INTERVIEW WITH STEVE
RED ALERT October 2003
(QUESTIONS ASKED BY JOCKE FROM SKRAMMELBULJONG/ROCKMIX)

1.What was the reason you started Red Alert?

Around the late 70’s there were many people starting punk bands up all over in the UK, influenced by the bands they were listening to (Clash, Pistols, etc.) and our hometown, Sunderland was no different.
Our guitarist, Tony Van Frater, was playing guitar from a very young age so it was obvious he would one day start a band up.
In early ’79 when he was forming Red Alert, I was trying to form my own band, Cheapskates, and luckily he saved me from that and I joined up with him and Red Alert was born.
It was basically our love of punk rock, which made us start the band.

2.The band was formed in 1979,was it easy to find somewhere to rehearse at this time?

No, far from it.
There was one proper rehearsal place in the centre of town, but there were so many bands around here at that time that it was difficult to get in there.
You really wouldn’t believe some of the places that we had to rehearse, from convents, orphanages, school classrooms, even in houses.
On top of that we had no transport so we had many different ways to get our equipment there, from hand pushed carts to carrying it all on public buses if they allowed us.
Things are different now but a lot of the rehearsal rooms are really expensive.
At this time we actually rehearse in the cellar of our local pub, the Howard Arms.
That’s not such a bad thing though as we have a good drink at the same time.
Not so good for the people upstairs in the bar though, having to listen to us bashing away down in the cellar!!

3.What’s the idea behind the band’s name?

Simple, it’s just named after a song by the Rebels, Sunderland’s first punk band.
We were stuck for a name and someone mentioned that Red Alert would be a good name and we agreed so that was it.
Some people think there’s a political meaning but there’s not.

4.Had you been playing or doing any music before you started in Red Alert?

As I mentioned earlier, Tony was playing from a very young age, as was original bassist Gaz Stuart.
They were messing around with different bands and I was trying to form my own band as a very bad guitarist! Red Alert was our first real band.

5.Can you tell us each members name and position in the band?

Steve Cast Iron Smith – vocals
Tony Van Frater – guitar
Gaz Stoker – bass
Andrew ‘Lainey’ Laing – drums

6.Who does the lyrics and music?

I write all the lyrics and Tony writes all the music.
We don’t sit together and write, we do it at home separate.
I give the lyrics to him when they’re done and he’ll fit them into the tunes that he’s composed.
Next stage is when we rehearse when Gaz and Lainey put their bass and drums in.
That’s why we always put on our albums that all songs are usually written by me and Tony but the whole band arranges them.

7.Is it real life behind the lyrics?

99% of the time it is.
I wrote one song (I’ll Wave Goodbye) that was really just a poem.
Apart from that song everything I write is what I feel at the time, some personal, some about street politics (drinking, unemployment, police, war, etc).
My feelings in my lyrics are as important to me now as they were when I first put pen to paper in ’78.

8.If I go to a Red Alert concert would I recognize the sound or has it changed?

The only difference anyone would notice is that we’re more experienced now.
We’ve been playing for such a long time that it’s obvious we’re gonna be a better band.
The set list is always made up of songs from early to recent, probably more older stuff than new.
There’ll never be a Red Alert gig without In Britain, SPG, We’ve Got The Power, etc., being in the set.
We do like our recent stuff also, it’s just difficult fitting it into the set due to time and obviously most people will always want to hear the old songs, it’s the same with any band.

9.Do you live off playing in the band or do you work?

I’ll answer this when I’ve finished laughing!!!!!
There’s a big belief amongst fans of the older bands such as ourselves that we make a lot of money doing this.
That honestly couldn’t be further from the truth.
We made more money from the band 20 years ago in our No Future days.
We haven’t received one penny from our last 2 albums, the only royalty money we ever see is from Mark Brennan from the sales of our Captain Oi releases (Best of, Rarities etc).
Put it this way, we just returned from doing 4 gigs in Czech Republic and even though we were well looked after with drinks, food and sleeping, we didn’t get paid anything.
It’s still great for us to tour but it does actually cost us our own money to tour now.
Without using an old cliché, I guess it must be our love of the music and the scene that keeps us going.
In answer to your question, 3 of the band have jobs.

10.What do your families think about you playing gigs?

They accept it, as it’s what we’ve always done.
In most of our cases the band came before the women and families so they know how important it is to us.

11.Where’s the best audience and most fun to play?

We do have our favourite cities such as Barcelona and Berlin but in all honesty it’s great fun most times.
It’s hard to pick out certain audiences and countries as we really enjoy them all.
Having fun is what Red Alert is all about and if the fun stopped then the band would.
Hopefully this is a long time yet.

12.How was it playing in Japan?

A great experience and a really great gig.
The people there were very enthusiastic and gave us great support.
We were only there two days so we didn’t really get much time to enjoy the place so hopefully we’ll get back there again for a longer time.

13.What is your opinion of the new bands on the scene?

There’s some great new bands on the scene which is very important as the older bands can’t go on forever and someone is gonna have to take our place and carry the flag.
On our travels we’ve came across some of the best new bands around, it would be nice to think that they’re still playing 20 years from now.

14.What bands were you listening to when you started Red Alert?

The obvious ones, Sex Pistols, the Clash and most other ’77 era bands.

15.Are there any bands from Sweden that you like?

Abba, Roxette!!!
Seriously though we haven’t really heard too much from Sweden, but we did a German tour around 10 years ago with Bullshit from Umea and they were good lads and a good band too.
Two great bands that we’ve came across when they were first starting out would be Voice of a Generation and Bombshell Rocks.
I used to be in touch with a lad 20 years ago in Sweden who would send me a lot of tapes but I can’t remember the names of the bands now though I will still have those tapes somewhere.

16.Can we look forward to any new releases?

There will definitely be a new album out early 2004.
The album will be called ‘Excess All Areas’.
It’s been written for a long time now but we just haven’t had the time to rehearse it.
The lads are busy with other bands, work etc, but we had a talk and have decided to make it a priority that we work on it and get it recorded.
Realistically I would say it should be released around March/April 2004,it’s on the Captain Oi label.

17.What do you prefer to do at gigs, old or new songs?

Both.
It’s a strange situation as we like to do our new songs as we still believe that we write songs as good as our older ones, but it’s also a great feeling to see the crowds reaction when we do stuff such as In Britain and SPG, etc.

18.Will you be playing in Sweden or nearby?

I can’t understand how we have never played in Scandinavia.
We have played in places most people haven’t heard of but for some reason we never made it to your parts.
If any promoter was ever interested to take us to Scandinavia we would be on that plane tomorrow, believe me.

19.What is important that people should know about Red Alert?

Apart from the fact that we’re all handsome lads we’re also great in bed!!!
Seriously though, as most people who have met us will tell you, we are the same lads who started out 24 years ago.
We’re a genuine down to earth working class bunch of lads.
The punk and oi scene is as important to us now as it has always been.
These are not just words, this is the truth.
This band has been part of our lives for such a long time that we all hope it never ends.
We’ve had the greatest times of our lives and feel privileged to be in a position where people from all over the world like what we do.
As long as people have an interest in us, there will still be Red Alert.

20.Do you have other interests besides music, beer and football?

Apart from sex and those things you mentioned is there anything else?

21.Anything else?

Just to say a big thanx to Jocke for giving us the chance to have our say.
It’s still a dream of ours to play in Sweden and other parts of Scandinavia and hopefully this will happen sooner rather than later.
Cheers for your time and support, keep that beer ready for us, look forward to drinking Scandinavia dry when we finally get there, take care, Steve and the Red Alert boys.