Who The Hell Are You? Red Orkestra

Here's the first of two bonus editions of Who The Hell Are You? Here we're talking to Red Orkestra. If you'd like to see your musical entity featured in future weeks, write to chart@chartattack.com with the subject heading "Who The Hell Are You?" or something to that effect.

Who are you?
We are the Red Orkestra: Johnny Charmer (vocals, guitars, keys), Stephen Parkinson (lead guitar), Neil McDonald (bass), Rick Andrade (drums).

Where are you from?
We are currently based out of the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge area.

How did your group start?
Johnny started playing in Toronto in 2000 with bands such as Red Autumn Fall, Charmer and Neil Leyton. Craving an outlet for his own songwriting, Johnny formed Red Orkestra at the end of 2003 and immediately headed for the studio. The band's lineup has changed since then. In its present incarnation, Red Orkestra has been together since spring 2005.

Describe your music in 100 words or less.
Red Orkestra play what we like to call urban folk music. Rock 'n' roll, folk and pop-inspired, we draw on the protest attitude of early folk, but are less organic in nature. This is not folk music for the woods or the mountains, but for the surging city; cold, unnatural and inhumane. The songs, however, are songs of hope and struggle against the status quo. They are hymns of popular and personal revolt — an attempt to salvage something human from this life. Fans of Billy Bragg, The Smiths, The Manics, etc. would likely enjoy Red Orkestra.

How was your recent release recorded?
Life With The Machines was recorded in a small studio that belongs to Stephen Kozmeniuk (from the band Boy) and was recorded by Steve Payne using Pro Tools. It was produced by Johnny Charmer and Steve Payne.

How committed are you to making music a full-time career?
That's always the dream. It'll happen someday, as long we keep working hard at it. If one concentrates on making the best music one can, people will take notice eventually. More than anything, it really is about hard work and sticking to what you know (and not getting caught up in fads).

What are your day-jobs?
Stephen works at RIM in Waterloo, Neil is a music writer and works for the Beat Goes On record stores, which is where Rick works as well. Johnny works in a research department at the University Of Waterloo (and no, not as a test subject!).

Where can people find your music, either on the web or in stores?
Red Orkestra albums can be purchased at Scratch, www.fwmusicstore.co.uk, or at live shows. Tracks can be listened to or downloaded from our website or our MySpace page.

What's something we haven't asked about you'd like our readers to know about?
The first Red Orkestra album, After The Wars, was the first physical worldwide release to receive a Creative Commons license, which allows people who buy (or even download) the record to freely copy and share the music with their friends and family without fear of legal repercussions. Life With The Machines was also released under a Creative Commons license.