Redd Kross – Stay Away From Downtown
Description
Redd Kross — “Stay Away From Downtown”
“Stay Away From Downtown” is a song by American rock band Redd Kross, released in 2012 on the album Researching the Blues. The record marked the band’s first full-length studio album in approximately fifteen years and reunited members associated with the group’s influential late-1980s lineup.
Built around bright guitar riffs, layered harmonies, and a tightly constructed chorus, “Stay Away From Downtown” reflects Redd Kross’s distinctive combination of power pop, punk rock, glam rock, and alternative rock. The song preserves the raw energy of the band’s Los Angeles punk origins while emphasizing the melodic songwriting and pop-culture sensibility that became central to its sound.
The official music video was directed by Jeff McDonald and Dave Markey. Its playful, performance-driven style complements the band’s long-standing mixture of rock-and-roll attitude, humor, fashion, and underground culture.
Founded by brothers Jeff and Steven McDonald, Redd Kross emerged from the late-1970s Los Angeles punk scene while the members were still teenagers. Over the following decades, the group developed a sound that connected punk’s immediacy with 1960s pop, 1970s glam, garage rock, and power-pop harmonies.
Redd Kross and Bohemia AfterDark
Bohemia AfterDark interviewed Redd Kross in 1994, 1996, and again in 2024, documenting the band at three different points in its career. Those interviews form part of the Bohemia AfterDark and BVMTV archive, preserving the group’s continuing relationship with Los Angeles music, independent media, and underground rock culture.
The 2024 interview brought that history full circle, reconnecting Bohemia AfterDark with Redd Kross approximately thirty years after the first interview.
Artist: Redd Kross
Song: “Stay Away From Downtown”
Album: Researching the Blues
Released: 2012
Label: Merge Records
Genres: Power pop • Punk rock • Glam rock • Alternative rock
Video directors: Jeff McDonald and Dave Markey
Bohemia AfterDark interviews: 1994 • 1996 • 2024
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Redd Kross – Stay Away From Downtown | BVMTV Vault
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Redd Kross – Stay Away From Downtown Video & History
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Watch Redd Kross perform “Stay Away From Downtown” and explore the song’s history, the Researching the Blues album, and Bohemia AfterDark’s Redd Kross interviews from 1994, 1996, and 2024.
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Redd Kross Stay Away From Downtown
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Redd Kross 1996 interview
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Los Angeles punk bands
Power pop music videos
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BVMTV Redd Kross
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Redd Kross
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Redd Kross in 2007
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| Background information | |
| Also known as |
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| Origin | Hawthorne, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Years active |
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| Members | Jeff McDonald Steve McDonald Jason Shapiro Dale Crover |
| Past members | Dez Cadena Gere Fennelly Robert Hecker Greg Hetson Janet Housden Victor Indrizzo Jack Irons Eddie Kurdziel Tracy Lea Chett Lehrer Roy McDonald Dave Peterson Vicki Peterson Brian Reitzell Ron Reyes Eric Skodis John Stielow |
| Website | https://reddkross.com |
Redd Kross is an American rock band from Hawthorne, California, who had their roots in 1978 in a punk rock band called the Tourists, which was started by brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald while Steve was still in middle school.[1] With the addition of friends Greg Hetson on guitar and John Stielow on drums, the band’s first gig was opening for Black Flag. The band changed their name to Red Cross in 1979, and in 1982 changed the spelling due to threatened legal action by the charitable organization International Red Cross. The band has since released eight albums and three EPs. Their style was originally hardcore punk, but they have since branched out to touch on various rock and roll styles.
Career
Red Cross
In April 1979, the band had their first practice in the living room of original drummer, John Stielow’s parent’s home. They eventually changed the band name to Red Cross, which was allegedly inspired by the masturbation scene in the film The Exorcist.[2] They soon began working on their 1980 debut self-titled EP. Eventually, Hetson left to join the Circle Jerks (and later Bad Religion) and Reyes left for Black Flag.[1] They appeared on the Posh Boy compilation The Siren, and then to complete the lineup on their first full-length album, Born Innocent, they assembled a revolving door of musicians including original drummer John Stielow.[1] Full of the brothers’ pop culture obsessions, Born Innocent featured odes to Linda Blair (who starred in a television movie of the same name), a cover of “Look on Up at the Bottom” by the Carrie Nations from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, and Charles Manson (whose song “Cease to Exist” they covered). The album also contains nods to Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Tatum O’Neal, and Lita Ford. Not long after the release of the album, the group was threatened with a lawsuit from the International Red Cross and changed the spelling of their name to Redd Kross.[1]
Redd Kross
In 1984, Redd Kross returned with drummer Dave Peterson to record Teen Babes from Monsanto, an album featuring covers. Later that year, lead guitarist Robert Hecker joined the band, as they embarked on tour in support of Teen Babes from Monsanto. In that same year, they were featured on the soundtrack of Desperate Teenage Lovedolls with their cover of the Brady Bunch Kids‘ “It’s a Sunshine Day”.
In 1987, Redd Kross released Neurotica.
1990s
On February 20, 1990, Redd Kross appeared on Episode 2 of the cult Public-access television show “Decoupage” with Summer Caprice.[3]
In 1990, Redd Kross signed with Atlantic Records, releasing Third Eye,[1] and appeared with David Cassidy in the film Spirit of ’76, and issued several singles, including “Annie’s Gone”, which had some mild success on college radio.
The album Phaseshifter was released in 1993,[1] with new band members Eddie Kurdziel, Gere Fennelly, and Brian Reitzell. The videos for “Jimmy’s Fantasy” and “Lady In The Front Row” were both shown on MTV’s 120 Minutes. They toured on Phaseshifter for over a year, headlining their own shows as well as tours supporting The Lemonheads and The Spin Doctors in late 1993 and Stone Temple Pilots in 1994.
In 1997, Redd Kross released Show World,[1] produced by Chris Shaw (who also produced albums for Weezer and Soul Asylum) and toured supporting The Presidents of the United States of America. The band took an indefinite hiatus after the Show World tour, and their future was uncertain after the death of guitarist Eddie Kurdziel on June 6, 1999.
2010s
In 2019, Emmy Award–winning television comedy writer Andrew Reich, best known as an Executive Producer on Friends, was directing a documentary on the band called Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story.[4]
Dale Crover joined Redd Kross on drums fulltime.
2020s
On June 26, 2020, the band reissued their debut EP on Merge Records.[5]
Steven McDonald and Redd Kross were included in a feature article for the 25th anniversary of TapeOp magazine.[6]
The documentary Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story received its Los Angeles premiere at the Don’t Knock the Rock Festival on May 23, 2024.[7] [8]
On June 28, 2024, Redd Kross released its eighth studio album, a self-titled double album, featuring singles “Candy Coloured Catastrophe” and “Too Good to Be True.”
The brothers released a memoir, Now You’re One of Us: The Incredible Story of Redd Kross, in October 2024, co-written with Dan Epstein and published by Omnibus Press.[9]
Side projects
The McDonald brothers collaborated with Astrid McDonald (Jeff’s daughter with Charlotte Caffey, guitarist for The Go-Go’s) and Anna Waronker (Steve’s wife, frontwoman of That Dog) on a side project. Performing as Ze Malibu Kids, they released the album Sound It Out in 2002.[10][11]
Both McDonald brothers appeared with David Cassidy in the comedy film The Spirit of ’76. [12]
Soundtracks
Redd Kross songs appear on the soundtracks to Desperate Teenage Lovedolls, Good Burger, PCU, Bordello of Blood, An American Werewolf in Paris, and Varsity Blues. Their song “1976” plays over the end credits of the 1990 movie Spirit of ’76. They contributed one song “It’s a Scream” for the 2000 film Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday The Thirteenth but the soundtrack was never released and the song itself wasn’t heard until it appeared on Hot Issue in 2016. The song “Uglier” was licensed and used in the film Hits by David Cross.[citation needed]
Discography
Albums
| Title | Year | Label | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [13] |
|||
| Born Innocent | 1982 | Smoke 7/Frontier | — |
| Neurotica | 1987 | Big Time | — |
| Third Eye | 1990 | Atlantic | — |
| Phaseshifter | 1993 | This Way Up | 99 |
| Show World | 1997 | Mercury/This Way Up | — |
| Researching the Blues | 2012 | Merge | — |
| Beyond the Door | 2019 | Merge | — |
| Redd Kross AKA The Redd Album | 2024 | In the Red Records | — |
EPs
- Red Cross (Posh Boy) (1980)
- Teen Babes from Monsanto (Gasatanka) (1984)
- 2500 Redd Kross Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Sympathy for the Record Industry) (1993)
Compilations
- Hot Issue (Redd Kross Fashion Records) (2016)
- Oh Canada! Hot Issue Vol. 2: Show World Tour Live (Redd Kross Fashion Records) (2016)
DVDs
- Got Live If You Must (Bittersweet)(2008)
- A History Lesson Part 1 – Independent (2010)
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Modern Rock |
AUS [13] |
UK [14] |
|||
| 1990 | “Annie’s Gone” | 16 | — | — | Third Eye |
| 1992 | “Trance” | — | 178 | — | – |
| 1993 | “Switchblade Sister” | — | — | — | – |
| “Jimmy’s Fantasy” | — | 133 | — | Phaseshifter | |
| “Lady in the Front Row” | — | 97 | — | ||
| 1994 | “Visionary” | — | — | 75 | |
| “Yesterday Once More“ | — | 84 | 45 | If I Were a Carpenter | |
| 1997 | “Get Out Of Myself” | — | — | 63 | Show World |
| “Mess Around” | — | — | 84 | ||
| “Secret Life” | — | — | 95 | ||
Compilation appearances
- The Siren (Posh Boy) (1980)
- Includes the entire Red Cross EP
- Public Service EP (Smoke 7) (1981)
- Includes “Cease to Exist”, “Everyday There’s Someone New” and “Kill Someone You Hate”
- Hell Comes to Your House (Bemin Brain/Time Bomb) (1981)
- Includes “Puss ‘n’ Boots”
- American Youth Report (Invasion Records) (1982)
- Includes “Notes and Chords Mean Nothing to Me”
- Enigma Variations (Enigma/Virgin) (1985)
- Includes “Citadel”
- The Melting Pot (SST) (1988)
- Billed as Revolution 409 performs covers of The Osmonds – Crazy Horses & The Sylvers, Boogie Fever.
- Billed as Ledd Kross performs a cover of Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven
- The Spirit of 76 – Original Soundtrack (Rhino) (1991)
- Includes “1976”
- Freedom of Choice: Yesterday’s New Wave Hits as Performed by Today’s Stars (City Slang/Caroline) (1992)
- Band covers The Go-Gos song “How Much More“
- Shared Vision – The Songs of the Beatles (Hammer and Lace/Mercury) (1993)
- Band covers Beatles song “It Won’t Be Long“
- If I Were a Carpenter (A & M) (1994)
- Redd Kross performs a cover of “Yesterday Once More“
- Poptopia! Power Pop Classics of the ’90s (Rhino) (1997)
- Includes “Lady in the Front Row”
- KISS Tribute in Japan (Mercury) (1998)
- With Kanako Nakayama, Redd Kross performs a cover of “Hard Luck Woman”
