Punk rock has always been known for masking a deep-seated earnestness with playfulness, and Red Stinger follows firmly in that tradition. Although the band's latest album, Money in a Blender, is chock-full of political angst and personal self-doubt, the group still makes it sound lively and playfully nonchalant. In advance of Red Stinger's CD-release party at 3 Kings Tavern this Saturday, April 30, with King Rat, the Dropskots and Dead Ringer, we spoke with frontman Timmy Stinger about the formation of the group and the latest album. In true punk-rock fashion, we hardly got any straight answers.
Westword: Tell us the history of your band.
Timmy Stinger: The history of Red Stinger is very simple. Fred found me as a cracked-out street performer with an eight-foot Mohawk and asked me to start a band. We collected a great drummer named Louie, blew through a few bass players, kicked them all out, and then we found Chewy. After raping our way through every drummer in town, Chewy found Chad.
Your new album is called Money in the Blender. Why?
The owner of our "label" (Matt Tittlemeir of Ominous Records) decided one night, after collecting all the money for one of our shows, to trip mushrooms with some guys we had met at the show. We are all hanging out for a while, but you could tell when it all kicked in for them, and they wandered off. We don't hear a thing from the guy for the rest of the night, and the next morning, we find him in a hotel room, shit everywhere, with about $1,000 of band money pulped to a fine smoothie in the blender on his counter. He was as shocked as everyone to discover this.
What is your favorite song on the new album? Why? Can you tell us the story of the song?
"You're Not the Only Ones." The story of that song is also the story of the audio clip before it. Chewy and I were writing the guitar parts of the song on acoustics at my apartment. We were, admittedly, playing loud, drinking heavily, and it was 2 a.m. My downstairs neighbor comes stomping up the steps, bangs on the door, and when we open it, you can tell he's been working up the courage to yell at us and has practiced his speech. He launches into his well-rehearsed tirade without taking a breath, telling us, "You know, other people are trying to sleep right now." We swear we didn't do anything horrible to him.
Do you have any touring plans for the future?
Yes, lots. Chewy leaves for Lithuania the morning after the CD release, so most of the band will be traveling to meet him there and play a few European shows. After that, we are working out a summer tour for the East Coast and a fall tour of the Midwest. It should be noted that we are not known for our ability to plan well.
Would you consider yourself a political band?
Yes, Glenn Beck must die.
