Redd Kross , a rock band from Hawthorne, California had their roots in 1978 in a band called The Tourists begun by Jeff and Steve McDonald while the brothers were still in middle school. With the addition of friends Greg Hetson and Dave Keller on guitar and John Stielow on drums, the band's first gig was opening for Black Flag.

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Band history

Red Cross

At the time of their first self-titled EP, in 1980, the band changed their name to Red Cross, which was allegedly inspired by the masturbation scene in the film, "The Exorcist." Eventually, Hetson left to join the Circle Jerks and later, Bad Religion and Reyes left for Black Flag . Keller left to join Trixie and the Doorknobs as its guitarist and singer. To complete the lineup on their first full-length album, Born Innocent , they assembled a revolving door of musicians including original drummer John Stielow and drummer Janet Housden. Full of the brothers' pop culture obsessions, Born Innocent featured odes to Linda Blair (who starred in a television movie of the same name), a cover of "Look on Up from the Bottom" by the Carrie Nations from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls , and Charles Manson (whose song "Cease to Exist" they covered). The album also contains nods to Jim & Tammy Baker, Tatum O'Neal, and Lita Ford. Not long after the release of the album, the group was threatened with a lawsuit from the International Red Cross and changed their name to Redd Kross , allegedly being inspired by Redd Foxx.

Redd Kross

In 1984, Redd Kross returned with drummer Dave Peterson to record Teen Babes from Monsanto , an album featuring songs originally by such artists as KISS, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, and The Shangri-Las.

In 1984, lead guitarist Robert Hecker joined the band, as Redd Kross embarked on tour in support of Teen Babes from Monsanto .

In that same year, they were featured on the soundtrack of Desperate Teenage Lovedolls with their cover of the ''Brady Bunch Kids "It's a Sunshine Day". Jeff and Steve appear in the movie, along with Robert in the sequel Lovedolls Superstar'' which the brothers co-wrote with Dave Markey and Jennifer Schwartz. Both movies are available now on DVD.

In 1985, drummer Roy McDonald (formerly of The Things, and no relation to the brothers) joined the band.

In 1987, Redd Kross released Neurotica , an album reportedly influenced by Saturday morning cartoons and breakfast cereal (one of the songs was called "Frosted Flake"). Although the album itself was successful, the band's label, Big Time Records folded, and due to related legal problems, Redd Kross was unable to record any new material under its own name for three years. The band continued to tour during these years however, and in 1988, drummer Victor Indrizzo joined the band.

Tater Totz

As The Tater Totz, the McDonalds teamed with Pat Fear of White Flag and Michael Quercio from The Three O'Clock and released Alien Sleestaks from Brazil, the title a tribute to the series Land of the Lost . Another cover collection, it included songs originally by Queen and Yoko Ono, and featured a cover of The Beatles' "I've Just Seen A Face" with lead vocals by guest Danny Bonaduce. The second Tater Totz album, in 1989, included Cherie Currie of The Runaways, and Pat Smear. A third Tater Totz album was released called Tater Comes Alive. A side project, Anarchy 6 had two releases, Hardcore Lives! and a cassette only album Live Like a Suicidal, and was featured in Lovedolls Superstar.

1990s

In 1990, Redd Kross signed with Atlantic Records, releasing Third Eye , and appeared with David Cassidy in the film Spirit of '76 , and issued several singles, including "Annie's Gone", which had some mild success on college radio. Former Red Hot Chili Peppers / future Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons joined for the Third Eye tours.

In 1991, Robert Hecker took leave from the band.

The album Phaseshifter was released in 1993, with new band members Eddie Kurdziel, Gere Fennelly, and Brian Reitzell. The videos for "Jimmy's Fantasy" and "Lady In The Front Row" were both shown on MTV's 120 Minutes. They toured on Phaseshifter for over a year, headling their own shows as well as tours supporting The Lemonheads and The Spin Doctors in late 1993 and Stone Temple Pilots in 1994. In 1995, Jeff and his wife, Charlotte Caffey (from The Go-Go's), had a daughter, named Astrid.

In 1997, Redd Kross released Show World , produced by Chris Shaw (who also produced albums for Weezer and Soul Asylum) and toured supporting The Presidents of the United States of America. The band took an indefinite hiatus after the Show World tour, and their future was uncertain after the untimely death of guitarist Eddie Kurdziel on June 6, 1999.

Current

On July 1, 2006, Redd Kross returned to the live stage after almost a decade's absence. The Neurotica -era line up of Jeff McDonald, Steven McDonald, Robert Hecker and Roy McDonald performed a career-spanning set at the REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/Cal Arts Theater) at Disney Hall in Los Angeles. The band has subsequently gone on to play at the Azkena Festival in Spain, the Detour Festival in Los Angeles, give a performance of their entire first EP in honor of Rodney Bingenheimer's being awarded a star on Hollywood Boulevard, and a set consisting of the entire Born Innocent album opening for Sonic Youth (who performed Daydream Nation ) at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. They toured Spain and England in January, 2007. They have played a number of one-off shows including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. In 2008 they played the Coachella Festival in Coachella, California; ATP vs Pitchfork festival in Sussex, England; and NXNE Festival in Toronto, Ontario. The band is currently recording a new album.

Trivia

• Steve is married to Anna Waronker (formerly of that dog.), and they both appear on Phranc's album Milkman . (Steve on bass, Anna on backing vocals.) He has played bass for Beck tours as recently as summer 2003. While Redd Kross was on hiatus, he formed a solo project, The Steven McDonald Group, and did an online only art project release called Redd Blood Cells, in which he added a bass track to the otherwise bass-less The White Stripes album White Blood Cells (album). Steven has also played bass for Sparks, Carole King, Green and Yellow TV, and Jack Black's Tenacious D.
• Jeff married Charlotte Caffey (from The Go-Go's) in 1993.
• A song (Not Bad At All ) by Steven was featured in a television commercial for the MINI Cooper
• The same song later appeared in the film Failure to Launch.
• Brian Reitzell was the drummer for AIR on their 1998 tour.
• Eddie Kurdziel, who also produced the band Fuzz Bubble, died of a drug overdose in 1999.
• Show World included a faithful cover version of "Prettty Please Me" by seminal Los Angeles power pop band, The Quick which was a local hit on Rodney On the ROQ in 1978.
• Robert teaches sixth grade Science and Physical Education at Hermosa Valley School in Hermosa Beach, CA.
• In 1989 Robert Hecker, Victor Indrizzo and Steve McDonald all appeared in the A'Me Lorain music video for the song "Whole Wide World". The song was featured in the film True Love, clips from the film appear in the music video.
• Shonen Knife recorded the song "Redd Kross" about the band on their album "712", which also featured members of Redd Kross on the cover tracks "Rain" and "The Luck of the Irish". Redd Kross returned the favor with the track "Shonen Knife" on the Third Eye album.
• In 2002, Steve McDonald, Robert Hecker, and Roy McDonald played a one-off Neurotica 15th anniversary show, with Ken Stringfellow filling in for Jeff McDonald.

Related projects/soundtracks

• In the summer of 2002, Steven McDonald mashed-up The White Stripes' album White Blood Cells. McDonald's album was entitled Redd Blood Cells, and featured the same track listing as the original, but with added bass tracks from McDonald. The album was an internet-only release, with 2 new songs appearing every week, along with a diary of liner notes from Steven as he worked through the process of being "Steven White". The album received very good reviews, and grew so popular that the server crashed when over 50,000 people went to download tracks on the same day.
• In addition to the Lovedolls films and Spirit of '76, members of Redd Kross have appeared in a few films of director Allison Anders. Steve, Jeff, and Brian played members of Matt Dillon's Beach Boys-esque rock band in Grace of My Heart . Jeff played a junkie songwriter in Sugar Town . Jeff and Steve both featured in Things Behind The Sun .
• Redd Kross songs appear on various on the soundtracks to Good Burger , PCU , Bordello of Blood , An American Werewolf in Paris , and Varsity Blues .
• Steven produced all of Imperial Teen's records, usually with the band and his wife, Anna Waronker. He was Beck's bassist for the Sea Changes tour. Steven also has produced Turbonegro's 2005 release Party Animals, and has had a hand in producing/recording with bands such as Be Your Own Pet, The Format, and Neon.
• Steven plays bass on the 2006 release "Hello Young Lovers" by Sparks and has also been their touring bassist.
• The McDonald brothers also produced The Donnas in 1999, on their album Get Skintight.
• Ze Malibu Kids is a band featuring the McDonald brothers, Anna Waronker, and Astrid, that released an album entitled "Sound It Out" in 2002.
• Robert Hecker has released two albums with the band IT'S OK, entitled "IT'S OK", and "Dream". Both albums are available on their site - http://www.itsoktheband.com/ . Robert also appears as a special guest on a few Chemical People records, featuring Dave Naz on drums.
• Janet Housden went on to be in several popular and not-so-popular L.A. combos, including the Lovedolls, the Waifs, the Superkools, the Excessories, and currently plays with the Shakes and the Hi Ho's. She also starred in Desperate Teenage Lovedolls and its sequel, Lovedolls Superstar, as Patch "Christ" Kelly.
• Roy McDonald has been playing with The Muffs (led by former The Pandoras member Kim Shattuck) since the mid 90s.
• Jeff McDonald produced the Sympathy for the Record Industry debut (and only) release by The Beards, which features Kim Shattuck, and Lisa Marr.

Discography / videography

Albums

• Born Innocent (1982)
• Teen Babes From Monsanto (1984)
• Neurotica (1987)
• Third Eye (1990)
• Phaseshifter (1993)
• Show World (1997)

EPs

• Red Cross (1980)
• 2500 Redd Kross Fans Can't Be Wrong (1993)

DVDs

• Got LIVE if you must! (2008)

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions				Album
		U.S. Hot 100	U.S. Modern Rock	U.S. Mainstream Rock	UK Singles Chart [1]
1990	"Annie's Gone"	-	#16	-	-	Third Eye
1992	"Trance"	-	-	-	-	-
1993	"Switchblade Sister"	-	-	-	-	-
1993	"Lady in the Front Row"	-	-	-	-	Phaseshifter
1994	"Visionary"	-	-	-	#75	Phaseshifter
1994	"Yesterday Once More"	-	-	-	#45	If I Were a Carpenter
1997	"Get Out Of Myself"	-	-	-	#63	Show World
1997	"Mess Around"	-	-	-	-	Show World
1997	"Secret Life"	-	-	-	-	Show World

Compilation appearances

• Hell Comes to Your House (1981)
• * Includes "Puss 'n' Boots"
• American Youth Report (1982)
• * Includes "Notes and Chords Mean Nothing to Me"
• KISS Tribute In Japan (1998)
• * With Kanako Nakayama, Redd Kross performs a cover of "Hard Luck Woman"

References

1. British Hit Singles & Albums