The Fabulous Red Diesel – fuel for life!

The Fabulous Red Diesel have been adding colour to Hastings and St Leonards for about ten years now. Fuelled by the dynamo combination of Kat and Will Lee-Ryan, they have been instrumental in staging the Bohemia Village Fayre and have performed at St Leonards Festival – as well as headlining at HOT’s launch party three years ago. Recently, the band have been putting their focus into recording, whilst pondering universal questions. “We Know it’s 43” is the result – HOT’s Erica Smith donned her headphones for a listen.

Listening to The Fabulous Red Diesel at home is a very different experience to seeing them all purple and pinked up on stage. Without the visual distraction, Kat’s vocals are strong and pure and the music is slinky and quietly funky. I imagine sipping a daiquiri in an uptown nightclub whilst the band, besuited and sequinned perform for the cocktail crowd. Kat’s gran was a Tiller Girl, so there might be some reason behind my fantasy.

The lyrics sometimes detourne this decadent image. One of my favourite songs, Hausfrau, is a clever way to encourage a domestically retarded partner to enjoy engaging in a bit of housework. All the songs are strong, and so they should be. The producer, Phill Brown, is quietly famous, if you get time, take a look – www.phillbrown.net. He recorded Bob Marley, Faithless, Led Zepellin, Dido and John Martyn.

“We know it’s 43” has spun more than once around my headphones and made me yearn to see the band again. Fortunately, that’s possible – The Fabulous Red Diesel are playing a rare local gig at Hastings’ unlikeliest new, cool venue – The Fountain in Queens Road, opposite Morrisons. It’s this Saturday – 8 December. They’ll be on stage at 9pm – it’s  free, and they’ll have their CDs for sale!

If you aren’t familiar with TFRD,  pop down to The Fountain, or check them out online:
www.ThefabulousRedDiesel.com
Twitter: @FabRedDiesel
Facebook: TheFabulousReddiesel
Youtube: katdogization

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