Out now is Red Giant‘s self-titled debut album and a new radio edit of ‘Friends‘ the third single taken from it.
Red Giant is the brainchild of popular YouTube presenter and guitar prodigy Dave Simpson, and ‘Friends’ is Simpson’s hymn to his younger days of inebriated nihilism as portrayed by a typical Friday and Saturday night in the UK.
‘Friends’ ramps up in intensity and mirrors the culmination of a night of drunkenness and debauchery.
Available on all streaming platforms here, you can check out the video here at RAMzine.
Careering with a classic rock swing you can feel that Celtic essence of Thin Lizzy in its arrangement, so too its dual harmony guitar approach given a more metal battering ram approach by the likes of Iron Maiden with a gruff vocal attitude fans of Metallica and Motorhead will likely appreciate.
Simpson has amassed over 136,000 YouTube followers due to his guitar tutorials and gear demos. In Red Giant he takes on lead vocal duties in what’s a power trio that’s rounded out by Carina Powell on bass and vocals, and John Joe Gaskin on drums and percussion.
The band is said to deliver a unique blend of heavy rock with their debut album. Comprising elements of rock, blues, and grunge, this debut album been described as “a dynamic thrill ride from start to finish.”
Ten tracks are featured on Red Giant and they are: ‘Friends’, ‘Tell Me, Why?’, ‘Monsters’, ‘Was It All My Fault?’, ‘Don’t’, ‘Free Me’, ‘The Dark Of Me’, ‘What You Gonna Do?’ and ‘You Say, I Say’.
Last month, ‘Why?’ was taken from the record as the band’s second single. Simpson feels it is His most meaningful song to date. It in fact reflects the guitarist’s own painful journey through childhood trauma brought about by a failing education system that he feels treats the victims of bullying as being solely responsible for their own suffering. And he’s not wrong on that score, in this writer’s opinion.
‘Why?’ is an uncompromisingly candid and brutally honest song with the verses communicating the feelings of abject despair and dejection that resolve into the songs powerful and heart-breaking chorus – A desperate cry for help and a plea for the torment to stop and to be left alone.
Dave Simpson hopes many people who have had similar experiences may find comfort in this song and realise that they are not alone, and it wasn’t their fault. Available on all streaming platforms here you can watch the official ‘Why?’ music video here at RAMzine.
On ‘Why?’ you’ll find Simpson’s voice calling out from within a wall of shimmering indie rock guitars explicitly outlining his early life predicament afresh, a brief guitar solo acting as attempted catharsis to something the social reality too often shies away from dealing with.
Previously, ‘Monsters’ was issued as a single and is still available on all streaming platforms here.
Inspired by heartbreak, betrayal, bullying, and mental health, the album is a journey through a dark landscape supported by an undertow of defiance and resilience. Featuring powerful performances we’re told, Red Giant trip the light fantastic, firing on all cylinders and seem to be asking a lot of questions as many of the song titles on the album indicate.
‘Monsters’ was described to us as “a dissenting lament on the increasing tyranny being imposed on ordinary people, doing their best to survive, by puppet politicians controlled by an elite whose names we do not know and whose faces we never see”. And that was before we entered into this current twilight zone where those who read George Orwell’s 1984 and thought it a training manual.
As those listening will tell you, a sombre and dark atmosphere permeates throughout the song’s short run time and pull you in with Simpson’s emotionally charged vocal and melancholic guitar.
Perfectly offset by heavy drums and driving bass. It still gives you hope that there is light in the darkness and meaning in everything. The song was written by Simpson during the lockdowns of 2020 and sadly possibly more relevant today.
Aside from the ‘Monsters’ video, you can also check out one with Simpson being interviewed on the popular Anderton’s guitar website, that generated over 539,000 YouTube views.
Red Giant’s debut album is available now here.
