NZ Musician Article

Where: NZ Musician
When: Feb/Mar 2008

Their just-released album 'Trapped Inside' may be the band's debut, but frontman Chris Yong reckons it is almost like a 'best of' for Redline.

"It has some tracks that were written shortly after the band first started back in 2003. It's pretty much a time capsule of where we've been musically so far. The band's sound continues to evolve and no doubt the next record will be even more interesting and varied than this one."

Distorted guitars (courtesy of Craig Broadbridge), loud drums (Richard Yong) and heavy bass (Nick Gregory) are the high revving engine for Redline's distinctive rock metal exhaust noise. Chris Yong is still best known as (one of) Tadpole's former guitarist, but here in his own band takes vocalist and driving duties. None have had any formal music study he says, they are just passionate about music and their instruments and have picked things up along the way.

"We're not a full-blown metal band but we're too heavy to be a straight rock band. We like writing music that has energy, melody, and big grooves!"

When Chris split from Tadpole his brother Richard was over in the UK but came back to Auckland to officially form the band six months later. They've opened for Evanescence and Disturbed and played tour support for some top locals like Blindspott and The Bleeders, learning that they are just as comfortable playing on the big stages as the regular ones. Filming their first music video for Time After Time (a Best Independent Video nominee at the 2005 Juice TV Music Awards) rates as the first major achievement for the band.

"The amount of effort and planning it took to pull it off was immense but it was made all the more worthwhile when we did a video release show in Auckland and sold it out."

Now in 2008 they have a 7-track, self-funded and self-released mini album to promote. Recorded at York St and The Lab, Paul Matthews (Blindspott, Stylus, Opshop, Take The Willing) produced it, with Chris co-producing parts. Kenny MacDonald (credits with Texas and The Proclaimers) mixed it at The Macs Room in Auckland. "We were unsure initially, given the artists he's worked with prior, how it would sound. Safe to say, we think he did an absolutely amazing job on this record! Pelle Henricsson, who was involved with producing Blindspott's second record and Take The Willing's latest, handled the mastering in Sweden."

Redline have also got a few connections in the UK and are looking at relocating there towards the end of this year, all going according to plan.

"What more can you ask for really other than to keep exposing your music to new people, share it and stay in touch with people that connect with it."

www.myspace.com/redlinemusic
Richard Thorne

Wellington Concert Review

What: Redline supporting Disturbed
When: Wed 10 September
Where: TSB Bank Arena, Wellington
Reviewer: Muzic.net.nz

Hard rocking and happy to see us all, Redline fed off the mosh’s energy to get this epic concert off to a roaring start.

Playing only a short 20 minute set, they still managed to fire everyone up before Altarbridge hit the stage.

They performed well and filled the opening stint like they were headlining the show and the sparse, early crowd responded to them well.

Relatively unknown by the sweaty masses, however easily capable of stepping up to the same level of energy as the international acts that followed.

It would have been fantastic to let them play a longer set.

A strong local act and one to keep an eye on for the future.

Redline Band Update

After our whirlwind week the other week, here's a quick update on what's been happening.

Rich and Craig flew out on Tuesday last week and they are both now in London.

Nick is staying in the south island for now, Big Val returned to Greytown and I'm back in Auckland.

Ultimately, we're all going to meet up over in the UK as we're relocating the band there.

Why are we heading to the UK?
We love NZ but we're going where there is more opportunity to pursue our music.

New Redline song demos
I've started work on some newer demos also. Rich has already laid down his drum tracks and Craig recorded his guitar parts the night before he flew out.

I'll keep you posted when I have more to share.

Disturbed Tour Pics: Auckland

Here are some pics from the Auckland leg of Disturbed's Music As A Weapon tour we performed at along with P.O.D. and Alter Bridge.

Disturbed Tour Pics: Christchurch

Here are some pics from the Christchurch leg of Disturbed's Music As A Weapon tour we performed at along with P.O.D. and Alter Bridge.

Disturbed Tour Pics: Wellington

Here are some tour pics from the Wellington leg of Disturbed's Music As A Weapon tour we performed at along with P.O.D. and Alter Bridge.

Third & final show of Disturbed tour: Christchurch

Well what can i say, this show was definitely the highlight of the whole tour. The production company finally got their act together and everything was running on time. ALL bands got to have a sound check and we were actually able to set up our gear before the doors opened unlike the previous two shows.

We also had enough time to get properly warmed up in our dressing rooms and to play our full 20min set which we hadn't been able to do on the other shows. From the moment we first arrived at the venue things just felt really good and we knew this was gonna be the show of the tour. Especially because Christchurch crowds know how to rock!!

I believed we played our best set of the whole tour that night, and the crowd must have loved it as well because as soon as we finished playing, a chant of "Redline Redline" started to fill the arena. I couldn't believe what i was hearing especially since we were only the support band. That was definitely one of the highlights of my career so far hearing that.

All 3 other bands played kick ass sets that night, and since it was the last show of the tour everyone was keen to party. Our celebrations were already under way as soon as we finished playing and we got told that the Tap Room is where everyone's gonna go party after the show.

We arrived at the Tap Room and the P.O.D boys and Alterbridge boys were already there, then within about half an hour all of Disturbed turned up. It was definitely a night i wont forget in a very long time as it was an honour and privilege to hang out with all those guys.

So where to next for Redline? Well i'm sad that this tour has ended, but we have some exciting times ahead. We're making the big move to the UK to try and spread our wings and fulfill our dreams of making this our living. Myself and Craig leave in 2 days time, Nick is coming over at the start of October and Chris is gonna hang here in NZ until we get a tour sorted.

We'll be sure to give you all regular updates as to how things are going for us.

Til then, over and out.

Christchurch Playlist:
1. Echoes
2. Now
3. Tearaway
4. Time After Time
5. Nothing Else
6. Thriller

Second Show of Disturbed Tour: Wellington

This show almost had the potential to be as much of a technical difficulties disaster as the Auckland was. Thankfully it wasn't, for us anyway it was a much better show.

Just as with the Auckland show, all the setting up of production ran late, in fact it ran later than the previous show.

Disturbed were supposed to sound check about 4pm but didn't get the chance to until 5:30pm which then meant none of the other bands got to sound check at all.

We'd only just managed to get our equipment set up on stage when they opened the doors late at about 7:05pm.

As a band, we were ready to start straight away but things were delayed because the on stage monitoring system still hadn't been set up.

Once again, we were forced to stand around on stage waiting until things were completely set up and ready to work.

Our performance was like night and day compared to Auckland. We got to play 4 full songs and everything worked, backing tracks, both guitars, backup vocals, everything!

Things definitely felt better with much less stress leading into it. We still haven't been able to play our full set as intended but I'm hoping the Christchurch show will be the one.

One reviewer got there early to catch our performance and highly rated our show!
You can his full review at muzic.net.nz.

In a nutshell, this was a much better experience and show from us as compared to the first effort.

We got to mingle and get to know P.O.D. and Alter Bridge along with their crew much better in Wellington after our set. They are all such nice, down to earth people!

We're in Christchurch at the moment and all of us are looking forward to the show tomorrow night. I have a feeling it's going to be THE show of the tour!

Wellington Playlist:
1. Now
2. Tearaway
3. Nothing Else
4. Thriller

Redline with P.O.D.

Here is another quick pic of me with Sonny and Traa from P.O.D. after I also interviewed them for my music tv show Rockzilla yesterday.

The interview should screen soon.

First Show of Disturbed NZ Tour: Auckland

It's quite late as I write this but I wanted to provide a quick recap of how tonight went for us which pretty much didn't go well as it was basically plagued with technical difficulties before we even got to perform on stage.

We had no sound check and were expecting to at least get a line check which is where you quickly test that all instruments are working, that didn't even happen.

I'm not sure how but all the scheduled time to set up and sound check went out the window and we started setting up as people entered the venue.

We had anticipated to start out set at 7:10pm after doors opened at 6:45pm, I think we eventually got to start setting up at 7:05pm.

By the time microphone difficulties were only half sorted, it was about 7:25pm and we had to start playing.

My vocal microphone didn't work so I had to use Craig's one.

My sound guy informed me later that Craig's guitar didn't even come through nor did our backing tracks or backing vocals for the entire set which lasted 3 songs.

Anyone that attended, would have seen us on stage ready to go but just couldn't due to technical difficulties.

We're all a bit bummed at how it panned out because we tried to be as professional as possible and to put on as best a show we could play, that didn't happen tonight.

It's disheartening because this would have been the first time many people would of heard of us and it felt like a shambles through no fault of our own.

To our credit, the feedback I did receive on our 3 song set was very supportive and we just need to remember that we did the best we could given the circumstances.

Here's hoping the rest of the tour pans out a lot better than tonight.

Over and out.

Auckland Playlist:
1. Now
2. Nothing Else
3. Thriller

Redline with Disturbed

Here is a quick pic of me and Craig with Dan and John from Disturbed after I interviewed them for my music tv show Rockzilla earlier today.

The interview should screen in the next few weeks after it gets edited and I'll try to Youtube it sometime soon too.

Redline heard in Malaysia!

I was pleasantly surprised to hear from Big Val on Saturday night that Redline was getting heard in Malaysia!

Pedro from Naquadah just happens to be a world champion paint baller and he was there recently checking out some club when he heard Redline come over the sound system.

He went up to the DJ playing the track and said that he was playing his mate's band and asked about how he had heard of Redline?

He replied that because of Blindspott, he searched out more NZ metal music!

That's pretty cool in my book.

Video Blog Update - 6 September

In video blog update 4, we talk about Rich's new drum endorsement from Agean cymbals and the upcoming New Zealand Disturbed, POD, Alter Bridge tour!

Setlist for Disturbed NZ tour

Here's a sneak peak at our set list for the upcoming NZ Disturbed tour for next week:

• Echoes - intro
• Now
• Tearaway
• Time After Time
• Nothing Else
• Thriller - cover

Tearaway is a newer track that isn't on our record and yes, that is a cover of the Michael Jackson song!

Normally we don't like doing covers unless they have been messed with in some way and we have certainly done that with this song.

Our performance time on Disturbed tour

Just letting you know that we are kicking things off pretty early.

We haven't received the official tour books yet but we've been told by the promoter that the doors open at 7pm and our set needs to be finished by 7:30pm.

We will play 7:10pm - 7:30pm

It's not exactly an ideal time slot, it just means if you're coming to the shows, you'll need to get there REALLY EARLY so you don't get stuck in queues trying to get in.

You won't want to miss it, we have a few surprises up our sleeves for those that get to see us!

Disturbed Tour Starts In 6 Days...

Only 6 days to go before we support Disturbed on another NZ tour.

We got to play with them 2 years ago when they toured New Zealand on their Ten Thousand Fists tour and now we get to repeat it all again, this time with P.O.D. and Alter Bridge kicking along!

What's even funnier is that Chris will be interviewing Disturbed this time around on his music show he does on Alt TV called Rockzilla!


What: Disturbed - Music As A Weapon Tour
With: P.O.D, Alter Bridge & Redline

When & Where:
Tue 9 Sept - Vector Arena, Auckland
Wed 10 Sept - TSB Bank Arena, Wellington
Fri 12 Sept - Westpac Arena, Christchurch