The Band Red's Anthony Armstrong Makes a Declaration on Tower's Livestream

Anthony Armstrong of the band Red joined our Tower Instagram Live show to talk to host Whitney Moore about the band’s new album Declaration, their first independent release, but part of a longer cycle of narratives that permeates the band’s albums and live shows over time.

Anthony is “home” in Nashville, Tennessee, living in his “bunker”, he joked. He’s been in Nashville for 19 years and he loves that this where the band’s career started, with the three core band members. His mother’s family are from New York City, so he’s used to a big environment, and though Nashville is not a big city, it’s really big for the music scene.

The band tried to do a livestream performance with a live aspect, and it ended up drawing the police, who were investigating how many people were attending, so that didn’t really work out, Anthony said. They’ve done one other acoustic livestream and fans loved that. They will be doing a live performance with Octane soon which fans will be able to tune into.

It’s also been cool to be home with family during this time, and take some time to ride his motorcycle, Anthony said. Some people he hasn’t seen in many years are around and it’s been nice to see some friends again during this time in Nashville. Red says they like to get to be “civilians” for once. Anthony has two daughters, so it’s been “fun to be daddy too”, he said.

Moore asked about Red’s new album and how that’s been affected by this time. Anthony described life as the “coin that Two-Face carries” with two sides versus life and professional music. It’s “concerning” that these things are happening to the music industry, but “come 2021, music’s going to erupt” and then the new album will really come into its own.

As an independently funded and released album, Declaration is a new venture for Red. “It was a scary thing,” Anthony admitted, since they were with a label for 12 years before deciding not to resign. They were concerned about how to do it, not just about money, but about starting your own label, and that can get expensive over time. They did a GoFundMe with fans asking for help to start this new chapter, and it totally worked out for them.

Anthony thinks this is their best album and they delivered on their promises, though he isn’t intending to sound arrogant. It’s a “weird thing” since fans usually assume that musicians are “rich” and wouldn’t need money to make a record. When they were on the label, the label was “retaining 80% of our income”, Anthony explained, so in this case, they really needed to ask for money for recording and also for touring.

But in many ways, it was “the easiest record by far” to make once they had the funding. They are a label now, so they will be continue to be independent. “Probably down the line we will look to sign new artists.”, Anthony hinted. “There’s no end in sight for us.”, he added, especially since Declaration has succeeded so well, even during a pandemic.

The theme that runs through all of the albums by Red is “war” and it’s a battle that we all fight in our “hearts, minds, souls”. Everyone goes through struggles in their lives, he explained, and “We’re all in this together”. Singing about those things is “therapy for us”, Anthony said, and he hopes it will be for fans, too. It’s about the “human condition”.

Moore observed that a lot of their music is “introspective” and asked if Anthony hopes fans will look inside, too. He said that’s true, and they do an “experience” with acoustic music for fans, where they invite fans onto the tour bus for a few songs and conversation that helps promote that connection. Many people say, “Thank you”, which really rips his heart out in a “good way”, Anthony says. It reminds him that this is a “responsibility” to be a musician, and they “hold onto” that since it keeps them going as a band.

A fan asked Anthony about the writing process for “The Evening Hate” and he said that it was a “challenge”. He does a lot of writing in his car, and records voice memos of the weird sounds he makes into his phone. He’ll hear a riff “in his head”, try to get it down, and then immediately try to record it when he gets home. While writing for “Sever”, he actually came up with a different element that didn’t work for “Sever”. When he played it for the other guys in the band and their producer, they turned off the TV, very interested by the sound idea they heard.

They went upstairs and immediately started working on the song. It worked and happened quickly for them. Randy came up with the concept and title from a thing in World War I. The Germans would bomb the allies in the trenches every night and it was called “The Evening Hate”. Anthony explained that we all experience that “bombardment” in life but “there’s a redemption” to it, since we all find a way to get out of it eventually. They knew it was going to be a “banger”, a big song song for them. They knew that their first independent record needed to be great, and this one really helped out.

Also, Anthony said, their producer ended up telling them that he had cancer that night, and that it was not a good prognosis. They were “really scared”, since a bomb that dropped on them while making the song. He’s had treatment and is okay, but at the moment, that was the “bomb they experienced in their lives”. He is one of their best friends and it was a very difficult experience. Moore praised Red for being able to create art out of these experiences.

Fans are asking for a deluxe edition of Declaration, and Anthony said that there are things in the works, and there is actually a possible next record, but they are not sure when it will be released. They have some cover songs, too, that they want to release.

“There’s something wrong with artists. Artists are not right.”, Anthony laughed regarding his inability to stop working, even in quarantine.

Moore asked what Anthony’s favorite song is to play live, and he said that from the new record, it’s probably “The Evening Hate”, which is a lot of fun. He’s looking forward to playing, “Cauterize” and another track called “Infidel”. From the old catalog, “Breathe Into Me.” He wrote that song on an acoustic guitar and will “never forget the moment” that he finished it. It was a song that then put them “on the map.”

Asked about the collaboration process, including writing songs, Anthony said that they all “collaborate on everything”. Rob and Anthony wrote most of Declaration. Their ex drummer Joe Rickard was the mixer and mastered the new record and wrote on two of the tracks. The Red is very much the “sum of the parts” and isn’t just one guy writing.

If something is cool, you “just leave it alone”, Anthony explained, and they don’t constantly tweak things the way some musicians do. Communicating between studios on an upper and lower level, they’d be sending files to each other and hearing each other shouting in other rooms, a very easy process this time around on Declaration.

Looking back on his career so far, what has Anthony learned, Moore wondered. Anthony said that when you start out you have that “starry glow in your eyes” and they’ve traveled to every state and they’ve traveled all over the world. They need to fight a lot of things, he explained, including “egos”. If other bands, like openers, blow them “out of the water”, it reminds them to be humble. They try to remember to focus on their circle of fans, and make they are keeping them happy.

If they were to step on stage with Slipknot, that would be motivating! Also, on social media they see musicians who are very intimidating, and even much younger ones who are great, or better musicians. So they keep their focus on being “good at what we do, and professional at what we do”, Antony said.

What has he been listening to lately? Definitely Slipknot, the latest album “We Are Not Your Kind”, including the track “Spiders”.

Asked if he has an ideal circumstance to listen to the new album Declaration, Anthony said that when they get the mixes and masters back they “blast them in their car”, and he loves going to shows, too, and tends to blast that music on the way to the show, too. Also, when doing work outs and stuff, he uses headphones to blast music, and “Red is great workout music”, he said.

Asked about Tower Record’s motto, “No Music, No Life”, Anthony asked back about how being in quarantine has affected Moore when she can’t go to concerts. The whole experience of going to live shows is huge, and “No Music, No Life” is “real right now” for people who need that, he reflected.

He’s, personally, “really struggling right now” without live music, Anthony admitted, as is the rest of the band. Moore agreed that she’s missed out on going to many shows and thankfully talking to so many musicians with Tower has helped.

Asked if he has anything else to say to fans, Anthony said that they always want to say “thank you” to fans. He doesn’t know what he would do, he would “truly be lost” without music. The fact that fans stepped up and helped them make a new record has “kept us healthy”, he said. He’s “truly thankfully” that they are still here, on record #8 right now. As an independent artist, you learn more than ever that “the fans are the only thing keeping you alive”. When fans buy music, it enables them to “turn around and make more music”, Anthony explained.