Red Cortez at Origami Vinyl on Thursday March 3rd, 2011
Some bands are not afraid to reinvent the epic, the anthem as a song, with the whole machinery, the soaring chorus, the hymn-like melody, the long guitar battles, and this is just the case for Red Cortez, who doesn’t hesitate to try the heroic and the gigantic, with songs like ‘We will start a war’ or ‘Edit Yourself’ among others.
There is so much passion and intensity in their performance, even when they perform in a relatively small place as they were on Thursday night, then not afraid to transform the narrow Origami space into a large arena with violent whipping beats and powerful rebellion songs which seemed to indefinitely search for the next sound eruption. Each tune seems to be hungry for more, each song seems to come really alive, like leaving a trail of steam and dust in the air,… and some parts of their performance made me think a little bit about Titus Andronicus, but I know that Iman is going to jump at me on that one for blasphemy,.. but I’ve just said ‘some parts’.
Whatever, the LA quartet has a real ability for composing fervent blues-rock hymns, with some elements of gospel at times, often delivered in the urgency, in a readiness for a revolt or for a big jump, and the fact they were playing at the edge of the ramp-free mezzanine was in fact very fitting.
They were releasing an EP ‘Virgin Ideas’, available at Origami, before the upcoming release of their debut album, which will apparently have that same title.
Vocalist, guitarist Harley Prechtel-Cortez, bassist Ryan Kirkpatrick, drummer Diego Guerrero and guitarist Sho Bagley, formed their first band, The Weather Underground, in 2004, but they decided to change their moniker into Red Cortez when Bagley was replaced by Calvin J. Love. And by the way, they are still giving away these free EPs on their website: http://www.redcortez.com/
