The only thing I knew about the Red Elvises when I went to see them on a sunny Seattle afternoon was 'surf rock.' The next thing I knew there were four guys on stage tossing around thick Russian accents and a three foot wide fluorescent red bass. The show only got better from there. The drummer, Avi, was a Texan who did most of the talking. Having just recently been turned on to William Gibson, with his themes of Russians everywhere and America turning into a redneck urban wasteland, I laughed every time I thought about a band of of Soviet political refugees being fronted by a Southerner. By the next time I saw 'em, they'd shrunk to a trio, trading instruments every couple songs and lost a lil' of that russki gruffness. Even more fun was had.
Early Red Elvises is definitely surf rock, with a little bit of swing and country mixed in. The writing is good-naturedly lecherous with a sly wit and an underlying impression of earnestness. They haven't lost their touch but things have progressed since their early incarnations. They've been a trio and a four piece at various times. Right now they're a quintet. Elements and themes from electronica, folk, and klezmer have played a large part in later albums. The red bass has even been supplemented by a wooden balalaika of the same proportions. Tho most of their music is in English, most of the album Rokenrol is in Russian. For your listening pleasure the official website has hella live songs (warning: they're all WMA), while the fan club has a pretty good selection of mp3's.
I've never met anyone who's heard these guys on the radio, but they've got a very dedicated fan base who call themselves Red Heads. Parts of their site are a little dated, but they have a new stuff every month. There's one girl who was so crazy about the band she wrote her thesis on 'em. It's called Elvis and Bears:A Semiotic Approach to the Red Elvises and Rokenrol. Fairly interesting, if you want to be an egghead and place them in cultural context.
One thing that will keep earning these guys fans for a long time to come is Six String Samurai, a very low-budget post-apocalyptic indie flick with samurai, '50's revival, roller-skating bad guys, and a soundtrack entirely by the Red Elvises. Celluloid has been very kind to them, despite their under-the-radar status. Other credits, some unconfirmed include: Armageddon, Mail Order Bride, Skippy, Heartbreakers, and Tree Girls South of Oxnard. Television: Melrose Place, Kit-Kat commercials, Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular, VH-1, and Talk Soup.
