Read past the played out “white guys can’t play the blues” leads on these two reviews from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram from 1992 and ’93. Writer Dave Ferman actually catches the Devils correct when he notes that “what puts the Devils head and shoulders above so many other bands is their intensity, their ability to lock into a groove that sounds like their birthright and build a song to an ecstatic finish.”
Ferman also mentions two song titles we’ve never heard: “I’m Gonna Throw a Party” and “Can’t Get You Off My Mind.” What tunes could these be?
Red Devils give the blues a fresh sound
By Dave Ferman, Star-Telegram Writer
Sept. 19, 1992
DALLAS — White blues bands usually try to do one of two things.
They either try to emulate their idols note-for-note, or descend into overamped blues/rock overkill and spend far too much time showing how fast they can crank out the licks popularized by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Winter, Buddy Guy and the like.
It’s tough to be both fairly authentic and dose the old warhorses with a healthy shot of rock raunch, but the Los Angeles-based Red Devils is one band that can. The band’s set at Trees Thursday night — and well into Friday morning — proved that, in the right hands, the same old blues licks, lyrics and rhythms can sound brash, fresh and right as rain.
The show was the band’s first Metroplex performance since releasing its debut, “King King” on Def American. The Devils also recorded this past summer with Mick Jagger and spent most of the previous months opening for artists as diverse as Bob Dylan and the Allman Brothers.
