About nofightin.com
The Red Devils are a woefully unknown, now-defunct blues band from California.
This blog aims to change that.
Welcome to nofightin.com, our tribute/resource site for early-’90s California blues band The Red Devils and harmonica player Lester Butler.
Information about the musicians is scarce online, though a devoted following remains overseas. We are hoping this site can be a repository for the good stories, photos and random links sprinkled throughout the world wide web.
Who we are:
- J.J. Perry is a journalist in Aberdeen, South Dakota; blues and roots drummer; and certified barbecue judge.
- Tom Harold is a writer, artist and musician, who plays harp and sings in Indianapolis’ Gordon Bonham Blues Band.
February 9, 2009 at 8:56 am
hey,
It’s Jasper here. Pretty cool to see “up-to-date” stuff about lester, 13 and RD online. I’ve been trying to setup some similar in the old days, but it just never worked out. I would like to contribute stuff!! Please let me know how… I’m willing to digg in my old mail-archives for some interesting contacts and other nice material.
February 9, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Hey Jasper, glad to hear from you! Tom and I are clearing out a lot of our old pictures, articles and e-mails from over the years.
We’d love to have you contribute any time — you can leave stuff in the comments, or just e-mail to me or Tom and we’ll make a “guest post by Jasper.” Our nofightin.com e-mail addresses are jjperry@nofightin.com and tomharold@nofightin.com.
Take care!
August 1, 2009 at 7:00 am
Hi,
My name’s Stu & I’m from Scotland, I’m just starting out on the harp & a friend recently put me onto The Red Devils. I been playin the”KING, KING” album constantly for the past few weeks, its exactly the style of blues I’m aiming at learning, is there anywhere I can get Harp tabs for any of these songs.
Thanks
Stu
August 1, 2009 at 9:05 am
Stuart, I’m not sure there’s any tab specifically, but send me an email through the link and I’ll see if I can’t get you going in the right direction. It will help to get a few more details from you, and then we can go from there.
August 6, 2009 at 4:50 pm
I am desperately trying to get the mechanical licensing rights to Automatic–My band is scheduled to release a CD in October 2009 & we have done a killer version. (Please don’t tell me it’s a Willie Love song).
Does anyone know who owns the rights?
August 6, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Hi GeorgiaHealer. Yes, by all accounts, it is a Willie Love song; however, I’ve not been able to find it. But there are enough accounts from reputable sources that “Automatic” (or, possibly, “Automatic Woman”) was recorded by Willie Love for Trumpet Records in the early ’50s. Here is a pretty common accounting of Love’s tune, and the “Hydromatic Woman” cover by Joe Hill Louis for Sun.
But more importantly, that is who the Devils credit on “King King,” and they were pretty good about giving proper credit (and making corrections on the second pressing when the label switched to American Recordings).
My suggestion is to contact the Harry Fox Agency. I believe they have a form you can fill out to find a copyright holder when you don’t know who it is. They’ll search it out, and collect payment when (and if) they find someone. If you are doing covers at all, Harry Fox Agency is a good place to start to be sure.
If I recall from paying mechanicals for my old band The Forecasters, there are different costs for songs depending on how long the tunes are, and how many copies of the album are being pressed. And we had one song — “Goin’ Down to Eli’s” or “Gonna Murder My Baby” — that we couldn’t track down copyright on. But we filled out all the paperwork with Harry Fox just in case they could track it down (they never did).
Hope this helps — and send us some links so Devils fans can hear what you’ve done with “Automatic” or other tunes!
September 16, 2009 at 4:34 pm
J.J,
Hey man, thanks for the feedback. THe CD is now in production and we were able to locate the current publisher (though not through Harry Fox)–it actually belongs to DEF USA, a division of Sony !
Please check-out our new myspace page where I have posted both Automatic & Taildragger, which are both on our upcomming relaese “Heal THis!”
http://www.myspace.com/thegeorgiahealers
December 9, 2009 at 4:13 pm
I’m a huge fan and just found your site! I used to see them every Thursday at Jack’s Sugar Shack in L.A. Man, do I miss them…
Is there any place to get the MP3 of Lousiana Blues?
December 10, 2009 at 7:55 am
@Andy, thanks for the kind words. We’d be interested in any info on those Sugar Shack gigs — flyers, dates, photos, etc.
Send me an email at jjperry@nofightin.com and I’ll help out with “Louisiana Blues.”
Take care.
December 10, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Cheers! i just shot you an e-mail!
December 12, 2009 at 10:49 am
Red Devils were the best.
thanks for starting this page.
December 27, 2009 at 7:27 am
Hello Guys,
It’s great to see that still after 11 years there are many people who haven’t forgotten Lester. I was there in may 1998 at the Moulin blues festival (Holland) where he played his last gig. A few years ago I made a DVD from this gig but the release last year was much better. In 2008 got Lori Peralta (Lester’s girl friend) and his sister Monica the first DVD at a memorial at the Moulin Blues fistival and I was so glad to meet Monica and Lori. I gave them a DVD I made from the Pinkpop festival 1993 in Holland. They were made of a tape I got from Jasper (who lives a few miles away), but they are from a good quality. Jasper has a lot of Lester stuff, including these recordings. But if you’re interested let me know. Let’s keep Lester’s music alive!!
Good luck!
January 30, 2010 at 11:05 am
All I can say is “WOW”. I diddle a liddle harp started search for
that TONE behind Burnside(‘s “It’s Bad, Ya Know”) and made it
here, thank God ( Lester, Burnside,even “Soprano’s”) for the
raw, real,roots stuff – Red Devils, and you guys for making it
accessible to a sod like me… I could ( and should) go on but
…I’ll be back
January 31, 2010 at 3:16 pm
Steve,
Thanks for stopping in. Glad you enjoyed your visit here.
March 26, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Great site for a great band. The Red Devils will remain one of the great, almost invisible underpinnings of American roots n blues. Thanks for doing this. It is important work that will become more-so with time.
March 26, 2010 at 8:50 pm
Phil, thanks so much for the comment — you’ve succinctly summed up what this whole blog is about. We appreciate your visit.
April 27, 2011 at 12:07 am
Yo Johnny Ray, We met at the Harmonica Blow Down in long Beach, I video Taped Junior Watson and Kim Wilson, Larry Taylor. I wouild be intrested in a Copy of Johnny Cash with the red Devils, If you can Wing it. Was cool hangin with ya. Mark of the Blues Leucadia Bound
May 27, 2011 at 11:54 am
Check this painter out, here in the netherlands: http://www.theoreijnders.nl
He’s got Lester too
June 6, 2011 at 12:36 pm
Cool site. I was trying to track down the name of the guitarist who replace Paul Size…and possibly if and where he still plays. Thanks.
June 6, 2011 at 2:58 pm
@Mike: That’s a good question about who followed Paul Size. I don’t know that there was a permanent replacement after Paul left, but it seems that Zach Zunis played on the Devils’ ill-fated second album. That Zunis also played in some version of a “Lester Butler Band” after the Devils leads me to think that is likely.
Zunis has played guitar with Janiva Magness for several years.
September 17, 2011 at 3:30 pm
I saw The Red Devils at the Paradiso, Amsterdam after he split up the original line up and I’m pretty sure it was Kid Ramos who played there
November 26, 2012 at 12:10 pm
What’s the key harp in the song devil woman?
November 27, 2012 at 2:25 am
Devil Woman is interesting in that it is in the key of D, which just isn’t that common of a key for blues songs. The harmonica part is second position, key of G.