In the music business, as with many walks of life, it’s always beneficial to have boosters, patrons and mentors who can help those new to the profession navigate through the sometimes rough, choppy waters of their chosen career.
For talented and energy-infused Sacramento, California rock quartet Red Voodoo, having someone with the esteem, experience and cache as Tesla’s Frankie Hannon in their corner has proved to be a boon not only to the band’s musical output, but also to their confidence. Not only a source of more than three decades of accumulated music business wisdom and creative acumen, Hannon is also an experienced and lauded producer of note, and is working closely with Red Voodoo to harness and hone their already exceptionally potent sound, as evidenced by the scintillating debut single from the band, the recently released single, Rise Up!
The band came together two years ago and is comprised of Dino McCord on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, lead guitarist Davin Loiler, bassist Andrew Edwards and drummer Nick Pesely, all still precociously youthful.
“I wanted to find a group of young musicians to play with and to start a band. I actually wanted to start off as a cover band; before we started getting serious about originals, we were a Van Halen tribute band for a while. Things started off when I met Nick our drummer at a Y&T show in Sacramento and found out we had the same influences. I had just started to sing, and that’s kind of when the band started,” McCord explained.
“He had a friend, who turned out to be David, who became our guitar player, and he is a super great guitar player. Then we found Drew, our phenomenal bass player on Craigslist and that’s how we all kind of came together. It’s kind of different from the usual story where its long-time school pals getting together. But I found that it’s hard, especially as a young guy like me, to find other young but very serious musicians.
“I will say, it’s kind of been like magic, because it’s hard to explain why we work so well together. The boys and I have such a good chemistry together, whether it’s onstage or in the studio or just hanging out. With Frank, we actually all go and do landscaping work on his property in exchange for some of the help he gives us. It’s a way for Frank to see if we have a good work ethic and good co-operation as people. We always have good chemistry onstage; we are just trying to be a fun, personable band.”
Coming from a background surrounded by the hard rock and metal of the 1980s and 1990s thanks to his dad, McCord was definitely infused with a love for that kind of music, but he also broadened his horizons, coming to admire the soulfulness of the likes of Sam Cooke and Otis Redding, giving his own voice a combination of the best of both those musical worlds.
“Y&T was my second concert. One of my biggest influences is Sammy Hagar and my dad took me to see Sammy for my first ever concert, and ever since that show, I wanted to be a singer and frontman too. I just really admire Sammy Hagar and what he has done for music. I began practicing my vocals every day after that show,” he said.
“I heard a lot of music as a kid. My dad’s favourite band was Queensryche. So, I knew a lot of Queensryche growing up as well as Vicious Rumours and Iron Maiden. He was more into the metal scene, but there were some other friends and other family members that got me more into rock and roll. So, I guess for my musical upbringing it really did take a village. And I think that’s why our music sounds both old and new. One of the coolest comments to Rise Up! has been that these kids are modern, but it still has a kind of old soul, 1970s, 1980s vibe to it.”
The song is meant to be upbeat and anthemic, which makes sense considering a good portion of it was written during the earliest, scariest and most uncertain days of the pandemic.
“I think one of the reasons why it’s doing so well is people really like the message of the song. It’s really a song about hope, that’s what its about. People also like the music video because it has that summer vibe, with a vintage style to it. I wrote the lyrics very early into the Covid-19 thing when things were a lot darker in the world than they seem to be now. It was probably in early February when I started and it was right around the time they announced my high school graduation was cancelled that I really dug into the lyrics,” said McCord.
“And I think this kind of song is what people needed. It was all darkness and depressing things going on in the world so I wanted to write something that would lift people up and I think we really accomplished that with this song. I really do think music has the power to lift people up and help them get through tough times. You think about how awesome it is at live shows when you walk in the doors and for the next couple of hours or so you just forget everything about your everyday life. Music is really an escape for people, and I think that’s why there are different genres and different artists and different personalities creating music – to give each person something and someone they can relate to, because there are all different kinds of people in the world. So, yeah, music is a universal language and it’s really healing in so many ways.”
Although Rise Up! started with lyrical ideas from McCord, overall, he said the approach to songwriting within Red Voodoo is quite collegial and collaborative.
“It’s either a case where I have a melody line or some words, or David or Drew have an idea for a guitar lick or something, and then from there it usually ends up with me playing catch up on the lyrics at the end, because we’ve already put together the meat and potatoes of the rest of the song,” he said, adding that their debut four-song EP should be out before the end of 2020, depending on how things go, Covid-wise.
“We were really inspired by the sound of Van Halen, so we want to bring that California sort of rock and roll vibe to our music and show that in our songwriting as well. Also, Van Halen had this amazing live show and I think our live show is very entertaining. We all like to run around all over the place and make the show kind of an event. Like Van Halen too, our background vocals are very stellar; that’s one thing I would say we totally pride ourselves on. I think some of the songs we’re working on for the EP are even better than Rise Up! which is cool because we want everything we do to be better than the thing we did before.”
It was serendipitous and kind of cool that McCord’s connection to Hannon actually goes back a generation.
“I will say this about Frankie Hannon, he is one of the most down to earth people I have ever met. When you think about a rock star, someone who has been as successful as he has been, and you hear about people having rock star attitudes and egos, it’s amazing because Frank has no ego whatsoever. And you probably don’t know this, but my dad was in bands back in the late 1980s and early 1990s and he almost made it, but then grunge came around and changed the whole scene,” he said.
“Frank actually produced my dad’s band 30 years ago. So, growing up here in Sacramento, where of course Tesla are the big rock star heroes, it was my dad who got me into rock music and told me the story of Frank producing him back in the day. But they lost touch and hadn’t seen each other since those days. Not long after we put Red Voodoo together, I was sitting in class one day and just decided to reach out to Frankie, and he responded. We started talking and he invited me to one of his shows with the Frank Hannon Band here in Sacramento and I went up on stage and sang [the Tesla classic] Gettin’ Better with him and one thing led to another and we started talking about Red Voodoo. He heard the song Rise Up!, which I wrote, and he wanted to give Red Voodoo a chance, and here we are.”
For more information on Red Voodoo, including possible post-pandemic tour dates and news about new music, visit www.redvoodooband.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for nearly 30 years. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
