Sparkling and badass: Redd Kross stops by Pappy & Harriet’s with a new album, a documentary and an upcoming book

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more unique band than the SoCal glam-punk pop-rock group known as Redd Kross.

Since 1978, brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald have left an indelible mark on every genre they’ve tackled, inspiring bands like Black Flag, Melvins, Red Hot Chili Peppers and more. Their blend of bubbly and badass has spawned hits like “Linda Blair” and “Annette’s Got the Hits.”

This is shaping up to be a banner year for Redd Kross. Documentary Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story is on the film festival circuit, while the book Now You’re One of Us: The Incredible Story of Redd Kross is in the works for an October 24 release. The band plans to release a self-titled double LP in late June and head out on tour, including a special stop at Pappy & Harriet’s on Wednesday, July 3.

In a recent Zoom interview with Jeff McDonald, he said the events of 2024 are welcome, but “not overwhelming.”

“It’s kind of a surprise that it all came together at the same time,” McDonald said. “The movie Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story started eight years ago. Andrew Reich, the director, would come by regularly to interview us and collect footage. We didn’t make the film; it’s his vision of who we are, so it was always in the background. The book, Now You’re One of Us: The Incredible Story of Redd Krosswas coming together as well. We didn’t even plan on doing an album until we got a song commissioned for the movie, and we had a great time working with our producer, Josh Klinghoffer. … Steve had some free time after touring, so we just went ahead and started recording an album. It ended up being a double album, and then all of a sudden it all came out at once.”

Redd Kross’ book is something of a supplement to the film, and includes stories that didn’t make it into the film, as well as things that weren’t allowed to be shown on camera.

“Andrew created this movie for Redd Kross fans, but it’s also an interesting story for people who have never heard of us,” McDonald said. “It’s a really interesting story, but it’s a 90-minute movie … (and) the die-hard fans who have been following us for decades are like, ‘What? You didn’t talk about this, you didn’t talk about that.’ Luckily, the book is a companion piece, so we can really get into the details of all this crazy stuff.”

McDonald said he enjoyed reliving moments from the past.

“When we first started playing live music, it was the late ’70s, early ’80s, and there was no video,” he said. “People didn’t film concerts, they didn’t have cameras … so the only people who photographed concerts were people who would bring their whole photo studios with them to a concert. It’s almost like we were in the ’30s or something, and we were Robert Johnson. I thought there wasn’t a lot of source material, but there was a lot more than I thought. … With social media, it’s amazing how people are showing up with these photos that I didn’t know existed. It’s really cool to have them in a film, the photos and then the occasional appearance on TV or cable TV.”

One of the most exciting moments in the documentary is one of Redd Kross’ first television appearances on a Los Angeles TV show.

“There was a show called New Wave Theatre “It was a cable show that ran in Los Angeles for just a few years in the early ’80s,” McDonald said. “It was hosted by Peter Ivers, who was famous for his role in the David Lynch movie Eraser head. That show actually had some of the only known television footage of bands like 45 Grave, Circle Jerks, and all these bands from Los Angeles that had never been on TV. We had made some recordings, and I had never seen them, and one of the recordings, which I thought was lost forever, turned up in the movie. I was completely, incredibly excited. Steven is about 14 years old, and it’s broadcast quality.”

Redd Kross began when Jeff and Steve were 15 and 11 years old, respectively. Jeff explained how their brotherly bond has kept Redd Kross a constant force.

“Steven and I are brothers, so whenever we felt like working or making a record and touring, we would make plans and do it, because we already had that relationship,” he said.

A big change in their lives came when Redd Kross took a nearly decade-long hiatus in 1999.

“We took a nine-year hiatus from playing shows, and it was really interesting, but at the same time, we were still creative,” McDonald said. “Steven was doing a lot of bass on demand. … I had a kid, and I was just having fun, making weird films and experimental recordings. … It was really cool to have that sort of almost decade to do what we wanted, and maybe that’s another reason why we’re still doing it today.”

Behind the scenes of Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story reminded the brothers how, even though they hit as hard as many other punk, metal and rock bands, their glam, bubblegum and pop leanings have always been striking.

“Some of our tours we would end up in Seattle, and this was before the grunge explosion, but all these bands were just starting out, so they were all Redd Kross fans from the time we did our tour. Neurositis “We were always very happy to be on stage and playing rock’n’roll, but we didn’t know we had such a happy temperament. We were probably as unhappy as those guys, but it wasn’t really part of our image.”

Some of Redd Kross’s earliest shows were with hardcore punk pioneers Black Flag.

“Those shows were awesome,” McDonald said. “This was before there were suburban hardcore bands. All the bands in L.A. were all art students or survivors of the glitter scene. Black Flag was one of the first heavy metal bands to come out of the L.A. punk scene, so if you went to those shows back then, there was extreme pop, extreme art rock, heavy Black Flag, and then pop, like us. … Los Angeles was like that for maybe a year and a half or two years before it went full-on hardcore.”

The McDonald brothers are fully aware that a double disc in 2024 is odd, but they’re thrilled to have creative surplus at this stage of their career.

“Most people don’t have a surplus of great songs at 45, and we just have a lot of really great songs that span our entire catalog,” McDonald said. “We didn’t intentionally make a record that sounds like all of our records combined, but it does feel a little bit like it. It’s got the full double playthrough, which is cliché and stupid, but it works really well as a record. I know it’s a novelty to play a record in its entirety in this day and age, but it’s a really cool experience, and anyone who wants to experience putting a record on and listening to it from start to finish will know what that feels like with our new record.”

Redd Kross will perform at 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 3, at Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, 53688 Pioneertown Road, in Pioneertown. Tickets are $25. For tickets and more information, call 760-228-2222 and visit pappyandharriets.com.