Better Dead Than Red

BETTER DEAD THAN RED BIOGRAPHY

Better Dead Than Red was formed in 1999 to combat the leftist plague in the music scene that had taken hold in their home state of North Carolina. The band’s early recordings were simple patriotic messages set to driving hardcore.

The band recorded a proper demo and sent the tape out to various labels. Out of all the labels that displayed interest, New Jersey’s RAC Records was the most promising. The band entered the studio again in 1999 to record a second demo to flesh out some new tunes they had been working on. This session produced “Into Glory They Ride”, “Mr. Down On His Luck”, “Only The Strong Survive”, “Our Land, Not Your Land”, “Normandy”, “Social Schism” and others. The band already had a barrel load of new songs to record when they inked the deal with RAC Records for an album to be released in 2000.

In the year 2000 RAC Records released the album “A Better Land”. The striking artwork and no holds barred politics earned the band a reputation good or bad throughout America and abroad. The record soon became one of the best selling RAC/oi records of that year. During 2000 the band allowed Prophecy Records to release their 1999 demos. Prophecy first released the “Commie Killers” single. The single had 7 tracks from the demo sessions. The first 100 copies were pressed on orange/white swirled vinyl. The second 100 copies pressed on blue/white swirled vinyl and the remaining 300 pressed on black vinyl.

Shortly thereafter the band agreed to record some new songs for a split CD with Brazil’s The Skulls. The band produced 7 demos they had been working on for the split and these were released as the “Nations Of Pride” CD on Pro-Am Records. A couple years passed before the follow up album to “A Better Land” was released. The album “The World Needs A Hero” is regarded by many to be their best effort to date and was a huge improvement over their freshman effort in all regards. “The World Needs A Hero” firmly etched their sound as something the band could call their own.

It has been a couple of years since the release of “The World Needs A Hero”. In that time span the band has released a CD of rarities titled “Smash the Reds” on Patriotic Rock and Roll Records. The album is a massive tome of b-sides, live, demo, alternate versions and otherwise hard to find tracks including three tracks from the short lived project band God Of War.

Now it is the year 2004 and the band is currently working on their third album “Marx Was Wrong”, a split 7-inch vinyl with the North Carolina hardcore band Empire Falls, and a complete re-recording of their first album “A Better Land” which will include additional bonus tracks. All three projects are to be released within the year 2004.

–Doug T. 2004