The Red Chord – Clients (Metal Blade – 2005)
I’m a firm believer in hearing the right music at the right time can make the biggest fan out of anyone. In 2008 I made my first trip to Europe and was at a small festival in Germany and had just seen Napalm Death for the first time. I’d never cared for them, at least what I’d heard, but that live show melted my mind.
It was everything I wanted from both sides of metal and punk. It kicked into motion an insatiable hunger for whatever my tastes can be summed up as now. I came back to my tent later that night, pulled out my trusty brick-like MP3 player and searched for something that could scratch the itch for more. This track came on – https://youtu.be/1XYLiau108E. I’d heard the song and album before but it just never clicked with me. But this time it really burrowed into my head and has stayed there ever since.
The thing I love about these guys is that they never really set any boundaries. It’s adventurous, thought-provoking, stupid, gentle at times, but pummeling most the way in all fashions of heavy. I’ve already sung the praises of guitarist Mike ‘Gunface’ McKenzie before, but his guitar playing is such an integral part of The Red Chord sound. He has this really peculiar way of playing with a lot of upstrokes. So even if you do manage to learn some of their pretty challenging music, it’ll never sound quite right. They released a bunch of blistering albums after this but are now on hiatus. For those of you that are already fans, but aren’t as deep-diving nerd-wise, Gunface released this demo (https://soundcloud.com/gunface/visible-shift) maybe a year ago that has definite TRC vibes. Either way I hope you get to experience an eureka moment like I did with these guys or any of the bands I cover in this series. Keep listening, for your health.
FFO: Listening to the next album just so you can quote Trailer Park Boys lines.