Red Letter Day -- an appreciation
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| The first time I saw Red Letter Day I was going through a bit of a bad time. I was living in London and had come back to Portsmouth for the weekend. Inside I felt angry and depressed and I wasn't really sure why. |
above -- reissued version of the 1991 album 'More Songs About Love and War', which includes my artwork (pictured on the left) | I'll be honest -- I wasn't sure I would like them, but I was still dying to see them. A (semi)famous Pompey band... |
As soon as they started playing their music did something to me and I danced, and danced and danced. My feet itched to move. I pounded the anger out of me, I stamped the ground, up near the front with lads going wild. The fact that things weren't going how I had planned them to in London didn't seem to matter. Or at least not for the duration of the gig.
Red Letter Day are always at their best in the really small venues. The sort of places where you can eyeball Ade, and lean effortlessly over to the mic. I was always too scared, too self-conscious to actually sing into the mic, even though Ade would often encourage people to sing along.
I had never really thought I liked that kind of music before, but I was rapidly finding out that I did. And we'd be at the front -- me, Skif, Qhix and others dancing.
I loved it when Ade wore black nailvarnish, his hands for some reason would remind me of kitten's paws. Normally he'd wear an old Red Letter Day T-shirt from years ago, thin and ratty with wear. And Docs. Always the Doc Marten boots. There were fabulous times when he'd get so excited he would crawl up on to the furniture in the venue, dragging the mic stand with him, along with an odd audience member or two. It didn't matter that he can't sing. Ade has a vocal delivery which is unique. |
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I
could always tell if it had been a particularly good gig because the next morning
my feet would be purple with bruises. | above -- the original painting |
One gig at the Wedge, I, along with another girl (blue hair in a mohican), stroked Ade's mic stand in a suggestive way. I had never met the girl before, or since, and I always wondered what she thought of me dressed in my paisley skirt, silver belt and black boots -- more '70s glam than punk.
What I considered to be the 'classic' lineup plays no more. Ade and Darren still play, but with two younger lads, Chris and Steve. Chris looks the part of a pouting Brett Anderson/Alex Kapranos type but dresses in grunge.
But love them I still do, and I am rather honoured to have had my painting used in the re-issue of their 'More Songs About Love and War' album. Didn't get a penny which surprises people outside of the music scene, but for me it isn't about money, it is forever being a part of a band I'll always love. And I always remember how chuffed Ade was when I got that letter printed in the NME mentioning The Day.
There are so many songs that I love. I love 'Wherever You May Run' with an intense passion. 'Pure' is beautiful. 'Insomnia' too. 'Another Day', 'Last Night', 'Rain' -- I could go on. Red Letter Day have been an important part of my adult life, and I feel very lucky to have seen them perform so many times.