GREEN ON RED : The Official Bio
The late 1970's was perhaps the last gasp of an American artistic ideal which the band Green On Red inhaled in full. Teenage friends Dan Stuart, Jack Waterson and Chris Cacavas started as The Serfers in Tucson, Arizona, and by the early eighties had moved to LA to become Green On Red. Attracted by the rotting corpse of LA's punk scene, GOR found itself equally ill at ease with all the lazy acronyms of the time: post punk, neo-psychedelic, alt-country etc. The truth was that GOR aspired to climb the impossible heights of Dylan, Crazy Horse and The Band.
Loved by most and hated by few, the band used it's subversive boozy charm to ooze it's way through the cracks and record an eponymous EP for Down There, followed by the critical smash "Gravity Talks" for Slash Records.
Unhappy with Slash's sleazy meddling, GOR jumped ship in 1985 to rival Enigma Records and recorded the internationally acclaimed dazzler "Gas, Food, Lodging." This breakthrough work was mostly due to the addition of guitarist Chuck Prophet, who balanced the brilliance of keyboardist Chris Cacavas and turned Green On Red into something that people had heard before, but exactly where and when, nobody could really say. Critics heaped on the praise, but mainstream success would prove elusive.
Credited with being among the founders of the "Americana" movement, Green On Red was always more interested in redefining themselves, and sailed from the new world for the old to sign with London's Phonogram Records in 1987. Left alone to stew, the band produced the mini-LP "No Free Lunch" which delivered the band's first taste of commercial success, albeit with a heavy price tag: the resignation of beloved drummer Alex MacNicol.
Exhausted by constant touring, facing the void and sensing the end, the band turned to producer Jim Dickinson to administer a lethal injection of Memphis disdain. Reeling from the trial by fire, Green On Red shat out "The Killer Inside Me," a record that causes fistfights amongst it's stalwarts and foes to this day. Whether a grand masterpiece or bombastic failure, the record spelled the end for the original Green On Red.
Wad shot and living in a desert shack, songwriter Dan Stuart crawled back to Memphis to record the sublime "Here Come The Snakes" with Chuck Prophet. Lacking the courage to shelve the record, Stuart allowed China Records to release the disc under the Green On Red moniker, thus beginning a sordid second act that explored music as geography. "This Time Around" found Dan and Chuck groveling in LA for Glyn Johns, whereas "Scapegoats" featured the gruesome twosome embracing Nashville, if not Al Kooper.
Fittingly, the two wound back in Tucson having "Too Much Fun," a record that falls back into the cracks that the original band burst forth from. Since then, Prophet has gone on to a critically acclaimed and fruitful solo career, with beaucoup session work and stellar songwriting credits. Chris Cacavas has also produced a mighty oeuvre of solo work and his ivory tinkling is much sought after, from Tucson to Berlin. Jack Waterson recorded the timeless "Whose Dog?" and acts as a kind of consigliere for numerous young LA musicians/producers, as well as playing in whatever group strikes his fancy, currently the Chicano pop weirdness of White. As for Stuart, his fingerprints can found at Brink.com where he's a contributing editor. But wait, there's more...
In September of 2005, to honor their fallen comrade Alex MacNicol, the original Green On Red gathered in Tucson, AZ, to play for the first time in nearly two decades. Fortunately, this historic show was filmed and Valley Fever, Green On Red Live at the Rialto is the band's first DVD. Never to leave well enough alone, GOR shook down London's Astoria Theatre this past January, and will play selected dates this summer before disappearing back into the pop culture Zeitgeist like a mirage. There you have it, now and forever.
