You'd be pretty far off base if you assumed that their music was nothing more than a vehicle for evangelism. But then again, if you took the evangelism out of their music, you'd more or less gut their whole motivation for, getting up on stage a couple hundred times a year. The most accurate summation of Shaded Red would probably be to say that they're naturally passionate about music and passionately natural about sharing the gospel.
“I was playing baseball at the University of Denver in 1993 when we started the band," Jamie Roberts remembers. “My brother Jonathan and I were still new Christians ourselves, and we were looking for a good way to share Christ with some of the other athletes. Before our first concert I rented 'How to Get Into the Kingdom of God’ by Billy Graham. I essentially memorized his sermon and preached it during our show. Five girls from the soccer team accepted Christ. That was how it all began.”
Jamie and Jonathan Roberts, forming the core of Shaded Red, honed their modern, driving, groove-influenced, guitar-based sound together over a period of years. Both studied music in college, and quickly developed the ability to play off of one another’s intensity. The result is a shared chemistry that encompasses everything from their singing and songwriting to their vision for ministry. Eventually signing with Cadence Records in Nashville, Shaded Red released a critically acclaimed, self-titled debut and promptly took to the road, touring extensively with the likes of Guardian and Petra. Now, with the release of their second studio project for Cadence - Red Revolution - Shaded Red reveals a more layered and complex sound musically, and a more mature, soul-searching introspection lyrically.
Juxtaposing a dead-on driving chorus with unpredictable 'Tiajuana Brass” horn riffs and flamenco guitars, the project’s first single, "Revolution," stands as a clear example of the band's recent evolution. By mixing musical and lyrical elements that are alternately blatant and subtle, Shaded Red creates a tension that inevitably draws listeners in. While the song “Revolution” stands as an outright, unapologetic declaration of intent to spread the gospel, other songs on Red Revolution document on a personal level what it means to follow Christ in the midst of a broken and fallen world.
“The tone of our new album is very personal,” Jamie explains. “When people listen to Red Revolution I feel like they may as well be reading my mail. I wouldn't go so far as to say we were idealistic when we wrote our first project, but we’re coming from a very different place now. We’ve had to walk through some difficult things. I've personally encountered challenges and pressures I never faced before. As a result, I have a new perspective on trials and sufferings. One theme that emerges on this record is that God makes diamonds in fire and pressure.”
The brooding but desperately hopeful song "Loop,” penned by younger brother Jonathan, reflects such an understanding. “As I was writing it," he says, "it was coming straight from the heart. But when I showed it to Jamie he said 'I don't know if we can say this,” because it was so wrenching in a blunt sort of way. We were involved in a serious accident a while back and have had to face some hard issues like 'Why do some people in a given situation die while other people don 't? What was to separate us in the accident from not dying when others did? How do we keep going on and how does it effect our understanding of our relationship with Christ? How do you still find joy in life?’ There was a lot of pain and confusion to walk through.”
The only cover tune on Red Revolution is a reinterpretation of one of the longest running #1 singles in CCM history--Benny Hester’s "When God Ran.” Recorded at Abbey Road studios with the London Philharmonic, “When God Ran” serves as an anchor point, both for the project, and for the band. “After the accident,” Jamie says, “I just didn't have it in my heart to even pick up my guitar again. I had heard Benny Hester’s song only once, about ten years ago. But one day, after several months of not playing at all, I picked up the guitar and just started playing that song. All of a sudden I remembered the whole thing and I sang it to myself because I needed to know God’s love in a real way. I've been learning firsthand that God's love is as big as my hurt, and I want to share that with other people who are going through tough things.”
Produced by Alan Shacklock (Newsboys, Phil Keaggy, Roger Daltrey), Red Revolution is built around strong hooks and catchy melodies, with a rugged blend of old school rock influences and current alternative sensibilities also figuring heavily in the mix. Piano, trumpet, orgon, and wind instruments add definition and subtle accent, but never change the direction of the music. The whole project, in fact, seems to exude a certain raw power without ever reverting to “grunge-rock” cliches.
“When we play live it’s usually loud and energetic," says Dave Villano, Shaded Red's bass player, "but we've never opted to be a garage band. Our sound and our appearance are more on the polished side.”
“Hello," one of the album’s standout songs, boasts punchy, riveting verse hooks laid over a throwback sound reminiscent of earlier bands like Cheap Trick. An expression of desire to be in the will of God, “Hello” could easily be the sort of “signature” song that live audiences crave. “We were looking for a clever way to say something that’s really a heart prayer," Jamie says, "and it turned into a lyric that sounds like you’re overhearing one side of a telephone conversation.”
