was looking for a drummer, and Red C was formed with Toni Young and original guitarist Leo.  Leo left the band after only a couple of shows and was replaced by Pete Murray, who had been in The Stab with the future John Stabb of Government Issue.

Prior to Red C, Toni Young had been in the band Peer Pressure, who also featured David Byers (who went on to play with HR and Zion Train), Tom Berard and Danny Ingram (who went on to play in Youth Brigade, Madhouse, Strange Boutique, Emmapeel, Dot Dash, among others).  Toni is also notable for being the only female on the Flex Your Head comp and, in fact, the only woman to play on a Dischord release for quite some time (until the Fire Party album maybe? - get back to me on that).

Red C only played a few shows before breaking up, but during that time they recorded a demo at Hit & Run Studios in the summer of 1981, the four songs on the 'Flex Your Head' comp (recorded "around Christmastime" according to the FYH insert - I'm assuming at Inner Ear, but I'm not 100% sure), and there was a rumored second demo recorded in their basement, but that has never surfaced, and may have been in Toni's possession.

Peter Murray would go on to play in Artificial Peace, Marginal Man and Season to Risk.  Eric Lagdameo and Toni Young would join up to play in Dove (although Eric's next band will be the subject of the next blog post), and Tomas Squip would step out from behind the kit to front Beefeater and Fidelity Jones.  Toni, sadly, passed away from pneumonia in the mid-'80s.

In 2010, Tomas, now known as Onam Ben-Israel, gave a four-part interview which can be found on YouTube.  The first interview goes into some Red C history.

Unfortunately, there simply is not too much in the way of any recorded legacy.  The four tracks on the 'Flex Your Head' comp being the only officially released material.  I happen to think their songs are highlights of that comp, as they expanded beyond the most rudimentary hardcore displayed by many of those early bands, who were all-thrash all the time, to include some reggae influences and some slower and moodier sections.  The song "Pressure's On" might be my favorite on the entire compilation, and was later covered by quite a few bands, including Rocket From The Crypt, Citizen's Arrest, Ceremony and Plan of Attack.

You can check out the four Red C 'Flex Your Head' tracks on the Bandcamp page (credit also for providing some of this bio material):  https://redc.bandcamp.com/

Many of the early Dischord bands got the demo re-release treatment in the early 2010s, but Red C's 1981 demo - 'Pressure's On' - has never been officially released.  While that demo exists in my tape-trading cassette pile, this is a vinyl rip from a bootleg released on "DC Sound Records" in 2016 called 'XXX', which also included the Double-O demo - and - yes - that will be the subject of the next post.

Two of the songs that would later show up on 'Flex Your Head' - "Pressure's On" and "6 O'Clock News" - appear here, in a more primitive form, along with 13 other tracks.  Red C simply never got their due in my opinion, which is why I hope a few more people go back and give their brief legacy at least a bit of attention.

TRACK-LIST:

Authority
Scam Out
Lies
Dark Circles
Farewell
Pressure's On
Bullshit
Clockwork Orange
Ambivalence
6 O'Clock News
Boredom
You're Blind
Social Minority
Hostage
No Way

Jeff Kaplan 1 · Red C - Pressure's On demo