To date, Red has released three studio albums: End of Silence (2006), Innocence & Instinct (2009), and Until We Have Faces (2011). The first two albums earned the group Grammy Award Nominations for Best Rock Gospel Album.
History
Early years (2004–2005)
Red was formed by twin brothers, guitarist Anthony and bassist Randy Armstrong, lead vocalist Michael Barnes, and guitarist Jasen Rauch. According to the End of Silence album booklet, Rauch is the band's primary composer. Enlisting the talents of Grammy-nominated and Dove award-winning rock producer, Rob Graves, Red signed a development contract with Graves' independent production company. After recording several demo songs, the band was quickly signed by Sony BMG imprint, Essential Records. Andrew Hendrix parted ways with the band and after an extended search, the band chose Hayden Lamb (twin brother of former Paramore guitarist, Hunter Lamb) as his replacement on drums. As a result of his successful early work with Red, Graves was chosen to produce the band's debut album End of Silence.When asked if they are a "Christian band," Anthony Armstrong states, "We always like to call ourselves a Christian band because that’s what we are. If they ask us if we’re a Christian band, we tell them yes. And if they ask us why, we tell them why."
In an interview on Always Acoustic, Jasen Rauch talks about the meaning of the band name, Red. He states that redemption has been used but says that it's not short for anything, it's just Red. He gives credit to the drummer they had at the time for the name.
The band is well known for their fiery live shows, performing an impressive 1300+ concerts since End of Silence was released. They have sold more than 700,000 copies of End of Silence and Innocence & Instinct combined.
End of Silence (2005–2007)
Main article: End of Silence
The band's debut album End of Silence was released in 2006, and was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Rock Gospel Album at the 49th Grammy AwardsThe album's first single, "Breathe Into Me," peaked at No. 15 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart and won the "Rock Recorded Song of the Year" award at the 38th annual GMA Dove Awards in 2007 The music video is set to photographs in a film lab, where the band plays. "Breathe Into Me" also broke the top ten on Active Rock charts.
On November 27, 2007, Red's van and trailer crashed on Interstate 24. There was major damage to the vehicles involved, and former drummer Hayden Lamb suffered injuries to his shoulder that forced him to sit out on their headlining tour.
Red was voted for the best rock recorded song “Lost” at the 40th Annual GMA Dove Awards.
The song "Let Go" was featured in the Activision video game Baja 1000. The song "Pieces" was featured in the trailer for The Blind Side.
Innocence & Instinct (2008–2010)
Main article: Innocence & Instinct
Red made Radio & Records history as the first band in Christian rock history to have a song debut at No. 1 when the band's single "Fight Inside" was released in November 2008.
The album was inspired by a car crash involving the band where their van and trailer of gear were rolled over on a highway. Lamb was injured in the crash, leading to his departure from the band. Lamb was replaced with Joe Rickard; a friend and drum tech of Lamb's who was looking for another band to play in after leaving his previous group The Wedding. Rickard was only a touring and studio drummer up to this point in his career with Red, but was recently made an official member of the band.
The meaning behind Red's video, "Death of Me", is explained by Randy in an interview with NewReleaseTuesday.com: "We used (the) twins (and a double of vocalist Michael Barnes) to symbolize two opposing forces in the video, 'Death of Me.' In it, we see the positive side of things being chased by the negative side of things, and in the end there’s a battle. The battle doesn’t seem to resolve itself in the video. That’s because we will face struggles in our lives, even though we do find resolve in certain situations."[12]
Red unveiled their new site on September 24 which they will now use as their main hub in connecting with the fans. Coinciding with the release of their new site, Red released the music video for their new single, "Forever", which was made using clips from their tour much like the video for "Let Go." Soon after the band announced in a podcast on Kyte.com that Joe is a member of Red and Hayden will not be returning due to the injuries sustained from the car crash. Red also announced soon after that Jasen Rauch will not be a touring member of the band anymore due to needing to spend more time with his family. Rauch will still be part of Red and will continue to write for Red as well. There will be no replacement.
The band embarked on tour with Saving Abel, Pop Evil, and Taddy Porter on the Class of 2009 Tour. On their website the band announced that they will be touring with Pillar and The Wedding on their new tour "Nothing and Everything" Tour which started in January 2010. In March the band toured with Breaking Benjamin, Thousand Foot Krutch and Chevelle.
The band has announced an April and May tour with Skillet and The Letter Black which will be called the Awake and Alive Tour part two; a continuation of Skillet's headlining 2009 tour.[15][16]
Red won "Rock Album Of The Year" for Innocence & Instinct at the 2010 Dove Awards. Their music video for Ordinary World came out on July 6, 2010 on iTunes. They are scheduled to open up a few dates of Creed's 2010 summer tour. They are also scheduled to headline a few dates with 12 Stones starting July 13. Red recently announced their second leg part of their Nothing and Everything Tour featuring Disciple, Brian Welch, and Silverline. The tour is mainly going to be in the west coast, starting October 28.
Until We Have Faces (2010–present)
Main article: Until We Have Faces
Until We Have Faces was released February 1, 2011. The band released a teaser video on Facebook via YouTube which featured the band name on a sheet of parchment, which burned away, revealing the album title.[18][19] Vocalist Michael Barnes stated on his Facebook page that the new album will be produced by Rob Graves, who also produced the first two albums. A picture was recently posted on producer Rob Graves's Twitter account showing three guitars with tape on them showing tunings of A#, A, and G#, which hints that this record may be heavier than the previous two. Also, videos are displayed from the making of the record on Red's Youtube, Facebook, and website. Christian Book Distributors released a partial track listing on their official website. As part of the preliminary hype for the album, Red asked fans to send photos of their faces to the band. On December 9, codes were given to all fans that sent in pictures of their faces to download an MP3 for the song "Feed the Machine". On January 6, the new Red website has been unveiled. The fan photos were used to create a mosaic poster. Red appeared on Conan O'Brien on February 8, 2011, as their first ever live television performance and appeared on The Tonight Show on February 16, 2011. The album also debuted at No. 2 on the billboard list. "Feed the Machine" started to be added to Active Rock Radio stations in mid-February. Until We Have Faces has sold more than 100,000 copies "Start Again" won the award for Best Rock Recorded Song of the Year at the 2011 GMA Dove Awards.Red has been part of the WinterJam 2011 lineup which had started up in January.They will also be joining Union Entertainment label-mates Hinder on their All American Nightmare Tour which will kick off May 10, 2011
Band members
- Michael Barnes – lead vocals (2004–present)
- Anthony Armstrong – lead guitar, backing vocals (2004–present)
- Randy Armstrong – bass, piano, backing vocals (2004–present)
- Joe Rickard – drums, percussion (2008–present)
- Former members
- Andrew Hendrix – drums, percussion (2004–2006)
- Hayden Lamb – drums, percussion (2006–2008)
- Jasen Rauch – rhythm guitar (2004–2009) (2011)
Discography
| Releases | ||
|---|---|---|
| ↙Studio albums | 3 | |
| ↙Compilation albums | 6 | |
| ↙EPs | 3 | |
| ↙Singles | 16 | |
| ↙Music videos | 8 | |
Studio albums
| Year | Album | Label | Chart peaks | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Rock | US Indie | US Christ | US Heat | US Alt | US Digital | US Hard Rock | |||||||
| 2006 | End of Silence | Essential | 194 | — | 17 | 7 | 6 | — | — | — | ||||
| 2009 | Innocence & Instinct | Sony Music Entertainment | 15 | 6 | 1 | 1 | — | 4 | 7 | — | ||||
| 2011 | Until We Have Faces | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| "—" denotes a release that did not chart. | ||||||||||||||
Compilation albums
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2006 | X 2006[
|
| 2008 | X 2008
|
Red String Tribute[35]
| |
WOW Hits 2009
| |
| 2009 | WOW Hits 2010
|
| 2010 | X 2010
|
Extended plays
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2007 | Breathe Into Me
|
Connect Sets
| |
| 2011 | Not Alone (Performance Tracks)
|
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart peaks | Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Main | US Alt. | US Rock | US Christian | Christian Rock | |||
| 2006 | "Breathe Into Me" | 15 | — | — | — | 1 | End of Silence |
| "Break Me Down" | — | — | — | — | 1 | ||
| 2007 | "Let Go" | 21 | — | — | — | 1 | |
| "Lost" | — | — | — | — | 1 | ||
| 2008 | "Already Over" | 18 | 26 | — | — | 1 | |
| "Fight Inside" | — | — | — | — | 1 | Innocence & Instinct | |
| "Never Be the Same" | — | — | — | — | 1 | ||
| "Death of Me" | 9 | 37 | 40 | — | 1 | ||
| 2009 | "Forever" | 23 | — | — | — | 1 | |
| "Mystery of You" | — | — | — | — | 1 | ||
| "Start Again" | — | — | — | — | 27 | ||
| 2010 | "Ordinary World" | — | — | — | — | 10 | |
| "Faceless" | — | — | — | 29 | 1 | Until We Have Faces | |
| 2011 | "Feed the Machine" | 21 | — | — | — | — | |
| "Lie to Me (Denial)" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Not Alone" | — | — | — | 46 | — | ||
