The Red Stains
STYLE.
Punk you can dance to… A soup of dub-inspired bass, funky drums, chaotic synths and powerful vocals, all blended up with glitter and tomato ketchup. – perfect for people who have strong opinions on supermarkets.
BIO.
The Red Stains formed in Manchester in 2019 and are Natalie Emslie on vocals, Sterling Kelly on bass, Ella Powell on synths, and Ben Dutton on drums take and they pride in smashing up gender stereotypes and throwing them in your face (and ears!) through their powerful, subversive style and lyrics about shop mannequins, discount supermarkets and the Manchester Metrolink trams.
A fierce, highly energetic and entertaining live act in their own right, The Red Stains are fuelled on chaos and resistance to the injustices in modern day society – social inequality, misogyny, political monotony.
Opinionated and unafraid, this band brings a refreshing urgency that rips up the rulebook and throws glitter and spaghetti hoops over it. Expect maximum chaos and get ready to dance your socks off.
Q & A.
FOR THOSE THAT HAVEN’T HEARD OF YOU BEFORE, DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND IN ONE SENTENCE:
Sterling: Perfect housewives
Ben: Non-alcoholic Rainbow snooker club members
Ella: Hi, we’re ‘the dancing queens’, Manchester’s first ever ABBA tribute act!
Natalie: A freak lab born accident generated by a prerecorded video rerun of supermarket sweep and a plastic bag
INFLUENCES?
We just let ourselves loose inside a room like an open bag of stray cats. All of us have various influences that we merge and experiment with; from the trance electronic hacienda anthems of the 90s to the experimental thrashing post-war anarchist punk of the 70s. It’s all in there. A lot of our influence actually comes from the world around us; We are very opinionated and we’re definitely not afraid to shout about it!
YOUR FAVOURITE MUSIC VENUE IN THE UK:
The Peer Hat
SHARE WITH US AN INTERESTING ANECDOTE ABOUT ONE OF YOUR SONGS:
“Jump The Met” was written about the time I was dirt skint and had to jump on the met without a ticket just to get to practice while trying to avoid getting caught by the metties. A fun one that has a taste of Mancunian charm. PS MAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORT FREE! (Natalie Emslie)
YOU ARE SENT TO MARS, NO CHECK-IN BAGGAGE AND YOU CAN TAKE ONE RECORD. WHICH ONE?
Sterling: Who Are The Girls? by Nova Twins
Natalie: Sounds of the Supermarket 1975 by various artists; So I can make my own utopia in my head pretending I’m in a suburban 1970s supermarket buying fresh produce for my nuclear space family
Ben: L.A.M.F. – The Heartbreakers
Ella: 7G by A.G. Cook
WE ARE PROUDLY SUBCULTURE INSPIRED. HOW ABOUT YOU?
We take bits of inspiration from all different subcultures and collage it all together. Punk, britpop, industrial and electronic… we pick out the bits we like from all the way through music history and stick them all together, beautifully mismatched.
