Festivals, club gigs and an opening slot on the ZZ Top “Tonnage” tour will give ample opportunity to see The Red Devils in many places in many different situations in July.
Here is the latest roundup we have compiled from ZZ Top, Big Pete and other sources. Be advised that the Top has a couple of gigs listed on their site the don’t include the Devils … this list is all confirmed or pending Red Devils performances in July.
Be sure to let us know if there are additions or corrections.
Here are the things that stuck out to us after watching the first three Red Devils shows:
1. There is only one …
From the very first notes of the very first song of the very first gig, it’s clear: These are The Red Devils, and nobody else.
For a generation of fans who only have 24-year-old YouTube videos to go off of, the ’17 Devils are a revelation. The stacks and stacks of bands inspired by the Devils clearly can’t touch them — many of them have been rendered obsolete in just three shows.
You cannot go wrong with Bill Bateman in the driver’s seat, and he makes obvious the fatal flaw for other bands: he just has that beat, locking in with the grooving Jonny Ray Bartel. Paul Size reminds everyone that his guitar playing is singular — his touch and instincts are all still there. He’s been missed.
If you can’t have Dave Lee Bartel onstage, then bring back Mike Flanigin, holding down rhythm guitar. Kudos to the Devils for bringing back a different “brother” when they could have gotten a ringer.
Some of the best stories about The Red Devils come from the people who watched it all go down.
One such eyewitness is Kevin Shattuck, who has been recounting his favorite shows, and the stories behind them, on his Facebook page. Not only that but he is assembling amazing collages that render his musical memories in iconography.
He recently did a piece on the Blue Shadows — the precursor to the blues Red Devils — from the summer of ’88 at the King King. That is Genesis 1 in The Red Devils’ nearly 30-year story.
Kevin’s recollections are published with permission below, but it is definitely worth checking out his Facebook page for stories about The Blasters, X, the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Gun Club, Panther Burns and on and on …
In the Summer of ’88, a Chinese restaurant on the corner of 6th & La Brea named “King King” decided to stay open late & book rockabilly & blues acts. I was working at the Beverly Center & the club was on my way home, so I started to drop in fairly often. It didn’t take very long before an astonishingly great punk/blues band named the “Blue Shadows” settled into that space on a Monday nite residency. It included ex-”Blasters” Gene Taylor on keyboards & Bill Bateman on drums, “Radio Ranch Straight Shooter” Greg “Smokey” Hormel (or on occasion) Dave Alvin playing lead guitar & the Bartel brothers Dave Lee & Jonny Ray on rhythm guitar & bass. The front man was a young harmonica player named Lester Butler. He was a pretty good singer, but was a flat out beast on the harp & had a true bluesman’s weathered, world weary demeanor. Continue reading →
Long in the works, The Red Devils reunion tour takes them to Dublin, Ireland, July 28, for an opening slot on ZZ Top’s “Tonnage Tour.” Billy Gibbons has long been connected to The Red Devils, so the pairing makes perfect sense.
