A year has past since we’ve heard much from one of the most promising bands in Denton, and to say expectations have been high is a rash understatement. With ¡Policia! ¡Policia!, Red Monroe move to expand on the relative success of last year’s self-titled EP, which managed to garner the interest of both the Grammy Awards and my CD player. And in many ways the new album does show strong development, but it still brings to mind the question: Can any band ever seem to exceed the expectations they’ve set for themselves, or that have been set for them?

In some ways yes - at least in Red Monroe’s case. Last year’s release suffered at times from one of the more familiar indie rock debacles: band makes their bones live, attempts to capture same energy on tape with marginal success. The most noticeable change on ¡Policia! ¡Policia! is the immediate air of confidence in the music, especially in the first half of the album. “City Boy Motel” opens strong; Steele’s vocals preside over simple drum and guitar rhythms before a rousing crescendo sinks into a clamor of guitars and organs. “Sundown Shade” continues with the album’s same general sound: a classic rock throwback that keeps its indie wits about it. Instead of trying to recreate the live sound, ¡Policia! ¡Policia! develops its own kind of energy, not just references to its live counterpart. If nothing else, this is definitely an album you can give to your friends without the customary “They’re great live…really” clause.

Steele’s vocals have also made considerable progress since the band’s last release. The sing-talk delivery, characteristic of bands like The Hold Steady and Cake, seems to have found its proper place in the music. The vocals more appropriately match the “tension and release” motif on this album as well. “I saw you makin’ love!” he cries on the album’s title-track, “I don’t wanna talk about it…” Although there are places, like in “Fever Kids,” where the vocal tension doesn’t exactly meld seamlessly with its musical accompaniment, songs where this approach does work like in “¡Policia! ¡Policia!” and “Trees and Poor Houses” (whose chorus has been stuck in my head for the better half of a month) are the moments that standout most on this album.

Speaking of the title track, “¡Policia! ¡Policia!” flirts with what I can only describe as a gypsy-polka-breakdown section. While it’s a nice touch, it serves the greater purpose of calling attention to the lack of similar variety found on the rest of the album. A few synthesizers and horn sections aside, the album’s sound remains fairly static. Given, though, that this “sound” is dangerously catchy and all-too- likeable, the album loses only Bonus Points in my book.

Quite simply, ¡Policia! ¡Policia! is a great album, even if it is fairly short. But it’s good music. It’s fun to listen to. It’s even easy to sing along with. There really are no overbearing flaws to be had. But with such high expectations, it’s hard not to feel a little disappointed from an album that essentially maintains the status quo. The band improves on many of the issues that held back last year’s EP, but ultimately, progress is more than smoothing over the rough patches. If anything though, this disappointment should speak to the potential that Red Monroe has to make a record that’s truly a break-through grade of fantastic. Hopefully the day is not far off when we won’t be talking about Red Monroe mainly in terms of potential.

- John Michael Cassetta

“If you wanted to indulge in glib critic-speak, you could dismiss Dallas' Red Monroe as an artier, more clangorous Modest Mouse. But that would be overlooking the heady rush of ambition this sextet brings to its debut full-length album, ¡Policia! ¡Policia!, a devastating disc of cerebral post-punk that spills out of the speakers with abandon. Eric Steele's urgent, wiry vocals shove through the dense walls of sound, lending tracks like the moody Midnight Rites and Sunday Papers palpable emotion.

These nine tracks, produced by Chris Bell and the band, are exceptional, vivid art-rock that grabs you by the throat and refuses to let go. A masterful first effort. “

From the piercing, ear-destroying feedback found on Jesus and Mary Chain's early material to the reckless improvised interplay between John Cale and Sterling Morrisson on Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray," it seems that some of the most exciting stretches of the greatest rock albums emerge from unplanned moments of chaos that provide a certain amount of grit and discomfort. This is a mostly intangible quality that often has less to do with the songs themselves and more to do with how those songs are presented to the listener-- in these instances, it's not how the song is written, but how it is being played and how it is captured on record that makes the moment, turning an otherwise good album into a great one. Don't get me wrong, the songs are obviously important too, and great rock albums are often great despite unbecoming recordings. But let me ask you this-- would Guided By Voices' Alien Lanes be as glorious as it is if it had been recorded in a slick studio rather than on a crappy four track? I don't think so. In fact, it would probably sound like GBV's vastly inferior later material. Would Dinosaur Jr.'s SST albums rock the way they do if the feedback from J Mascis' guitar didn't hurt your ears every once in a while? Doubt it. And would Black Flag be as much fun if they never fucked up on record? No way. I mention these examples not so that I can hold Red Monroe to the standard of the aforementioned bands, but only to point out that when it comes to rock n roll records, "consummate professionalism," to borrow a phrase from Patrick Bateman, isn't usually necessary, and sometimes, records suffer from studio perfection and flawless execution when it prevents such unhinged moments from occurring.

As we've noted before, Red Monroe possesses many of the qualities of a potentially great rock band, and everything about their debut full length, Policia Policia!, indicates that they've become significantly more confident and ambitious since the release of their self titled EP last year. From the tight musicianship and sophisticated songwriting to the bold, colorful marketing campaign and politically informed conceptual narrative concerning life in Dallas, the album stands out and separates Red Monroe from the run of the mill Dallas "indie" acts that often seem content to deliver the same mediocre garbage time and time again. This, of course, is a good thing-- Red Monroe is one of the few bands in Dallas proper that is often able to strike a healthy balance between artistic viability and commercial accessibility, and Policia Policia has the potential to convince many new listeners of this fact with catchy songs, memorable lyrics, and smart influences on full display throughout its running time. But despite everything the band does better than most of their Dallas based contemporaries, a few issues pop up throughout Policia Policia that hold Red Monroe back, resulting in a significantly softer punch than the group seems capable of packing.

A quick listen to the album's nine tracks reveals a document that rocks significantly harder than it's predecessor, as the band veers away from its previous infatuations with nu post-punk and Radiohead and moves toward bold blues riffs and sassy garage/glam energy that strongly recalls Television's Marqee Moon, the Make Up, early White Stripes, and Julian Cope's oft overlooked group The Teardrop Explodes. In fact, the Television influence is all over the place, and can be heard particularly clearly in the compelling vocals of lead singer Eric Steele, who incorporates Tom Verlaine's nervous, high pitched shout into virtually every track on the album. This promising set of influences serves as an appealing (if not wholly original) template for the band, and in many places throughout the album, they utilize it to produce some very solid results.

The album's first two tracks, which also happen to be two of its shortest, provide an exhilarating beginning. "City Boy Motel" gets right down to business with a choppy, rhythm heavy lead guitar riff that builds up into an explosive politically charged chorus ("All them soldiers/erase the fourth of the July from their mind"), slapping the listener in the face with boldness and clarity before the song instantaneously transitions into the loud and catchy "The Sundown Shade,"easily the best track on the album. These two tracks are examples of Red Monroe at their finest- provocative, thoughtful songwriting that seems to rush past you in a blur of big riffs, unexpected changes and a measurable level of raw tension assuring you that they mean it. Elsewhere, the album's title track works well as its epic centerpiece, a five and a half minute long set of hyper transitions from Zeppelinesque blues riffs to gypsy polka to a section of chanting influenced by traditional Indian music that ends with an explosive multi-part vocal that showcases Red Monroe's potential for experimentation better than any other track they've released thus far. These and most of the other tracks on the album are quite fun, and warrant praise for their structure, style and execution.

In fact, it's quite easy to point out all of Policia Policia's strengths because there are so many of them, but what is more difficult is explaining why the album doesn't work quite as well as it should, although I think I have a vague idea. As things progress, it becomes obvious that the album could use a dose of the grit found on other recent garage influenced rock albums such as King Khan and the Shirnes What is?, Black Lips' Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo (which I realize is a "live" record, although the point remains unchanged), and even White Drugs' Harlem. It's not that the songs on those records are necessarily THAT much better than anything found on Policia Policia, but that they seem to pack so much energy that they sound as though they could fall apart at any moment, which is something you cannot say about the disciplined, evenly mixed tracks on this album. Guitar distortion that overpowers roughly recorded vocals. Loud, slightly out of tune keyboard parts. Incoherent noisy freakouts. The occasional mistake. These are the kind of things that make the aforementioned records what the are, and considering what Red Monroe is trying to do on Policia Policia, it seems that the record would benefit from this kind of grit too. The listener can sit and imagine what "Trees and Poor Houses" might sound like with uncomfortably loud guitars and distortion on the vocals, or maybe wonder how "Fever Kids" might work if the horns weren't quite so tuneful and smooth, or if they were allowed to overpower the rest of the mix all together.

This isn't to say that lo-fi and sloppy is always the way to go, or that Red Monroe has to record in a shoe box in order to gain some kind of "cred" that most people really don't care about anyway. It's just that Policia Policia sounds like a caged animal, waiting to go crazy but held back by the limitations of a flawlessly smooth recording and mix that often fails to expose the power behind some of these songs while failing to document the band outside of a perfectly executed comfort zone. The potential is audible, and many songs on the record work despite these limitations, but the need for a few unhinged moments is clear, and it is apparent that a dash of feedback, a dose of slop and a touch of gritty noise might have turned this strong swing into a knockout punch.

"I recently received a CD from the Dallas, Texas band, RED MONROE. Their self-titled full length is really strong and worth investigating. "A Return To The Old Way Of Thinking" has a ARCADE FIRE meets MODEST MOUSE vibe to it, where my favorite, "Carolina Cigarette" just rocks. I haven't seen them live, but I'm intrigued."

"from dallas comes red monroe, an above average modern indie rock band who play with passion and a healthy use of keyboards. at first i wasn't sure, but they've got a really slick and nice sound. there's a very big and vast feel behind the music - a song like "carolina cigarette" charges ahead with a nice momentum. kind of reminds me of the firebird band's drive ep. "i don't know him but he's an innocent man" has tinges of dream rock and a really nice guitar hook. red monroe aren't rewriting any books here but this has melody and style in spades, and that's something i can respect."

It was a cold December night in Austin, Texas and the members of Red Monroe seemed strangely unconcerned that two of their members were 200 miles away with just a few hours left before they were set to perform. "Andrew Snow, our guitarist, has a job that he has not been fired from and hasn't quit yet. His boss made him do something towards the end of the day, and he had to last minute fly to Austin, so he's actually on a plane right now. His best friend Neal [Wadley] (bassist) is picking him up at the airport," singer Eric Steele explains. "I think it got delayed," he chuckles.

Preview of "Weekend Warriors - Bombshells of Rock" by Adam LeFave

Red Monroe, apparently, think the less you know about them, the better.

Hoping for more detailed information about the Dallas band than the “publicity materials” – a piece of paper with the date, time, and lineup of Monroe’s Schubas show plus brief blurbs from three reviews – that accompanied their self-titled full-length, we headed to the next logical place: their Web site. Not much help there, either, unless you consider this to be a helpful band bio: “Matt Moffitt, Neal Wadley, Jeff Gilroy, Eric Steele, and Andrew Snow form the proto-punk, art rock band that is Red Monroe. They are very nice boys and say ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’” The Red Monroe MySpace page proves even less resourceful, though one of the band’s online friends does admit dancing her “assssss offfffff” at a show.

Dig around, Google the band’s name, and you’ll find the regular write-up stuff – Snow, Steele, and Wadley formed the band while attending the University of Oklahoma, toured with groups like Be Your Own Pet and The Gourds, though it didn’t make the final cut, Red Monroe was on the Best Alternative Album long list for the 2007 Grammy Awards – but listening to the album is the best bet. The jagged guitars and jerky rhythms of Television’s post punk groundwork are the most obvious influences on tracks like “A Return To The Old Way Of Thinking” and “Fingertips,” but the band has enough originality, especially in frontman Eric Steele’s strained-but-never-screamed vocals, to avoid blatant imitation. Surprisingly, the band released this album on their own; we’re guessing that won’t be the case on their next effort.

Red Monroe share the bill with two Chicago bands, openers Avalanche Rescue Team and headliners Scale Model.

– Trevor Fisher

Red Monroe has been building a strong following in the Dallas area with their live shows, and their energy and eclectic sound that has garnered them so much attention is at least present if not fully captured on their self-titled EP. It’s also managed to propel them to the list of possible Grammy nominations in the Alternative Album category, which is as much a credit to the academy as it is to the band. The nomination does make since though as the songs seem to work from just enough classic rock influence to sound familiar, but then spin them through any number of unexpected shifts and contemporary indie impulses to inject them with a freshness and originality all their own.

The opening track “Shotgun Heart (Beautiful Window)” begins with a guitar line reminiscent of the Animals before being overcome by the driving force of Eric Steele’s barking vocals. It’s an approach that also works well for “Carolina Cigarette,” which starts with the simple rockabilly inspired piano notes to eventually explode into a wash of guitar psychedelics and screaming chorus. But with the frenetic blend of shouted lines, Red Monroe seems to be drawing as much on the Arcade Fire’s vocal aesthetic as anything else, especially on “A Return to the Old Way of Thinking.”

All the comparisons should be taken as a testament to Red Monroe’s actual eclecticism rather than a statement of derivation though. Songs like “Blue Mountain Air” and “Wild Eyes, Part II” offer a tamer, or at least more restrained, sound from the group. Yet even in these most subdued and melodic moments, Steele’s lyrics and singing carry a sinister bent that, along with the propulsive beats, threaten to unravel in a desperate aggression. For the most part the songs on the EP never do quite let out that frustration, which seems to be both a holdback for unleashing the underlying energy of the tunes and a characteristic that keeps them tight and distinct. In this way, the restraint comes off like an oddly compelling hybrid of the Rolling Stones and the Hold Steady.

What the album does best, however, is keep the listener on their toes and engaged. Even through repeated listens, the songs manage to expose more layers and continually jolt with the unexpected turns. And just as there is more going on in the entire EP than the individual songs seem to fulfill or capture, there seems to be much more to Red Monroe than is adequately expressed even in this impressive release. The EP is rife with promise that, at the very least, offers glimpses of what the quintet may be capable of producing in the very near future.

- Doug Freeman

The five guys in Red Monroe think of themselves primarily as a live act — they say that onstage is where their bombastic post-punk has room to breathe.

But their studio work sure hasn’t suffered.

The Dallas band’s recently released eponymous full-length debut made the long list of potential nominees in the Grammy awards category of Best Alternative Music Album, along with new ones from Thom Yorke, TV on the Radio, and The Arctic Monkeys. Just so we’re clear: Red Monroe has not been nominated for a Grammy. Their record simply has made a list of about three dozen other potential nominees from all over the country. Only five albums will make the final list, and there’s an infinitesimal chance Red Monroe will be one of them.

Still, making the long list is pretty cool, especially for a local group that has yet to generate steady buzz here. “It’s hard to get attention,” said guitarist Andrew Snow. “Dallas is brand oriented. You need a lot of different avenues to get the masses to approve the consideration to go see a show.”

As the Grammy news spreads, singer Eric Steele is noticing an up-tick in interest. Now that he and his band have been validated on a national scale and have gigged with national acts such as The Black Angels, The Gourds, and Be Your Own Pet, Steele and company are more confident about recording. “It’s difficult for us to record ourselves,” Steele said. “We’re very emotional and very loud.”

Red Monroe was recorded in a 24-hour block, essentially to capture the band’s live feel, said bassist Neal Wadley. After recording, producer Chris Bell (Erykah Badu, The Polyphonic Spree) encouraged the group to join the Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammys. Three weeks later, Steele received an e-mail from the Academy that included the master list of Best Alternative Music Album nominees. He saw his band’s name. He said it was “a random surprise.”

When Snow, Steele, and Wadley first got together a couple of years ago, while students at the University of Oklahoma, a Grammy award was the furthest thing from their minds. Steele said the first few rehearsals were sort of weird. “I was doing this folk acoustic thing while they were doing this weird instrumental stuff.”

After six months, the trio came up with a pretty interesting sound and relocated to Dallas, Steele’s hometown. They recruited two local musos, keyboardist Matt Moffitt and drummer Jeff Gilroy. Both were equally interested in what could be termed “familiar originality.”

“In our songwriting, it’s the blind leading the blind,” Steele said. “No one comes to the band with songs, just parts. We experiment until the original idea is unrecognizable.”

If one of the guys offers a riff in a common time signature, Gilroy will instruct the band to perform random beats in certain measures, leading to a freight train of staccato notes that jump all over tracks every few phrases. Even with such a heavy emphasis on the primal, bottom end of their music, the group members are struggling to lose the “Radiohead” tag once given them by local scenesters. Long before the release of Red Monroe, the band recorded itself for the lo-fi effort Meeting on a Train. Though the disc was an “overzealous, premature effort,” Steele said, it captures Red Monroe on the verge of something new.

Nothing against Radiohead, but Red Monroe’s influences run the gamut, from The Talking Heads to Chuck Berry. Steele’s voice may be the one thing that truly distinguishes Red Monroe from one other potential nominee, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. The Briton occasionally reduces his voice to a mellow gurgle. But Steele always goes all-out, never screaming but often maintaining an intense, stentorian tone. Though admittedly inclined to drown out vocals with reverb, Red Monroe uses the vocals to control timbre and set the pace for the interplay between Snow’s and Steele’s angry guitars and Moffitt’s frantic keyb’s.

An obsessive Dylan fan, Steele wanted a single, epic story to be the lyrical and aesthetic focus of the disc. That story, “Governor’s Ball,” is about a lovestruck loner who observes the interactions among revelers at a timeless formal gathering. Although the song of the same name evolved into an unruly monster, a lot of the tracks on Red Monroe grew from the theme.

Early next year, the band plans to venture out of Texas, through the Midwest, and on to the West Coast. Afterward, they plan to go back into the studio. “The new material is a continuation of what we were writing,” Snow said. “We have new influences, and we forced ourselves not to be comfortable with the way we are going.”

Dallas' Red Monroe are somewhat of a mystery to me. Their MySpace page lacks any real information, save for the band members' names and a few photos, and their official site is equally as vague when it comes to details of the quintet's genesis. Not that it really matters I suppose, as this outfit's music is more than capable of standing on its own without any sort background history. It doesn't really matter where they've played and who they've played with because their unique blend of garage, punk and psych rock is worthy of your attention on sheer artistic merit alone.

Bridging the gap between The Clash, Television and Pink Floyd, Red Monroe's self-titled EP is one of those rare records that pops with the first listen. It's unique and interesting, melodic and energetic, yet challenging and artistic at the same time. Songs like "A Return To The Old Way Of Thinking," with its call and response chorus and jangly guitars, seem to glow with indie rock enthusiasm, while the angular riffs and driving thump thump of the bass drum on "Carolina Cigarette" seem destined to make the indie kids bounce like pogo sticks.

Though primarily a local outfit at the moment, Red Monroe seem more than ready to break out of Dallas and take their careers to the next level. Until a proper label scoops them up, you can purchase the Red Monroe EP here. With the fantastic music explosion that's seemingly going down in Dallas at the moment (The Strange Boys, PlayRadioPlay, etc.), it seems more than proper to keep Red Monroe on your radar. You'll be hearing much more from these guys in 2007, trust me.

Red Monroe’s influences are obvious: the Stones, New York Dolls, The Animals, Moby Grape, and even a little Hold Steady action. But the Dallas band does ’em all proud, mainly by not ripping them off. Like good lyric poetry, Red Monroe captures the essence of the Stones and company, which is way more important than merely aping beats, riffs, and poses. Other, less developed, garage-ish locals, take note: You get to the heart of the stuff you’re trying to reanimate not by describing it inch by inch but by suggesting it in broad strokes.

As for the Stones’ presence in Red Monroe’s sound, you can detect it most obviously in the clanging guitars and frontman Eric Steele’s bratty vocalismo. But Red Monroe’s sometimes primal rhythms are exceedingly more inventive, and the lyrics tougher and more aware. Similarly, Steele often calls to mind Eric Burden’s contemplative yet in-your-face delivery but with a much lighter pitch; the aggressiveness is ratcheted up by the backing vocals of male unison shouting. Kinda sounds like a small high school pep rally of angry, testosterone-addled teenage boys in full voice during a fight song. The touch is unique and effective.

The quintet’s new, eponymous album is one of about 40 titles on the recording academy’s list of choices for Best Alternative Album honors in the 2007 Grammy Awards. Other candidates reportedly include new ones from Thom Yorke, TV on the Radio, and The Arctic Monkeys. Red Monroe made the ballot after being submitted by Chris Bell, who produced the album. Finalists will be announced in early December.

Sun, Nov 11, w/Awesome Color and Be Your Own Pet at Gypsy Tea Room, 2548 Elm St, Dallas. 214-74-GYPSY.

Last night I ventured over to the splendid little dive-ish bar, British Rose Pub to meet up with Alex Kanakis, Kate Mackley and the Red Monroe boys. It was during this interview in which I got a second wind in this whole music thang.

Then I got in my car, popped in their new self-titled CD, (Red Monroe) and got about 5 more winds. I freakin’ LOVE IT!

I’m most certainly not a critic, nor am I particularly articulate in describing an album, or a performance or how to use a corkscrew. I’ll leave that to the more critical, intellectual, knowers of music like Sam and J.R. and Jonanna.

This morning I popped it back into my car stereo whilst shuttling the boy-child to his schoolin’. I still freakin’ LOVED IT!

As I sit here editing last night’s interview, I’m listening to it over and over and I freakin’ LOVE IT!

I’ll leave you here with a couple of my particularly favorite tracks. You darlings outta go to Good Records and getcherselves a copy, then make plans to hit Hailey’s on Saturday night, October 28th, for one helluva fun and FREE show with Red Monroe and another big-time Fine Line fave, Pilotdrift.

In other news, Chance informs me that:

Random, cool news friends! We just found out that our new album is one of 48 albums on the 2007 Grammy nomination ballot (we are #40). We are excited / completely confused by this due to its randomness.. (take a look at that list.. haha). We will find out over the next couple of months if a miracle happens and we are actually nominated. Fingers crossed!

Thank you all so much for your continued support. For those of you who haven’t grabbed the album yet, please do so here.

We also learned last night that another baby Red Monroe bun-in-the-oven is on its way.

I really really like those guys…as people and as musicians.

The audio (and video) interview will be up on QuickDFW.com by Friday…and PS: The moment “Blue Mountain Air” began to play, the word “dreamy” actually left my mouth…Kate was dead-on…so there.

“Blue Mountain Air” by Red Monroe

“Fingertips” by Red Monroe