1992: Red Devils find the Size that fits

Posted in paul size, red devils with tags , , , , , on February 24, 2013 by J.J.

Very nice article from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on the early days of Paul Size in the band.

RED DEVILS FIND THE SIZE THAT FITS
by Dave Ferman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Sept. 11, 1992

Texas-born blues guitarist Paul Size readily will admit that he’s been real lucky so far in his musical career.

Born in Dallas and raised in Denton, Size, 21 just weeks ago, was happy playing blues and R&B in Denton bars backing legendary singer Pops Carter; he was playing the music he loved with good buddy Jon Moeller (now guitarist for Texas Heat) and just having fun.

Then a friend told him the Red Devils — Los Angeles’ hottest blues band — was looking for a new guitarist. Size packed, journeyed to California, auditioned, got the gig, and less than a year later the Devils (having gained a rep as the favorite El Lay band of Mick Jagger, the Black Crowes, Bruce Willis and other slumming celebs) have a CD, “King King,” out on Def American, have cut 13 tracks with Jagger and spent the summer touring with the Allman Brothers, Little Feat, Bob Dylan and Los Lobos.

“Yeah, I was walking into something pretty big without knowing it,” says Size by phone from South Carolina on the eve of the band’s final date with the Allmans (the Red Devils headline Dallas’ Trees on Thursday). “We just kind of clicked together — the band needed a guitar player and they decided to keep me.”
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1998 Bolwerk, Sneek: Butler plays blues the way it should be

Posted in red devils with tags , , , on October 28, 2012 by J.J.

From our friend Feelgood comes this story about 13′s Jan. 30, 1998, gig at Bolwerk, videos of which are available on YouTube. Nothing groundbreaking here, but a fine read nonetheless. More accurate translations are appreciated.

LESTER BUTLER PLAYS BLUES THE WAY IT SHOULD BE
by Jacob Haagsma, Leeuwarder Courant
Jan. 20, 1998

SNEEK — From Pinkpop to a club room for a few hundred people. Lester Butler is not the first to reverse this road test. Ever since his previous band Red Devils, loudly applauded and enjoined by such greats as Mick Jagger and Rick Rubin. But now this singer-harmonica player is again on his own.

Though that’s not entirely true, because he is supported by a first-rate, bright-playing band. Main playmaker in 13 is guitarist Alex Schultz, with an intensely vicious attitude but at the same time never losing sight of the swing. As befits actually.

Because yes, 13 plays the blues like it actually hears, but as that too little hear. By going to the harrowing intensity that the original black practitioners laid decades ago, at least, these pale boys from Los Angeles are close. And with the raw energy of today, as if they traveled on skateboards to Sneek have rather than in a narrow coach.

Including the brisk rhythm section, with loosely pounding, thundering drums and functional, ie no note-counting, bass. Live the songs are less pointed than the extremely elementary produced, self-titled debut CD. Butler and Schultz let themselves often go into long solos, but they seem to charge less to run than show muscle to pure fun.
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“Black Hearted Woman” lyrics

Posted in 13 with tags , , , on July 4, 2012 by J.J.

“Black Hearted Woman” (Lester Butler), from “13 featuring Lester Butler”

Well all right all right
Black hearted woman
Worst thing I’ve seen
She stole my friend Lonnie
Yeah, life should have been a dream

Well all right all right

(harp solo)

Al right all right
You walked through the fire
You came back from the dead
Black hearted woman
Went and pulled him back again
Went and pulled him back again
Went and pulled him back again

(harp & guitar solos out)

Transcribed by nofightin.com. More lyrics here.

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Pics: 13′s day off at North Sea Feb. 1998

Posted in 13 with tags , , , , , on June 17, 2012 by J.J.

Our friend Eddie Clark provided these photos of 13 from what he said was the group’s second to last tour of the Netherlands and Belgium in February 1998. “We had left Sneek, NL and had to go way north to the Nordzee to get back to Amsterdam,” Clark wrote. “That is a massive dike we are on and the North Sea behind us.”

These photos have been posted on other sites for years, but these are all-new scans from the original hard copy pictures. It’s interesting to see what the band — Lester Butler, Alex Schultz, Mike Hightower and Clark — did on a day off.

Also note the tag on Butler’s jacket for Royal Tattoo. We’ll guess it’s this same shop in Denmark.

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And here it is … The Red Devils 2012 reunion

Posted in red devils with tags , , , , , on June 2, 2012 by J.J.

They started from a jam, so it makes sense they would return at a jam, under the cover of darkness, unannounced and just as powerful as when they burst on the national stage with “King King” in 1992.

The surviving members of The Red Devils reunited May 27 at an afterparty for the Simi Valley Cajun and Blues Music Festival Memorial Day weekend.

Bill Bateman, Dave Lee Bartel, Paul Size and Jonny Ray Bartel. Courtesy Jonathan T. Lovitt

Lead guitarist Paul “The Kid” Size was playing the fest with Big Pete Sunday afternoon, and later that evening found himself reunited on stage at the Grand Vista Hotel with drummer Bill Bateman, bassist Jonny Ray Bartel and rhythm guitarist Dave Lee Bartel. By our count, this was the first time the four had been on stage since at least the middle of 1993.

Filling the all-important harmonica role was nofightin.com friend Johnny Mastro, who evoked the classic Red Devils sound. We all wondered how it would sound if it would happen, and who would be breathing into the bullet mic when it did. Now we know.

Johnny sent us an email this week telling us how it all went down:

Well it was pretty cool as the whole original band had not played together in a long, long time. It was not really planned and [Jonny Ray] kinda casually asked me to go up to Simi Valley after I played a 5 hour gig all day in Long Beach! Thank god my wife was kind enough to drive me and we had a blast.

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Red Devils at Mall of America 1993

Posted in red devils with tags , , , on April 22, 2012 by J.J.

The Red Devils’ travels as the house band for Planet Hollywood openings in the ’90s took them all over the world — including a giant mall in Bloomington, Minn.

From the Dec. 11, 1993, Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

It will be megastar time again when the seventh Planet Hollywood opens tomorrow night — in a megamall in Bloomington, Minn. The restaurant chain with a movie and TV memorabilia motif will open its latest at the Mall of America, the nation’s largest mall and entertainment complex. Some of Planet Hollywood’s owners are scheduled to be there, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Demi Moore. Willis and his band, The Red Devils, will perform. On the guest list are Wesley Snipes, Evander Holyfield, Patrick Swayze, Whoopi Goldberg, Don Johnson, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Danny Glover, Luke Perry and Hammer.

From the Dec. 13, 1993, St. Paul, Minn., Pioneer Press:

From the sports world, there were Vikings Jim McMahon (who showed unsportsmanlike contact off the playing field by walking into Planet Hollywood without acknowledging the crowd) and Chris Doleman; Minnesota Twins Kent Hrbek; and Thurl Bailey, Christian Laettner, Mike Brown and Doug West from the Timberwolves. … Politicos attending were Attorney General Hubert Humphrey III, St. Paul Mayor-elect Norm Coleman, Bloomington Mayor Neil Peterson and Congressman Jim Ramstad, trying hard not to look starstruck.

The gathering of gawkers and paparazzi applauded politely at these invited guests, cooling their jets waiting for the real stars, who were greeted by fans with ear-splitting screams, especially when Bruce Willis and his “bluesabilly” band, the Red Devils, lept on a specially constructed stage overlooking Camp Snoopy to perform raucous covers of “Mustang Sally” and “Hey Junior, Behave Yourself.”

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Block in memoriam: Lester Butler

Posted in lester butler with tags , , on April 10, 2012 by J.J.

The introduction page of the April/May/June 1998 issue of Dutch blues magazine Block read, “Daarbij kwam het schokkende nieuws rond het overlijden van Lester Butler, een week na diens spirituele optreden in Ospel.” (“It came the shocking news about the death of Lester Butler, a week after his spiritual appearance in Ospel.”)

The magazine pages have come from our friend Feelgood. The translation — rough as it is — from Google Translate with some contextual editing. Some of the facts here are unverified by No Fightin’, and may be unclear or incorrect because of the translation. Any help with a better English version is appreciated.

In memoriam: Lester Butler

On Saturday, May 2nd the Moulin Blues festival closed with the most exciting and impressive jam that I experienced since North Sea ’83. Lester Butler ruled with a firm hand members of his group of 13, half the James Harman Band, ex-Red Devil Paul Size, Joe Louis Walker and Billy Branch. In addition, he sang and played like he was possessed by the devil.
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