What is it like being the best-unsigned band online? Hopefully, the Pasadena, California trio, Red Delicious, won't know very much longer. Yahoo Life Internet Music Awards were handed out in July during a VH1 show, and the group took top honors for their alternative music hits.
Sara Wallace, Rob King and Steven Baca have worked hard over the last two years to get their band's name out, using the internet's controversial MP3.com to host their free downloadable music from their self-released CD, Emotional Blur. While waiting for a formal record label to sign onto, this group has released a professional sound, which could rip up the music charts - if anyone gets to hear them.
Record labels have yet to catch the plethora of new acts available online, although mainstream artists have entered cyberspace. The battle over Napster and MP3.com has drawn some brick-and-mortar superstars to compete online next to unsigned artists and experimental singers. Although the competition is fierce, Red Delicious has risen to the top, capturing the number one spot on MP3.com both in downloads and song listening. Although the group has since fallen from the top forty, the single Want Me topped the chart for weeks.
And the band is not inexperienced. Rob King and Steven Baca have produced singles for the People's Underground and DJ Dado, both singles hitting Billboard's Top Ten Dance Charts. The group credits their sound to "a unique blend of alternative rock with trip-hop and electronic influences." Their previous music experience has paid off; the group is ready to hit the big time.
The singles on their first CD are unique - not only to the group, but amongst each other. Each song showcases new talents with a different theme. Casualties is a slow, deep, but light song remembering the victims of recent and past wartime abuses. The song is not morbid; towards the end the song carries a sense of hope. Eden focuses on the erotic relationship between men and women. Despite differences between the sexes, Eden brings lovers together through heavy percussion and keys. Void, their newest single sounds like any major hit on the radio, only it's not there! The song warns about real life and the difficulty found when risks are taken, and follows with the same energy as their other tracks.
Red Delicious's largest single by far, Want Me, has an upbeat, guitar-heavy background. Sara ventures through a relationship with a quiet, puzzling man who refuses to return her affections. She can't seem to get this young, intellectual Romeo to bring the courtship to a romantic climax. The song is typical Red Delicious - simple but stylish background accompaniment with catchy lyrics and a fun, groovy sound.
The group avoids songs with rhyming lyrics, and those containing coupled lines don't bend words to fit the rhyme scheme. The songs are meaningful and often follow a personal story style - Sara Wallace is graphically depicting her story for the audience and is open about how she feels.
Artists often fill CDs with similar sounding songs, but this group has diversified its musical portfolio with a pop/alternative sound that wins big on the stereo. She sits you down in a comfortable armchair and leads you from one tale to another, without boring or repeating what she has already said.
Search for Red Delicious the next time you are online. You will be surprised to hear this powerful trio has yet to be signed. My only conclusion: the recording industry isn't interested in quality or talent.