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The Infrareds are known across the globe, except for South America, Africa, and Asia, but it's surf, and as far as I know, nobody on those continents has ever even seen a guitar, let alone understands how one should be played. The Infrareds play music the correct way. Highly acclaimed, their second album, "Recorded on Microfilm," was regarded by critics as the best surf rock album of 2003, as well as receiving numerous other rave reviews for their intense live performances.
The Infrareds have toured extensively, traveling across Europe in 2005 and countless clubs and theatres within the continental U.S., including the mid west, the Eastern Seaboard & the Deep South. Audiences everywhere love their fast, intense, yet methodical tunes, except for Texas. The fact that they received poor feedback from their southern audiences is something I attribute to Southerners' generally poor taste in music as apposed to the bands musical ability. The Infrareds ROCK, plain and simple. People accustomed to listening to slow country music and really bad hip-hop just arent going to get it.
There can be no denying that The Infrareds play the fastest, most aggressive surf music in the nation. They grew up in the late seventies early eighties, listening to bands such as Agent Orange, Minor Threat, and Bad Brains, among others; which lead them to eventually discovering the origins of teenage angst and rebellion as embodied and expressed through the early sixties surf bands such as The Avengers VI, The Fender IV, (pretty much any band with a roman numerals), The Lively Ones, and Eddie and the Showmen.
Despite their current fame and fortune, The Infrareds had humble beginnings. Formed in 1999, they cut their teeth playing smaller venues in northern California, such as the Lucky 13 Club in San Francisco, Fernwood in Big Sur, U.C. Santa Cruz, and clubs all over their original hometown of Monterey, including the last show ever at the famous Dream Theatre.
Their members include Rory Fortune, embattled front man and lead guitarist. Raised on the mean streets of Fresno, California , Rory grew up a small time hustler before finding salvation in the form of an electric guitar. Escaping Fresno was a turning point for Rory, who now has developed his own brand of vegetarianism, which includes nothing but coffee and cigarettes indeed; nobody has ever witnessed him consuming anything else.
Bass guitar is handled by Kiegan Skydecker --possibly a stage name-- who can effectively be termed the "bad boy" of this group, in that Rory is saintly and their volatile former drummer, known only as "new Matt," has left to pursue a solo project. Kiegan hails from the sleepy town of Monterey, California, where he grew up hanging around the National Steinbeck Center. His bass styling's and personal appearance have been said to take after the immortal Billy Cox best known for his work with The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Few people dispute this.
New to the band is rhythm guitarist Benny Hammond. Even though he spent most of his adult life pretending to be Buddy Holly, enjoys playing volleyball, and makes a living in Los Angeles as an "artist," be assured that Benny is all man. Picture General George S. Patton Jr. standing, in full uniform, in front of the United States flag. Now picture him playing rhythm guitar in front of said flag.. That's Benny.
Also new is the drummer, Clinton Cameron. Clinton grew up in the massive shadow of older brother, "Brush Master" Clayton Cameron, drummer for such stars as Sammy Davis, Jr., and Frank Sinatra. Eager to distinguish himself from him, Clinton does his best to stay as far away as possible from the easy-listening pop music "wuss rock" -- that earned his brother such fame. Formerly of the band Fishbone, Clinton is new to the Surf genre, but he is so immensely talented that it makes little difference.
The future looks bright as The Infrareds prepare to release their fourth album, and be sure to check them out on their next tour.
Rick Britton, July 2006
The Infrareds with Frankie Delatorre from the Volcanics playing "Heart Beat" by The Avengers VI.
excerpts from:"Meet The Infrareds, contemporary surf's purest exponents" By John Goddard. Article origianlly published July 16, 2003 in The River Front Times St. Louis, Mo.
The '90s saw a continual rise in the number of more-or-less traditional surf bands, with groups like the Mermen and Man...or Astro-man? adhering to many of the original rhythmo-melodic formulas while putting a fresh spin on instrumentation and guitar textures. Many surf rock traditionalists think that's all fine and groovy, but there are also those who'll settle for nothing less than the purity of a Jazzmaster raging through an ultra-cranked Fender amp with an outboard reverb.
Enter the Infrareds. Among today's exponents of surf, the Monterey trio can count themselves among the purest of sound and intention.
With nearly 300 miles of coastline separating Fortune from bassist Keigan Skydecker and drummer Matt Glasby, it's probably no surprise to the band when folks ask them to map out the logistical requirements of their partnership. "We learn all of our new songs by writing them out and sending demos back and forth through the mail," Fortune explains. "There have been several times where we've shown up to a gig and played brand-new material that we'd never practiced or played together, and we were hearing the songs for the first time along with the audience. Our new album was written in that fashion."
And the Infrareds certainly deserve a few points in the "prodigious creativity through extensive use of the postal service" category. On their recently released full-length, Recorded on Microfilm, no less than seventeen tracks bear witness to the primal ululations first heard on the Balboa peninsula some forty-odd years ago, and every last one's a scorcher. With any luck, they'll be able to recoup some of the clams they spent on stamps as they tour in support of the disc.
"The word 'tour' is very broad," Fortune says. "If you consider touring playing groups of shows that are out of town together, we do it all the time and are pretty good at it. If touring is something that bands do to make money, we've never been on tour. We think of them as road trips where we get to play a lot of shows."
By all reports, the shows themselves do as much to highlight the Infrareds' ferocious energy and spirited charisma as they do to showcase the group's technical virtuosity and complete command of style. Explains Fortune: "We all come from a punk/rock/hardcore background, as well as all the off-shoots of those styles. Surf just kind of feeds from all those genres.
"Dick Dale pretty much kicks ass," he continues. "I don't really care for his newer stuff, but everything he did in the '60s is great. We're basically just young kids who are into the '60s stuff and like to play it very aggressively."
Although Fortune's diagnosis of the current state of trad-surf is grim at best, there's apparently an upside for the Infrareds. "Instrumental music in California is totally dead right now," he pronounces. "It was popular about five years ago, and there were some great bands doing it, like the Bomboras and Satan's Pilgrims...but it's pretty much a foreign concept now, which is kind of cool for us because it's like we're doing something that no one else is doing. I guess it reinforces our sense of individuality."
Cowabunga, daddy-o.
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